A board-certified physician assistant with a specialty in emergency medicine, Cali will look to expand upon the program’s service work and partnerships with local communities

by Sarah Murphy

Andrew Cali had not even considered a career in medicine until an accident in college landed him in the hospital for nearly a week.

Drew Cali

“There were all these students, residents, attendings and nurses who were taking such good care of me,” says Cali. “I had never felt that level of care from people who truly had my best interest at heart. I thought to myself, ‘Wow, this is an amazing profession. I need to get into this.’”

Having originally gone to school to study film, Cali was inspired to change both his college and his concentration. He transferred to Georgia State University to major in biology and chemistry, and it was in Atlanta that Cali gained his first experience working in a hospital emergency room—a space that his career would come to center around.

“I knew right away that emergency medicine was a natural fit for me,” says Cali, who began as an emergency department technician. “If you can see control within a very chaotic environment and make that work, then the ER is a good environment for you.”

The sudden passing of his father when Cali was a child also inspired him to focus on emergency medicine and urgent care. “Within the ER, I have the opportunity to talk with different groups of people, get on their level, and help make them feel comfortable in one of the worst moments of their life.”

Cali went on to complete the physician assistant (PA) program at Touro College in Manhattan and has since worked in emergency rooms up and down the East Coast as a board-certified PA. In addition to his clinical work, Cali has served as a clinical educator for multiple PA programs and medical schools in New York, Florida and South Carolina.

In December 2021, Cali joined Presbyterian College as director of admissions for the PA graduate program. He also continues to practice emergency medicine and Urgent Care Medicine for PRISMA Upstate, where he is a clinical faculty member at the University of South Carolina Upstate Medical School.

Transitioning from being in a strictly clinical setting to academia has been a new adventure for Cali, though he’s pulling from core skills he honed as a PA while navigating the new normal.

“If you’re in the ER, there isn’t a set schedule of patients coming in,” says Cali. “You know that there is an unknown, and that’s all you know. But then you walk away from that, and that’s the end of the day. Your shift is over. Whereas in academics, what’s interesting and fulfilling is that although there are still unknowns, the ultimate ‘known’ is that you’re doing everything you possibly can to make really great healthcare providers.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the physician assistant career path is among the fastest growing medical careers in the U.S. In his role as director of admissions, Cali aims to build a nationally recognized PA program, graduating students who perform well on their boards and are well received within the medical community.

“PC’s program in one word would be community,” says Cali. “The faculty and staff want to see the students succeed, and they want the students to feel like they’re part of a family.”

Cali is full speed ahead on a handful of new, service-focused initiatives at PC. An inclusive partnership with regional Indigenous American populations is in the works, aimed at encouraging qualified individuals to consider the PA program at Presbyterian. Overall, Cali hopes to expand medical care in underserved communities across South Carolina and the southeast.

“We are trying our hardest as a program to create the best healthcare providers that we can in order to help serve both the local area of South Carolina, as well as our nation as a whole,” says Cali. “It’s something that we take very seriously, because one day, they’ll be treating you. Or a family member. And we want you to know that that provider knows what they’re doing, and they’re going to do a good job.”

For more information about the Presbyterian College Physician Assistant program, visit the program website.