Pensacola, Fla. (April 29, 2014) – The University of West Florida hosts a reception today to welcome the first class of seven students who were recently admitted into the University of South Florida/UWF Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) Partnership Program.

 The USF/UWF DPT Program expands access to UWF students interested in pursuing a DPT degree, while meeting a state-identified need for more physical therapists in Northwest Florida, a largely rural region of the state.  The Florida Board of Governors approved the formation of the partnership program in January 2013, following the Florida Legislature’s appropriation of $1 million in 2012 to help fund it.

L to R: Dr. George Stewart, director of the UWF School of Allied Health and Life Sciences; Renea Porsch, Brittany Crocker and Megan Coleman, some of the students admitted to the inaugural USF/UWF Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) Partnership Program; UWF President Judy Bense; and Dr. William S. Quillen, director of the USF School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences.

The partnership allowed the USF Health School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences to expand enrollment in its nationally ranked, three-year DPT degree program by as many as 12 additional students a year. The newly created slots are competitively available to UWF graduates who meet USF’s DPT admissions requirements.

UWF students admitted for the Fall 2014 semester include:

• Kelsey Brown, ’14, B.S.      Exercise Science
• Hanna St. Denis, ’12, B.S.      Exercise Science
• Megan Coleman, ’14, B.S.      Exercise Science
• Brittany Crocker, ’13, B.S. Exercise      Science
• Rebecca Graves, ’13, B.S.      Exercise Science
• Renea Porsch, ’14, B.S.      Athletic Training
• Danielle Sims, ’13, B.S.      Exercise Science

The students will be awarded a $2,500 scholarship for each of the three years they are enrolled in the program. They will spend their first year of studies at USF, followed by two years of studies and clinical internships at UWF.

“We are so proud of the UWF graduates who were admitted into the inaugural class of the USF/UWF Partnership Doctor in Physical Therapy program,” said Dr. George Stewart, director of Allied Health and Life Sciences. “They chose UWF twice, once for their undergraduate degree and now a second time for the first health professional doctoral degree established at the University through the tireless efforts and dedication of our friends and colleagues at USF.  This is a seminal event that opens a new dimension of educational currency provided by UWF to our regional partners in healthcare, and there is more to come.”

“We welcome these inaugural students to our innovative USF-UWF partnership program that will help meet the state’s rapidly growing demand for physical therapy services,” said Dr. William S. Quillen, director of the USF School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences and associate dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Kelsey Brown, a native of Tampa, said her undergraduate experience at UWF, coupled with the knowledge and skills she will learn through the USF/UWF DPT Program, have given her the confidence that she will excel in her future career.

“UWF’s small classroom settings, paired with unrivaled relationships with professors who allow us to experience our education through a hands on approach, have truly pushed me to succeed,” Brown said. “With the USF/UWF DPT program being immersed in this environment, success will definitely be the only outcome. Through the experiences and outstanding education offered at UWF along with the new DPT program, I know I will be substantially prepared for my future successes.”

For additional information on the program, visit www.uwf.edu/dpt/

 About the University of West Florida: Founded in 1963, the University of West Florida is a vibrant, distinctive institution of higher learning with undergraduate, graduate and targeted research programs. With multiple locations in Northwest Florida, the University serves a student population of more than 12,000. Dedicated to helping students realize their full potential, UWF favors small class sizes with quality teacher-scholars who deliver personalized, innovative, hands-on learning and leadership opportunities.

About USF Health: USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. The University of South Florida is a Top 50 research university in total research expenditures among both public and private institutions nationwide, according to the National Science Foundation. For more information, visit www.health.usf.edu.

Media contacts:
Megan Gonzalez, University of West Florida Public Relations
MeganG@uwf.edu or 850-797-0922

Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications
abaier@health.usf.edu or (813) 974-3303

As 2013 winds down and USF Health  moves into 2014,  we reflects on some highlights and accomplishments over the past year.

And, we look ahead in the New Year to renewing our commitment and efforts to improve life in the Tampa Bay area and around the world — through education, research, service and patient care.

The University of South Florida broke ground for its USF Health Heart Institute, a $50-million proposed facility that will combine advanced research and technology with the best cardiovascular care to benefit patients with heart disease, diabetes and stroke.  USF Health will continue working with governmental, hospital and community partners to make the institute a reality.

The USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS), the world’s largest freestanding center of its kind, passed its first year with more than 14,000 learners from all 50 states and more than 60 countries. CAMLS completed a feasibility study with Panama to build a CAMLS-like facility and is also exploring expanding its academic entrepreneurial business model to Brazil, Mexico and Lebanon.  Healthcare professionals and students aren’t the only beneficiaries of CAMLS’  leading-edge, extensive resources for simulated learning.   In December, the USF Health doctors at CAMLS teamed up with the Florida Aquarium to help diagnose an injured sea turtle, Freud.

The USF College of Nursing continued to attract international attention for its research and education to benefit veterans and service members.  Recently published research by a USF Nursing faculty team suggests accelerated resolution therapy (ART), a brief new therapy to ease symptoms of psychological trauma, may be an option for veterans who do not respond optimally to conventional therapies endorsed by the Department of Defense and VA.  The college began its fourth and largest ART study, which will recruit 200 veterans and service members to study the cost-effectiveness of the therapy and further examine how and why it works. The college also received the largest of nine federal grants to help veterans with healthcare skills earn a bachelor of science degree in nursing.

The Florida Covering Kids & Families program at the Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies, USF College of Public Health, this summer received the largest navigator grant in Florida – and second largest in the country.  The one-year $4.2-million federal grant to help eligible uninsured individual get health care through the Health Insurance Marketplace drew widespread media attention to the USF navigators and their partners statewide. National coverage included stories in the News York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Associated Press, TIME magazine, The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch.

The USF Health Diabetes Home for Healthy Living opened in August, ushering a new approach to diabetes care.  The new one-stop facility in the Westshore area of Tampa offers diabetes patients a relaxing, home-like environment with every aspect of care to successfully and proactively manage their chronic condition.  The medical home is the newest addition to USF’s leading research, education and clinical care initiatives making life better for those with chronic illnesses like diabetes.

USF President Judy Genshaft appointed Donna Petersen, ScD,  and Harry van Loveren, MD, interim leaders of USF Health after healthcare innovator Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and CEO of USF Health, was named to lead a prominent Philadelphia university and hospital system.   Dr. Petersen, dean of the USF College of Public Health, serves as interim CEO of USF Health, and Dr. van Loveren, chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, as interim dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, while the national search for USF Health’s next CEO and medical school dean continues.

The USF College of Pharmacy continued to advance on a fast track as it grows toward a projected complement of 400 students. The incoming College of Pharmacy Class of 2017 represented the largest class in the highly competitive school’s short history – with 107 students selected from among 800 applicants. This past summer the college — with an innovative, rigorous curriculum emphasizing a collaborative approach to patient care and research — was awarded accreditation status by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education.

The Doctors of USF Health campaign introduced this spring informed patients and families across the region that the region’s only academic medical center provides access to the most advanced health care available.  The brand identity linked to USF Health’s launch of a newly designed patient care website with access to nearly 400 highly specialized healthcare professionals.

The first class of USF SELECT students, having completed their first two years of learning at the Morsani College of Medicine, moved to Allentown, PA, to begin two years of clinical education at Lehigh Valley Health Network.  The innovative program, which welcomed its charter class in Fall 2011,  gives students unique training in leadership development, intense coaching, and the scholarly tools they need to become empathetic, passionate physician leaders who will be catalysts for change.

Construction began in March on the USF Health Specialty Care Center in The Villages, setting the stage for a new era and range of health care for residents of “America’s Healthiest Hometown,” the nation’s largest community of people over 55. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held Jan. 24, 2014, for the 25,000-square-foot facility, designed as a collaborative complement to The Villages’ expanding primary care network. USF Health doctors representing several specialties will provide high-level care at the new center,

A new master’s degree program in Physician Assistant Studies, based in the Morsani College of Medicine, was approved by the USF Board of Trustees in March 2013. The first class for the interprofessional, two-year PA program will start Summer 2015, initially accepting 24 students, with plans to increase that capacity. The program is an important step forward in addressing the state’s increasing shortage of primary care practitioners.

Tampa General Hospital approved a new long-term affiliation agreement with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. The “evergreen” agreement automatically renews each year.  The strengthened partnership will help Tampa Bay’s only quaternary hospital and its only academic medical center to enhance what both institutions do best:  provide leading care for patients and teaching and training opportunities for residents and students.

The USF School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences and the University of West Florida announced a physical therapy partnership program that will offer a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree in Pensacola. The collaborative program, approved by the Florida Board of Governors in January 2013, will start in Summer 2014.  It will expand access to UWF students interested in pursuing a DPT and help meet a state-identified need for more physical therapists in a largely rural region of the state.  USF Physical Therapy also continues to lay the foundation for a new PhD program in Rehabilitation Sciences, which was approved by the USF Board of Trustees in December.

The USF College of Public Health greeted new students this fall with a record number of online offerings. Demand for the college’s online public health degree programs has exploded this year — with enrollment more than doubling since the middle of the last decade. The college’s advances in distance learning have been noted in the Guide to Online Schools, which uses data compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics to rank colleges with the best quality and most affordable online programs. USF Health is home to the nation’s first online master’s degree in health informatics and to seven online master’s degree programs in public health.

Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

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The collaboration will help meet a state-identified need for more physical therapists

Tampa, FL  (Jan. 23, 2013)  – The University of South Florida (USF) and the University of West Florida (UWF) will be able to move forward to create a pilot program offering a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree in Pensacola.  The partnership program was approved last week by the Florida Board of Governors, which serves as a key step in advancing its implementation.

The Board’s approval follows the Florida Legislature’s appropriation last year of $1 million to help fund the USF-UWF Doctor of Physical Therapy education partnership program.

The collaborative program will expand access to UWF students interested in pursuing a DPT and help meet a state-identified need for more physical therapists in a largely rural region of the state.

“This is an exciting educational partnership for health care in Florida,” said Stephen K. Klasko, MD, CEO of USF Health and dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.  “We are grateful that state lawmakers, the Florida Board of Governors, UWF President Judy Bense, and USF President Judy Genshaft have all recognized the critical need for more physical therapists to meet the future healthcare needs of Floridians.”

If other requirements by accreditation organizations are met as expected, students will begin applying for the program in July 2013 and start their studies in summer 2014.

The partnership will allow the USF Health School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences to expand enrollment in its nationally-ranked, three-year DPT degree program by as many as 12 additional students a year.  The newly created slots will be competitively available to UWF graduates who meet USF’s DPT admissions requirements.  When fully implemented, up to 36 qualified UWF graduates could be enrolled in the program.

Students would spend their first year of physical therapy studies at the USF Health campus in Tampa. The final two years of the three-year program would be spent in classrooms at UWF’s Pensacola campus and clinical internships conducted at hospitals and outpatient sites across the state’s Panhandle.

William S. Quillen, DPT, PhD, leads the nationally-ranked USF Health School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences.

“Together USF, with our cutting-edge physical therapy education program emphasizing inter-professional collaboration, and UWF, which provides impressive pre-professional health sciences education, will help meet this rapidly growing demand for physical therapy services.” said William S. Quillen, DPT, PhD, director of the USF School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences and associate dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

“This partnership will provide a valuable opportunity for UWF students to participate in USF’s nationally recognized Doctor of Physical Therapy program,” said Martha Saunders, PhD, UWF Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs. “Partnerships like this are important because they maximize the state’s resources, build on successful programming and provide needed support to our community. We appreciate the support of both institutions’ Board of Trustees as well as the Florida Board of Governors, and I am looking forward to more collaborations in the future.”

The University of West Florida in Pensacola serves a largely rural region of the state in need of more physical therapists.

The Board of Governors conducted a statewide analysis regarding the physical therapist workforce demand. Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (FDEO) data and online tools indicate that the Pensacola area is a remote pocket of high-demand in the state for physical therapists, with more than 160 openings advertised in Fall 2012.

Florida public and independent universities awarded an estimated 392 professional DPT degrees during 2011-2012. The FDEO projected workforce demand for physical therapists is 492 annually to the year 2020.

“Northwest Florida is home to healthcare organizations, such as Andrews Institute, that are known throughout the United States for their quality physical therapy programs,” said George Stewart, PhD, Director of the UWF School of Allied Health and Life Sciences. “This program will produce qualified professionals who are prepared to enter this competitive workforce. The regional healthcare community has been extremely supportive of this endeavor, and we will use their expertise and facilities for internships, clinical rounds and more. We look forward to meeting their need for trained physical therapists.”

-USF Health-

USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. The University of South Florida is a global research university ranked 50^th in the nation by the National Science Foundation for both federal and total research expenditures among all U.S. universities.

                    – University of West Florida-

With campuses in Pensacola and along the Emerald Coast, the University of West Florida serves a student population of more than 12,500. UWF’s mission is to provide students with access to high-quality, relevant and affordable undergraduate and graduate learning experiences; to transmit, apply and discover knowledge through teaching, scholarship, research and public service; and to engage in community partnerships that respond to mutual concerns and opportunities and that advance the economy and quality of life in the region. It was named one of “America’s Top Colleges” by Forbes Magazine in 2011 and 2012. Small class sizes and personalized attention from dedicated faculty are what make UWF “different by design.” 

Media Contacts:
Megan Prawdzik, University of West Florida
(850) 474-2658, or mprawdzik@uwf.edu

Anne DeLotto Baier, University of South Florida (USF Health)
(813) 974-3303, or abaier@health.usf.edu