Austin Parrish currently resides in Gainesville, Florida and works as a cardiothoracic surgical physician assistant with HCA Florida Heart & Lung Institute. He is also a volunteer at the University of Florida’s PA program, where he was asked to start up and advise a justice, equality, diversity and inclusion (JEDI)/PRIDE group.

Austin was born and raised in the small town of Pendleton, IN. He attended Eastern Illinois University on a swim scholarship and obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences with a minor in chemistry. Upon graduation in 2017, he attended Wright State University and completed a Masters of Science in Human Anatomy. His thesis defense was focused in cardiophysiology lab under Dr. Eric Bennett, PhD – “Effect of hybrid/complex N-glycosylation on cardiac voltage gated ion channel expression”. 

After graduating in 2019, Austin worked as Adjunct Faculty at Clark State Community College teaching anatomy and physiology. He also taught at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine as Adjunct Faculty helping with Human Architecture I/II. 

Austin started PA school at the University of Dayton in August of 2020 and graduated in December 2022. While there, he was President of the Physician Assistant Student Society (PASS). He also led the creation of a PA Liaison with the WSU Boonshoft School of Medicine PRIDE group. While in his final semester of PA school, he was 1 of 15 PA students selected nationwide to be a Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) Future Educator Fellow. Austin has a very strong passion for education, but most importantly the care that can be provided by physician assistants.