Ryan Hunton, DHSc, PA-C, is an Assistant Professor for the University of Kentucky College of Health Sciences, Department of Physician Assistant Studies (UKPAS). In 2023, he received his Doctorate of Health Sciences from A.T. Still University. His dissertation focused on simulation's role in teaching and assessing clinical reasoning. He completed the Advanced Practice Provider residency in the UK Department of Emergency Medicine in 2018 and currently works in the emergency department at Frankfort Regional Medical Center in Frankfort, Kentucky.

From 2021 to 2023, Ryan served as the sole forward deployed Medical Provider at the Camp Kosciuszko Aid Station in Poznan, Poland, for V Corps and 1st Infantry Division. From 2020 to 2021, he served as the Clinical Operations Officer for a  Role 2 Military Treatment Facility in Powidz, Poland. While in Poland, Ryan also taught emergency medicine in the simulation center at the Poznan University of Medical Sciences, and he continues to work with Polish physician assistants to develop the profession.

Prior to his deployment, he taught in several UKPAS courses, including pathophysiology, patient evaluation and management, clinical methods, and survey of geriatric medicine. He currently teaches pathophysiology and clinical methods, lectures in the clinical lecture series courses, and facilitates small groups in problem-based learning and simulation exercises.

He has previously published and presented on clinical dilemmas in emergency medicine. His current research interests are how clinical reasoning and differential diagnosis ability progresses through PA training, whether knowledge and skills in simulation training is translated to measurable behavioral and patient outcomes, and whether there is a measurable value of post-graduate clinical training for PAs.

Ryan was also previously active in the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) Future Educator Fellowship and the American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA) Joint Task Force with PAEA on PA Student Supervised Clinical Practice Experience Barriers.

Publications

• Hunton, R. (2021). Sepsis and systemic inflammatory response syndrome. In Bushardt, R., Reed, H., Colomb-Lippa, D., & Klinger, A. (Eds.). The JAAPA QRS Review for PAs (pp. 383-385). Wolters Kluwer.
• Hunton, R. (2020). Seeking a balanced approach to implementing sepsis guidelines. Journal of the American Academy of PAs, 33(7), 13-17.
• Hunton, R. (2019). Updated concepts in the diagnosis and management of community-acquired pneumonia. Journal of the American Acedemy of PAs, 32(10), 18-23.
• Hunton, R. (2018). It Takes a Village: A Physician Assistant Student's Experience in Early Educator Mentorship and Faculty Development. Journal of Physician Assistant Education, 29(4), 251-252.
• Chatterjee, S., Westneat, S., Wyant, A., & Hunton, R. (2018). Physicians in Kentucky Perceive Physician Assistants to Be Competent Health Care Providers. Journal of Physician Assistant Education, 29(4), 197-204.
• Hunton, R., Burkhart, J., Burns, M., & American Academy of Physician Assistants. (2017). PA student supervised clinical practice experiences – Recommendations to address barriers. AAPA Policy Manual, 303-317.

Scholars@UK