Dr. Lisa Woolsey is a physician assistant (PA) who has been teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level in West Michigan since 2005. At Hope, she currently teaches a variety of General Biology and Introduction to Cell Biology lab sections. 

She has been a board-certified PA since 2000. She practiced briefly in family medicine and otorhinolaryngology but has been working in emergency medicine in West Michigan since 2006. She has been practicing in the Holland Hospital Emergency Department since 2010 and volunteers at a free medical clinic five miles from the Hope Campus. 

Dr. Woolsey began teaching part-time in Hope’s Department of Biology in 2022, having previously taught in the Department of Psychology (four semesters) and served as a guest lecturer in athletic training courses in the Department of Kinesiology. In addition, she taught part-time in Grand Valley State University’s physician assistant studies program from 2005–2012.

Areas of Expertise

• Health behavior
• Gerontology
• Healthcare

Education

• Ph.D., health behavior/gerontology, Indiana University, 2005
• MMS, physician assistant studies, Midwestern University, 2000
• B.S., biology and secondary science education, Oral Roberts University, 1998

Publications

• “Development of a Questionnaire to Assess Health Profession Student Knowledge of Older Adults” (with M. Dacey et al.), Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 2014
• “Assistant Attitude and Expressed Intent to Work with Geriatric Patients,” 2007
• “Geriatrics and the Future of the Physician Assistant Profession,” Perspective on Physician Assistant Education, 2005
• “Teratogenicity of Fuel Fumes,” Advance Online Editions for Physician Assistants, 2004
• “Utilization PAs in School-based Health Clinics,” Journal of the American Academy of  Physician Assistants, 2003
• “Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Refractory Allergic Rhinitis,” Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, 2003
• “Treatment of Pneumonia in the Elderly Patient, Advance Journal for Physician Assistants, 2003

Outside the College

Dr. Woolsey loves living in Holland with her husband (a Spanish professor at Hope College), daughter and son (a Hope student who is enjoying living on campus). Their family attends Pillar Church, right on the edge of Hope’s campus. She loves to travel, read, bike and go for walks with their two goldendoodles, Henry and Gus.