David Keahey, PA-C, M.S.P.H.

David retired in 2021 as the Chief of Policy and Government Relations for the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA). He is an Army veteran who served as a DUSTOFF flight medic in West Germany during the Cold War. Keahey later graduated from the University of Utah PA program and received an MSPH. He is adjunct associate professor with the University of Utah and George Washington University Schools of Medicine and practiced family medicine for 32 years in Salt Lake City Community Health Centers and free clinics. While practicing in the CHCs, David served six years as associate medical director and medical director.
In the 1980s David was a founding member of the Utah Health Care for the Homeless Task Force and served on the Governor’s Task Force for the Appropriate Treatment of the Homeless Mentally Ill. He also served as an advisory board member for Area Health Education Centers, the Utah Medicaid Drug Utilization Review Board, and the State PA Licensing Board. He was a member of the Valley Mental Health Advisory Council, the Utah Medicaid Primary Care Network advisory group, and served on the Legislature’s Medical Education PA, APRN, and PharmD subcommittee. He was chair of the Utah PA association’s legislative committee for 10 years helping move legislation that expanded PA scope of practice.
He was appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry where he served as vice-chair. Keahey has served on the Veterans Administration’s National Academic Affiliations Council.
He has published on a numerous topics ranging from evidence-based medicine to health policy, interprofessional education, clinical medicine, and outcomes associated with HRSA-supported Primary Care Training Grants. Prior to joining PAEA, David completed a 2015-2016 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellowship in the office of Senator Chris Murphy (CT) where he worked on a host of issues including mental health reform in the CURES Act and substance use disorder policy in CARA.
At PAEA, Keahey led the policy team in efforts to improve health workforce funding and helped to achieve reductions in burdensome CMS student documentation rules affecting numerous health profession learners and preceptors. He was the Principal Investigator (PI) on 2 HRSA Primary Care Training Expansion grants. David was PI for 4 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) subawards from the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry and a SAMHSA PRAC-ED grant aimed at increasing PA workforce capacity in substance use disorders and medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD).
In retirement, Dave continues to teach health policy topics to 1st year PA students at the University of Utah and serves on the Student Selection Committee.