For the 4th year in a row, students in the UAB School of Health Professions’ Doctor of Physical Therapy program hosts Oxford-style debates to better learn the issues they may face in the PT field.

 The University of Alabama at Birmingham has named Andrew J. Butler, MPT, MBA, Ph.D., dean of the UAB School of Health Professions following a national search.

Donna Slovensky, Ph.D., professor and senior associate dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs in the School of Health Professions, will become the interim dean of the school April 1, when Dean Harold Jones will officially retire after a distinguished career of 18 years in that role.

Researchers at the UAB School of Health Professions have been awarded a five-year, $4.625 million grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research to translate a novel exercise program, referred to as Movement-2-Music, into several community-based fitness centers in Birmingham. 

Two students in the UAB PhD in Rehabilitation Science program defended their doctoral dissertations in November. Anwar B S Almutairi and Sarah dos Anjos are the 9th and 10th students to defend in this young program that is an interdisciplinary program sponsored by the Departments of Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy.

Jennifer Christy, Ph.D. is the new program director of the UAB Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program. She says, “The UAB DPT program has a rich history of excellence and has great potential to become the top PT program in the nation.”

Harold Jones, Ph.D., dean of the School of Health Professions, has announced that he will be stepping down from his role as dean, pending arrival of his successor. Jones became dean of what then was known as the School of Health-Related Professions in April 2001, when it had a total of approximately 800 students. Today, it has more than 2,200 students.

Robert Motl, Ph.D., a professor in the School of Health Professions, developed the exercise program used in the study.Story by Bob Shepard, UAB News

Researchers studying methods of exercise delivery and the effects on people living with multiple sclerosis have been awarded $5.7 million in funding by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

James Rimmer, Ph.D.The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors has approved a $5.8 million grant over the next four years to the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Health Professions’ James Rimmer, Ph.D., to fund a study to determine whether people with multiple sclerosis get as much benefit from an exercise-based rehabilitation program delivered via internet and telephone as they do when the therapy is provided in a clinic.

David Morris – Joseph F. Volker AwardDavid Morris, PT, Ph.D. – Joseph F. Volker Award 

From left: Mark Swanson, Katherine Weise, Jennifer Christy, Claudio Busettini in the VORLab.A new research laboratory at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the first of this kind in Alabama and one of only a few in America, could lead to a better understanding of the effects of concussions.