Where Community Health Workers Actually Work: 7 Settings You Haven't Considered
12 May, 2026
When most people think about PA jobs, they picture primary care clinics, urgent care centers, or hospital emergency departments. And rightfully so — those settings employ enormous numbers of physician assistants. But after years of building healthcareers.app and connecting healthcare professionals with roles across every corner of the industry, I've noticed something fascinating: the most compelling, fastest-growing PA opportunities are often hiding in specialties that don't get the spotlight they deserve.
In this post, I want to pull back the curtain on three unconventional career paths where PA jobs are expanding rapidly. Along the way, we'll explore how these roles intersect with other niche healthcare careers — including the work of the biomedical illustrator and the cardiovascular technologist — to give you a richer picture of the healthcare ecosystem and where you might fit in it.
Before I explain this PA path, it helps to answer a question I hear surprisingly often: what is a cardiovascular technologist and technician? These are allied health professionals who perform diagnostic imaging and interventional procedures related to the heart and vascular system. They operate echocardiography equipment, assist with cardiac catheterizations, monitor patients during stress tests, and help physicians visualize blood flow problems. The Bureau of Labor Statistics categorizes them as a distinct occupation with solid projected growth, driven by an aging population and increasing rates of cardiovascular disease.
Here's where PA jobs come in. Cardiovascular surgery teams and interventional cardiology programs increasingly rely on physician assistants as first assists in the catheterization lab, as coordinators of pre- and post-operative care, and as the clinicians who manage complex medication regimens for patients with heart failure, arrhythmias, or peripheral vascular disease. In many academic medical centers, PAs work hand-in-hand with cardiovascular technologists and technicians every single day.
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the CDC. As the demand for cardiovascular interventions continues to rise, hospitals need more clinicians who can function at a high level inside procedural suites. PAs trained in cardiothoracic surgery or interventional cardiology are filling that gap — and they're commanding some of the highest compensation in the PA profession.
This is the path that surprises people most when I mention it. A growing number of PA jobs exist outside of direct patient care entirely — in medical education, simulation centers, and curriculum development. Universities, PA programs, medical schools, and continuing education companies are hiring physician assistants as faculty members, standardized patient coordinators, and simulation lab directors.
What makes this especially interesting is the intersection with creative healthcare professionals like the biomedical illustrator. A biomedical illustrator is a uniquely trained artist-scientist who creates visual representations of anatomy, surgical techniques, disease processes, and medical devices. Their work appears in textbooks, patient education materials, surgical planning tools, and — increasingly — in 3D simulation environments used to train the next generation of clinicians.
PAs who move into education often collaborate directly with biomedical illustrators to develop anatomical models, procedural training modules, and augmented reality experiences. If you've ever used a high-fidelity surgical simulator or studied from a beautifully rendered anatomy atlas, you've benefited from this collaboration.
PA programs across the country are expanding to meet workforce demand, and accreditation standards from the ARC-PA require that a significant portion of faculty hold PA credentials. This creates a built-in demand for PAs willing to teach. Additionally, simulation-based education is exploding across all health professions — nursing, medicine, respiratory therapy, and more — and clinicians with real procedural experience are needed to design and facilitate these experiences.
Occupational medicine is one of those fields that rarely appears on anyone's radar during PA school, yet it represents a fascinating and well-compensated niche for PA jobs. Occupational medicine PAs work in corporate health clinics, manufacturing facilities, mining operations, oil and gas platforms, and even space agencies. Their role centers on injury prevention, workplace health screenings, fitness-for-duty evaluations, toxicology assessments, and return-to-work planning.
Aerospace medicine takes this a step further. NASA and private aerospace companies employ PAs to monitor the health of astronauts, pilots, and mission support personnel. As commercial space travel expands through companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin, the demand for clinicians who understand the physiological effects of microgravity, radiation exposure, and extreme environments is projected to grow.
Unlike most clinical PA roles, occupational medicine positions tend to offer predictable schedules — often Monday through Friday with no overnight call. The patient population is generally healthier than what you'd encounter in an emergency department or inpatient setting, and the work involves a significant amount of regulatory knowledge (OSHA standards, DOT physical requirements, workers' compensation frameworks). For PAs who value work-life balance without sacrificing intellectual challenge, this path is worth serious consideration.
To help you think through which unconventional PA path might suit you best, here's a quick comparison:
All three paths benefit from the strong overall job outlook for physician assistants. Sources such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics consistently project much-faster-than-average employment growth for PAs through the end of this decade, driven by an aging population, physician shortages, and expanded scope-of-practice legislation in many states.
One challenge with niche PA jobs is that they don't always show up on generic job boards under obvious search terms. Here are some strategies I recommend:
No additional certification is legally required beyond your standard NCCPA certification. However, completing a postgraduate fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery significantly strengthens your candidacy. Some employers also value ACLS and other advanced cardiac life support credentials. Working alongside cardiovascular technologists and technicians during rotations or early career positions gives you relevant hands-on exposure.
Absolutely. As PA programs continue to expand nationwide, the need for credentialed PA faculty is significant. Full-time academic positions typically require a master's degree (which all PA graduates now hold) and at least a few years of clinical experience. Some PAs in education also collaborate with biomedical illustrators and simulation engineers on curriculum development projects, making the work genuinely interdisciplinary.
A biomedical illustrator is a professionally trained artist with deep knowledge of life sciences who creates visual content for medical education, research publications, legal proceedings, and patient communication. While it's a distinct career from being a PA, the two professions increasingly overlap in simulation education, surgical planning, and medical publishing. PAs moving into education or research may find themselves working closely with biomedical illustrators on shared projects.
Yes. While compensation varies by employer and region, occupational medicine PA roles tend to offer competitive salaries that are comparable to — and sometimes exceed — primary care PA positions. The predictable schedules and lower call burden also represent a form of non-monetary compensation that many PAs value highly. The Bureau of Labor Statistics and industry salary surveys generally place occupational medicine within the solid middle-to-upper range of PA compensation.
I recommend honest self-assessment. If you thrive on adrenaline and procedural work, the cardiovascular path may be ideal. If you love teaching, mentoring, and creative problem-solving, medical education could be your calling. If work-life balance and regulatory problem-solving appeal to you, occupational medicine deserves a close look. Shadowing professionals in each field — even for a single day — can be remarkably clarifying.
The landscape of PA jobs is far broader than most job seekers realize. Beyond the familiar settings of primary care and emergency medicine, physician assistants are making an impact in cardiovascular procedural suites alongside cardiovascular technologists and technicians, in simulation labs collaborating with biomedical illustrators, and in occupational health clinics serving everyone from factory workers to astronauts. Each of these paths offers meaningful work, strong demand, and competitive compensation. At healthcareers.app, we built our platform to help you discover exactly these kinds of opportunities — the roles that match not just your credentials but your curiosity. I encourage you to look beyond the obvious and explore the PA career that genuinely excites you.
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