Faculty
Melanie Catalano, MSPA, PA-C
Fall 1980 - Fall 2120
Assistant Professor I
Physician Assistant Program
MelanieCatalano@scuhs.edu
Current Position
Biography
Melanie Catalano earned her Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies from Western University in 2013. She is a certified PA currently working in Emergency Medicine at a trauma and pediatric facility. She is an active member of the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA), American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA), and California Academy of Physician Assistants (CAPA). Her clinical experience includes general surgery, trauma surgery, vascular surgery, emergency medicine, and family medicine. Her experience in PA education includes being a lead instructor in several courses, Associate Director of Didactic Education, as well as Program Director. Melanie Catalano was the recipient of the ‘Outstanding Pre-Clinical Teaching’ award in 2019. She is currently the Chair of the Accreditation Steering Committee for the Master of Science: Physician Assistant (MSPA) program as well as a member of the Student Progress Committee (SPC), Physician Assistant Comprehensive Examination (PACE) Committee, Curriculum Committee, Admissions Committee, and Academic Council.
Outside of SCU and clinical work, PA Catalano loves spending time with her family, coaching soccer, swimming, and frequently visiting Disneyland.
Degrees
M.S., Physician Assistant Studies , Western University of Health Sciences , Pomona , California
Professional Licensures (Healthcare)
PA-C, California, United States, PA23188, Active, 2013, 2023-12-31
Hospital / Clinical Appointments
Emergency Medicine Provider , Mission Hospital April 2021
Honors and Awards
Spring 2019 - Fall 2019
Outstanding Pre-Clinical Teaching Award , 2019, SCU
Fall 2019 - Fall 2019
Most Valuable Teacher , 2019, ASB at SCU
Professional Membership
Fall 2013 - Ongoing
California Academy of Physician Assistants, August 2013
American Academy of Physician Associates , August 2013
Hear from the Students Who’ve Been in Your Shoes
I chose SCU when looking for a PA program because of their Integrative Medicine approach. I am from Michigan, and not many programs focus on this Integrative, Holistic approach when it comes to patient care in the Midwest, and I felt that was very important for me to learn as a future provider. My transition to semi-virtual learning has been very smooth and quite enjoyable. [su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]My favorite part about attending SCU is how tight-knit and diverse the community is. Coming from a large undergrad university and moving so far, it was very important for me to have a PA program that made me feel valued and invested in my success. At SCU, they do a great job of making you feel that.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]
Brianna Hadley
MSPA Class of 2022
One of the great things about SCU is we do have a campus layout, so all your classes aren't in a single room. We have our cadaver lab. We have different specialty rooms for physical assessment classes vs. acupuncture classes. All our acupuncture-specific classes have all the herbs in the room. You can pull out the herbs and look at them, whether in class or in between classes to get that extra studying in.[su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]My favorite part of SCU is the collaboration from our beginning terms. We were working alongside chiropractor students, PA students, and ayurvedic students. It's a unique community where we get to learn about these different fields and sit in classrooms with them and work with them in the clinic. It allows you to get an understanding of all the different fields and how they can work together, and what is unique about your field. I think that is a wonderful aspect that I didn't think was going to be as prominent as it is here; even now, in my upper term classes and I am not in class with chiropractic students, I can still reach out to them about a certain aspect I may not understand or if I am working on a case. I want another perspective I know I have them to reach out to, so that has been a great networking community to have resources for.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]
Dr. Jamie Kuljis
Graduate, Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine
"There are a lot of things that I love about the program at SCU. The first one is that the faculty come from a long line of Ayurvedic knowledge deeply rooted in ancient classical text. They studied Ayurveda, but they also lived it. When you learn from people who embody this wisdom, it's much easier to grasp this knowledge. The second thing I love is the camaraderie within the cohort. The combination of the training, supportive faculty, and the support of my peers and classmates has given me the confidence I need to start my own practice."
Portia Harris
Student, Ayurveda Program
Some of my favorite courses at SCU have to be the chiropractic procedure classes; those are the classes you get to hone in on your chiro skills, your palpation skills and ultimately work on the adjustments that make you a chiropractor. Those are the classes I feel enhance my knowledge the most and are some of the reasons I chose to become a chiropractor here are SCU.[su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]On top of chiropractic procedures classes, my favorite is the cadaver lab experience. The cadaver classes opened up my perception of what the human body is made up of. It allowed me to get an in-person perspective of how the body works and looks on the inside. I am genuinely thankful for those experiences because they opened and broadened my horizons to the human body and anatomy in general.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]
Jordan Vega
Student, Doctor of Chiropractic
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