Abby Saunders, PhD, PA-C

Assistant Professor
Department of Physician Assistant

I joined the Department of Physician Assistant at Seton Hall University in 2011, after working as a clinical Physician Assistant in Internal/Family Medicine and Urgent Care Medicine since 1997. During my first six years in the SHU PA program, I functioned as the Director of Clinical Education where I was fortunate to coordinate students with the best clinical experiences for their personal and professional interests. This role was extremely rewarding as I watched our students grow with each clinical opportunity; achieving proficiency in all aspects of patient care, consistently receiving high accolades from our clinical partners. Since then I have transitioned into didactics where I collaborate with our talented team of instructional faculty in hands-on, skills-based learning, critical thinking and patient communication techniques. My in-depth medical documentation skills instruction is also a primary focus.

I bring creativity and a sense of humor into the classroom which can be a welcome reprieve from the intensity of the challenging curriculum. My passions for innovation and bringing “real-world” scenarios into PA education have been recognized by our students as valuable assets. I am particularly enthusiastic about teaching communication skills between clinician and patient, reinforcing nuances of empathy, diversity, impartiality, tolerance and “out-of-the-box" thinking.

I continue to work clinically in urgent care medicine to feed my desire to connect with patients as I address their medical and psychological needs, and gather professional experiences to share with the aspiring future generations of Physician Assistants in the classroom.