Gift creates immediate and enduring opportunities for Duke PA students

For more than 50 years, Edmund Joseph Wise, Jr., PA-C’74, MPH, has carried Duke’s physician assistant program with him throughout a distinguished career in healthcare, education, and professional leadership.

Now, with a transformative $7.6 million gift, Wise is giving back to the program that inspired his calling. Through a planned gift that will establish a scholarship endowment and an outright gift that will provide equipment, Wise is creating both immediate and lasting impact for students in the Duke PA Program.

“Ed’s extraordinary generosity reflects the highest ideals of Duke’s mission,” said President Vincent E. Price. “His visionary gift will expand access to a Duke education while carrying forward the physician assistant profession’s proud legacy of improving health and well-being in communities across the country.”

Duke created the PA profession and has shaped it for more than 60 years, helping to define modern, team-based healthcare. Wise’s blended gift will strengthen one of Duke’s most enduring legacies.

“As the birthplace of the physician assistant profession, Duke has a longstanding commitment to educating the next generation of healthcare leaders,” said Mary E. Klotman, MD, executive vice president for health affairs at Duke University and dean of the School of Medicine. “Ed’s remarkable gift expands access to our program and supports students with a passion for serving others, both today and for generations to come.”

For Wise, the gift is deeply personal. A graduate of the program’s eighth class, he credits Duke with opening the door to a career devoted to patients, students, and the profession itself.

“My life has been defined by the opportunity that Duke gave me,” Wise said. “I have nothing but gratitude for my time there. I wanted to give back to the program that gave me everything in the career I’ve enjoyed so thoroughly.”

Scholarships will be life-changing for students, and the equipment fund will reduce costs that add up quickly, said April Stouder, EdD, PA-C’00, MHS, division chief and director of the Duke PA Program.

“For many, this gift will make the difference in their ability to pursue their education at a place like Duke,” Stouder said. “Ed’s visionary philanthropy will help us continue to innovate and lead PA education, as Duke has done for more than six decades.”

Wise’s career began with service to his country. He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, earning a Bronze Star, Combat Medical Badge, and Commendation Medal. He oversaw staffing at a surgical hospital, coordinated evacuation of wounded soldiers, and joined a civil action team to deliver public health services in rural villages. Those experiences helped shape his lifelong commitment to caring for underserved communities.

When he returned home to Pittsburgh in 1971, a family friend who was beginning a cardiac residency encouraged Wise to join him at Duke. Wise began working as a clinical care technician in the cardiology lab.

At the time, Duke was pioneering a new approach to medical education. In 1965, Eugene A. Stead Jr., MD, longtime chair of the Department of Medicine, launched the nation’s first PA program to address a growing need for clinicians. Stead and others at Duke recognized the ability of veterans like Wise to help close critical gaps in healthcare.

When Wise was encouraged to apply for either medical or PA school at Duke, he chose the fledgling program. His decision reflected both his military experience and his early exposure to medicine and hospitals. Growing up, he saw the effects of chronic disease firsthand, losing all his maternal uncles to heart disease before they reached age 60.

“From early on, I knew I wanted to be in healthcare,” Wise said.

After graduating, Wise built a career that reflected the Duke PA Program’s mission. He spent nearly three decades as a physician assistant at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, focusing on occupational and environmental health. Among the many defining moments of his career was identifying one of the earliest-detected cases of male breast cancer at the time, an experience that underscored the impact of attentive care.

Wise later earned a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Tennessee. Across more than 29 years in practice, he combined clinical expertise with a broader public health lens.

“He has such a deep understanding of both the science and the human side of medicine,” Stouder said.

In the next phase of his career, Wise turned to education. As a professor in the PA Studies Program at South College in Knoxville, he helped shape future generations of physician assistants, mentoring students in clinical excellence, leadership, and service.

His influence extends into professional leadership. Wise played an active role in the Tennessee Academy of Physician Assistants, advancing the profession nationally. In recognition of his contributions, he was named a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, an honor reserved for a small percentage of PAs.

As a founding member of the Physician Assistant History Society, Wise has helped to ensure the stories, artifacts, and milestones tracing the profession’s evolution — from its origins at Duke to its national impact — are documented and shared.

“I believe our profession is stronger when we understand our history,” Wise said.

Today, Duke has about 180 PA students enrolled across two cohorts each year in the Department of Family Medicine & Community Health and remains focused on preparing primary care providers who will serve communities with the greatest need. Yet, financial barriers often stand in the way.

“The availability of scholarships is the top question we are asked,” Stouder said. “When we see people who are so highly mission-aligned turn down their acceptance offer due to financial constraints, it is heartbreaking.”

Stouder, herself a first-generation college student who grew up in rural Indiana, understands how financial barriers can shape a student’s path.

“I was the first in my family to go to college and the first to pursue any sort of advanced degree,” she said. “I knew I was going to have to take on debt to go to PA school at Duke, but it was an opportunity for upward mobility. We have many, many students whose journeys resemble mine.”

Wise’s gift helps in two distinct and complementary ways. The scholarship endowment will enable more graduates to pursue careers aligned with their passion for service, while the $150,000 equipment fund will provide immediate relief to current students. Beginning in fall 2027, the fund will cover the cost of a stethoscope for every incoming PA student, as well as addressing other equipment needs.

“It’s a tremendous gift,” Stouder said. “We want to reduce educational expenses wherever we can. Ed’s generosity helps move us closer to a future where those expenses are less of a barrier and allows us to invest directly in the tools students need to learn and provide excellent patient care.”

For many students, scholarships can be the difference between choosing primary care or a higher-paying specialty to manage debt. By easing financial pressures, the support helps graduates follow their calling to serve.

Wise’s gift reflects his own lifelong commitment to service — first to country, then to patients and students, and finally to the profession. Through the immediate support provided by the equipment fund and the enduring opportunities created through scholarships, his generosity will extend far beyond Duke and strengthen healthcare in communities across the country.

“Students who benefit from this support will go on to care for patients, serve communities, and shape the profession for years to come,” Stouder said. “That’s the kind of legacy that keeps growing.”

About Duke Health 

One of the world’s leading academic medical centers, Duke Health strives to transform medicine and health locally and globally. We do so by elevating standards of care; conducting breakthrough research and discovery; teaching and training the next generation of providers; and strengthening global and community health. Every donor joins Duke Health to advance health together. Learn more about why Duke Health is MADE FOR THIS.