PT/PHD Predoctoral Training Program

University Of Delaware, Newark DE

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This is an application for the competitive renewal of a T32 Institutional National Research Service Award for a highly successful predoctoral training program in rehabilitation research that trains physical therapist clinician- scientists. There is a significant need for more research that can ultimately generate highly effective and efficient rehabilitation. There is also a dearth of clinical rehabilitation scientists with formal research training who bring multidisciplinary research approaches to address these important questions in rehabilitation. The mission of this program is to help fill these needs by educating and training a diverse group of physical therapists in the science of rehabilitation to improve the function and participation of people living with disabilities. This education and training occurs through interdisciplinary research collaboration with a focus on clinical application. The program fuses two training programs: an outstanding entry level Doctorate in Physical Therapy (DPT) and a highly successful interdisciplinary PhD program in Biomechanics and Movement Science (BIOMS). This DPT-PhD T32 training program is analogous to the MD/PhD programs that train physician scientists. Students in the program become both physical therapists and rehabilitation research scientists. Providing funding to reduce the often-sizable debt incurred from both DPT training and deferred salary eliminates one of the primary barriers to continued research training for physical therapists and helps us to attract a diverse group of students. Trainees are selected from a pool of outstanding students with diverse backgrounds who enter the DPT program. Many of these students select the University of Delaware (UD) because of this DPT-PhD training program, thus attracting the best and brightest individuals with a sincere interest in rehabilitation research. We propose to train 6 predoctoral trainees per year, each for a total duration of 5 years. The interdisciplinary program faculty, from Physical Therapy, Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering, Kinesiology & Applied Physiology and Communication Sciences & Disorders, have diverse rehabilitation research expertise, strong track records of mentoring and research and are committed to training the next generation of rehabilitation clinician-scientists. The program provides a strong curriculum of coursework, seminars, and professional development opportunities that reflect the outstanding rehabilitation research environment at UD. The program has trained 25 PT-PhD clinician-scientists (4 current), all of whom have passed the national licensure exam in Physical Therapy on the first attempt. Our 21 completed trainees are highly successful in achieving productive scientific careers-all but one are in research-intensive positions in major universities, government agencies and foundations, demonstrating a broad impact. In the past 10 years, these trainees have been the Principal Investigator on 27 NIH or VA grants. This renewal focuses on building upon this successful training program by using our ongoing evaluation to guide improvements that address changes in scientific and professional training, and in response to new instructional methods and practices.