Michelle Touw, M.M.S., P.A.-C.

Michelle Touw is an assistant clinical professor for the Master of Health Services — Physician Assistant Studies and Master of Science — Family Nurse Practitioner degree programs at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. She provides care at the UC Davis Health Infectious Disease Clinic. As a clinician educator, she precepts and mentors students in both programs.

Touw has more than 20 years of experience as a physician assistant (P.A.) in infectious diseases, primary care, internal medicine and women’s health and has been involved in P.A. education for 15 years.

She began her career with an interest in public health and completed a master’s-degree project on prenatal care and immunization completion in a Chicago community health center serving Spanish-speaking immigrants. She went on to serve in the National Health Service Corps working with underserved populations where she focused on adolescent pregnancy prevention and family planning. She then joined the University of Florida in Jacksonville in the infectious disease division working in the HIV, sexually transmitted disease and tuberculosis clinics. Touw completed training in colposcopy and anoscopy and worked on cervical and anal cancer screening and prevention in the HIV-positive population. She participated in multiple clinical trials for HIV medications, monitoring of HIV disease conditions and vaccine efficacy in the HIV positive population.

Touw then worked with Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) for 10 years in HIV care and infectious disease. She is fluent in Spanish and provided HIV and primary care for her many Spanish speaking patients. She was the primary liaison with the obstetrics department and consultant on antiretroviral therapy in pregnant women living with HIV. She also mentored and precepted P.A. students on infectious disease rotations and was a frequent infectious disease lecturer and speaker for the EVMS Physician Assistant Program.

Touw comes to UC Davis with a focus on teaching students a patient-centered perspective to health care and an interest in trauma-informed care.

Touw earned a Master of Medical Science Degree from the Midwestern University Physician Assistant Program in Illinois and a Bachelor of Science from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ.  

In 2017, Touw published a book chapter, “Update on HIV,” in Physician Assistant Clinics. She also completed an educational video on prescribing pre-exposure prophylactic medication for the prevention of HIV infection. She has frequently lectured at regional P.A. and HIV educational meetings.

Contact information: email: mtouw@ucdavis.edu