Charles O’Leary, PA-C—Oklahoma’s Oldest Actively Practicing Physician Assistant—Reflects on 50 Years of Medicine, Military Service, and Community Care
After 50 years as a physician assistant—and over five decades of military and community service—Charles “Doc” O’Leary, PA-C, continues to practice medicine with the same sense of purpose that shaped his earliest clinical years. Now recognized as the oldest actively practicing physician assistant in Oklahoma, O’Leary remains in clinic for more than 30 hours each week, providing family medicine and veteran-focused care in rural northeastern Oklahoma.
Many of his patients are veterans. Many others are not new to him at all. Over the course of his career, O’Leary has cared for four generations within the same families, a rare example of true longitudinal continuity of care in modern American medicine.
Born in St. Francis, Kansas, and raised in eastern Colorado, O’Leary moved to Oklahoma in 1959 and graduated with the Class of 1975. He is among a small group of family medicine clinicians in the state who have remained rooted in a single rural community for nearly their entire professional lives. His early practice was based in Hominy, Oklahoma, located in Osage County on the Osage Nation Reservation. He lived and worked alongside the Osage people for 47 years and now practices just 10 miles away in Cleveland, Oklahoma—continuing to serve the same patient population he met decades ago.
That continuity has given O’Leary a unique clinical perspective. Today, he treats the grandchildren and great-grandchildren—of his earliest pediatric patients. In an era marked by fragmented care and frequent provider turnover, his career stands as a living example of what sustained access and long-term clinician–patient relationships can achieve in rural medicine.
O’Leary’s path to healthcare was forged through military service. Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1967 at age 19, he was selected for Special Forces training and given a choice between Morse code operations and medical training. He chose medicine, completing hospital-based training at Fort Sill before serving as a Green Beret medic during the Vietnam War.
Following active duty, O’Leary returned to Oklahoma, attended school through the GI Bill, and entered private practice in Hominy, working alongside a solo physician. Six years later, he joined the Oklahoma Army National Guard, beginning a 29-year career, most of it with the 45th Infantry Brigade. An infantryman by training, he completed jump school, multiple deployments to Central and South America, service with the Sinai peacekeeping force, and two combat tours in Afghanistan where he was awarded the bronze star. In 2007, at age 59, he deployed again concluding his military service only after his family, particularly his wife of now 57 years, urged him to step back, as 35 years in the Army was enough, and he retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
His dedication to veterans, however, never slowed. With a clinical focus on veteran healthcare access, O’Leary became a VA Community Care provider through the VA Choice Program, later expanded under the MISSION Act. Today, he continues to serve veterans as a VA Community Care Partner—helping patients navigate a complex referral and authorization system while advocating daily for timely, appropriate care. O’Leary is now the American Legion National Executive Committeeman representing Department of Oklahoma at National HQ in Indianapolis and at Washington, DC interacting with Oklahoma’s national senators and representatives to support bills to help veterans, fund the VA and hold the VA accountable to provide timely and proficient health care to veterans.
In the exam room, O’Leary often serves as a translator—bridging the gap between specialty care and patient understanding by converting complex medical language into terms patients can act on. It is a practical extension of the philosophy that has guided both his military and medical careers: No One Left Behind.
That same philosophy shaped his leadership as State Commander of the American Legion in Oklahoma. A member since 1976, O’Leary has served multiple terms as Post Commander and District Commander and recently completed a term as Department Commander. During his tenure, he helped establish new veteran support groups—including women veterans and African American and Hispanic veteran’s groups—while expanding outreach to post-9/11 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.
O’Leary sees strong parallels between military service and the physician assistant profession, particularly in rural settings.
“In family medicine, we’re like the hub of the wagon,” he says. “Anyone in the medical profession should take up ‘no one left behind.’ When there’s a need, you step up.”
He is a vocal advocate for deploying PAs to underserved and rural areas, noting that federal loan repayment programs, higher reimbursement rates, and incentive grants make rural practice both viable and impactful. He also encourages PA programs and employers to recruit students from rural backgrounds, recognizing they are often more likely to return to and remain in those communities.
Now practicing in his late 70s, O’Leary sees firsthand the growing importance of physician assistants in addressing workforce shortages and access gaps. In a system where specialty wait times often stretch for months, he believes PAs are uniquely positioned to maintain continuity, guide care, and reduce delays—particularly in underserved regions.
He is optimistic about recent legislative changes, including Oklahoma’s House Bill 2584, which expands PA prescribing authority and allows experienced PAs to practice independently after meeting defined clinical hour requirements.
“We can get PAs to move to rural areas, but we can’t always get physicians to,” O’Leary says. “This legislation recognizes experience and allows PAs to practice to the level they’re trained for—while still maintaining important safeguards.”
As medicine continues to evolve, O’Leary remains grounded in the values that have shaped his life’s work: service, commitment, and responsibility to community. Whether caring for a fourth-generation patient, advocating for a veteran, or mentoring younger clinicians, Charles O’Leary, PA-C, continues to demonstrate the enduring impact of physician assistants on access to care—proving that age is no barrier to purpose, and experience remains one of medicine’s most valuable assets.