Cultural competency training has been present in academic medicine for many years but interest has resurfaced when the Institute of Medicine released a report on health care disparity and called for curriculum improvement in medical education to eliminate the disparity in health care in the United States. This new interest, reinforced by medical education competencies and accreditation standards in cultural competency, ignited more development in cultural competency training and the assessment of that training. Unfortunately, many limitations in the implementation and assessment of the training have emerged and it has been demonstrated that cultural competency training has not been uniform across medical education programs. One potential reason for this lack of standardization is that the faculty definition of culture has been vague. Physician assistant education is very similar in structure to medical education. Currently, minimal research has been conducted in the area of physician assistant education, even though the cultural competency training issues appear to potentially be a mirror image of medical education. This study involved a national online survey of faculty members at 141 accredited physician assistant programs. The study addressed the relationship of specific faculty characteristics (gender, years of educational experience, and previous cultural competency training) with the implementation of cultural elements (race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, disability and faith) in cultural competency training in the didactic phase of PA programs. Results of the study demonstrated that the cultural element of disability was excluded the most frequently in the implementation process. In addition, a significant relationship between a lack of previous cultural competency training and the implementation of less cultural elements was demonstrated. These findings support the need for a standardized definition of culture and greater emphasis on cultural competency training for PA program faculty. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]