You built the career.

Now it’s asking different questions.

I write and speak about work, identity, and time in the middle of a career you spent years building. In most programs, the most dependable faculty are the ones sitting with these questions quietly. They’re also the ones most likely to leave without saying why.

I come to it as a clinician, a professor, and a researcher who studied why PA educators leave, and as someone who has lived inside most of them.

Email me about speaking

For faculty retreats, program meetings, and conference sessions, in person or virtual.

What I Speak About

The Job That Grew Around You

The job got bigger one reasonable yes at a time: a course you covered when a colleague left, a committee that was meant to last a year.

Over half the PA faculty I surveyed had considered leaving in the past year, and rarely because of the teaching.

We look at how work collects around the most reliable people in a program, and what faculty and program directors can change together.

You Changed. The Job Didn’t.

You spent years becoming good at this work. Then your health, your family, or your priorities started to shift, and the job stayed where it was.

From the outside it still looks like success, so nothing ever forces the question.

I talk about what you’re protecting by staying, and how to start asking without blowing anything up.

AI as a Thinking Partner

I use it to test my thinking, find the strongest argument against a draft, and take repeat work off my desk.

I don’t give it the work that needs judgment, like the feedback a student needs to hear from me.

Hands-on sessions on what to hand off, what to keep, and how to guide students through the same choice.

Recent Talks

The “One More Thing” Problem: Faculty Workload Creep in PA Education
PAEA National Education Forum · 2026

Using AI to Stress Test Academic Arguments
HPU AI Summit · 2026

AI From Classroom to Clinic: How PA Students Can Use It Responsibly
Campbell University PA Program · 2026

AI Made Practical: What Every Clinician Should Know and Try
NCAPA Winter CME Conference and HPU AI Summit · 2026

Dollars and Sense: Reducing PA Burnout Through Improved Financial Literacy
Duke and Elon PA Programs, AAPA National Conference, NCAPA Summer CME Conference · 2023 to 2026

Thriving in the Academic Environment
PAEA Faculty Skills 101 · 2017 to 2025

The Leadership Compass: Fostering Self-Awareness in Work Style
PAEA Faculty Skills 101 · 2024

The Relationship Between Job Satisfaction and Faculty Turnover Among PA Educators
PAEA National Education Forum · 2021

A selected few of more than 50 talks since 2016.

What Audiences Experience

“When Shaun speaks, people feel seen, challenged, and genuinely empowered to grow.”

Adrian Banning, DHSc, PA-C
Associate Professor

“His session gave me practical tools I used right away. They set me up for a strong first year as PA faculty.”

Hope Davis, MS, MMSc, PA-C, ATC
Practicing Clinician; former PA Faculty

“Organized and approachable. He makes complex ideas simple and actionable.”

Marion Wells, MHS, PA-C
Assistant Professor

Track Record

PAEA national teaching faculty since 2017 • Published research on faculty turnover • AAPA Distinguished Fellow

Professional speaker and educator on a front porch, smiling in a gray blazer and light blue shirt.

Meet Shaun

Dr. Shaun Lynch is a PA-C and Associate Professor and Director of Curriculum in a doctoral program for practicing PAs. He has practiced emergency medicine, urgent care, and occupational medicine for fifteen years and has taught full time for twelve.

He has been national teaching faculty for PAEA’s faculty development workshops since 2017. His research on job satisfaction and faculty turnover among PA educators was published in the Journal of Physician Assistant Education.

He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Physician Associates and writes twice a month about work, identity, and time in mid-career.

Read full bio →

Invite Shaun to Speak

Send me the date, who’ll be in the room, and what you hope they leave with.
I’ll let you know if I’m available and whether it’s a good fit.

Email me about speaking