Robert Hawkes, M.S.P.A., PA-C

Robert Hawkes, M.S.P.A. ’07, PA-C, is director of the UNE Physician Assistant department— Maine’s only PA program. 

As director, Hawkes oversees all aspects of the PA program, including curriculum development and accreditation, and ensures that students become skilled members of interprofessional health care teams. 

Prior to UNE, Hawkes served as the founding program director at South College in Orlando, Florida, where he developed the curriculum for the PA program and assisted with developing a simulation center. As such, he hired the program’s faculty and staff and arranged clinical rotations with regional partners for cohorts of 85 students. 

Before that, Hawkes was the founding program director of the physician assistant program at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida. There, Hawkes developed and implemented courses, curriculum, and the simulation center for the school’s PA program. He led the program through three accreditation site visits with the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant.

Hawkes has authored numerous articles on primary care and emergency medicine and presented at conferences on best practices for educating physician assistants. In addition, Hawkes has been cited as a health care expert in nearly 200 television news reports, many airing during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Earlier in his career, Hawkes was the chair of the Health Care Division at Southern Maine Community College and director of the college’s Emergency Medical Services Department. Prior to that, Hawkes gained valuable field experience in emergency medicine working as a paramedic for the town of Scarborough, Maine, and for the Cumberland Regional Paramedic Service in Maine.

He is a member of several professional organizations, such as the American Academy of Physician Assistants and the Society of Emergency Medical Physician Assistants. He’s been honored with several awards, including the State of Maine EMS Educator of Excellence award.

Raised in Scarborough, Maine, Hawkes earned a master’s in UNE’s Physician Assistant Program in 2007. He earned a bachelor’s in natural and applied science with a concentration in biology of human health and illness from the University of Southern Maine and a bachelor’s in business administration from USM.