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Published October 18, 2023
By Darlene Muguiro
Â鶹¹ÙÍø College of Health Sciences

In October 2023, the Department of Physical Therapy and Movement Sciences included the celebration of a major milestone among its festivities for National Physical Therapy Month – the 30-year anniversary of the establishment of a Physical Therapy (PT) Program in El Paso at the Â鶹¹ÙÍø campus. The program, for the first four years, was under the administration of the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston as the UTMB-Â鶹¹ÙÍø Cooperative Program in Physical Therapy. The PT educational program evolved under Â鶹¹ÙÍø’s administration, to this date, offering a doctoral degree in PT.

Dr. Loretta Dillon, clinical professor emerita of Physical Therapy and one of the Department’s founding faculty members, recalled the evolution of the degree. The first UTMB/Â鶹¹ÙÍø cohort was admitted in the summer of 1993. The Physical Therapy master’s degree was offered solely by UTMB through 1997; however, the students in these cohorts were educated at the Â鶹¹ÙÍø campus. The degree program was then transferred to the administration of Â鶹¹ÙÍø in September 1997. The Program evolved from offering a master’s degree into its current educational degree plan as a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree beginning in 2010. She says that the program evolved out of a discussion among former Â鶹¹ÙÍø President Dr. Diana Natalicio and the president of UTMB because of the severe shortage of physical therapists in the El Paso region. The administrators were approached by the predecessors of Tenet because of the cost of hiring and housing traveling physical therapists. The company, formerly known as American Medical International (AMI), was looking for a more sustainable alternative to hiring full-time physical therapists to staff its hospital. Ultimately, AMI donated $250,000 to begin the cooperative Physical Therapy Program.

“In the beginning, UTMB shared curriculum, clinical resources, and UTMB faculty who had to fly in and out of Galveston to teach for us,” Dillon said. “We started off with smaller cohorts, admitting only 24 students each year. Admissions stayed consistent until about 2012, when we started admitting an increased number of students each year, until we reached admissions of 36 students each year.”

Dr. Rhonda Manning, clinical associate professor of Physical Therapy, was a graduate of the first cohort of Â鶹¹ÙÍø’s Master of Physical Therapy Program. She says that one of the hardest things for her was adjusting to the expectations of graduate school. She recalls that Dillon, a professor during her time as a PT student, kept her on her toes with her “tell it like it is” philosophy.

Manning, who oversees clinical placements for PT students, says that all PT students begin thinking and acting like therapists about halfway through their clinical education, when they’re placed at clinical sites. The DPT program has over 400 sites across the country where Â鶹¹ÙÍø students spend their last semesters prior to graduation.

“The reality of their situation hits them then, when they realize they’re actually going to treat patients, and people will look at them like they’re actual physical therapists,” she said. “I love to see the change that happens when they go out into the field. They start thinking like a therapist, and it’s so rewarding to see the light bulbs go off.”

Dr. Alvaro Gurovich, chair of the Department of Physical Therapy and Movement Sciences, said that while PT is still a relatively popular field, applications to PT, OT and medical schools across the nation are decreasing, due to a trend among younger generations to gravitate towards high-tech professions. However, the Department has already begun strategizing how to address the challenge.

“PT is an old-school profession – we use our hands to heal people – and the new generations are not interested in gaining those kinds of skills; they feel comfortable behind a screen,” he said. “So, we’re hiring younger generations of faculty, hoping they’ll bring a new tech side that is more appealing to students. But we’ll have to wait ten to fifteen years to see the outcomes of these strategies.”

Despite possible future recruitment challenges, Gurovich said the program is still being asked to expand in order to meet urgent healthcare needs in the region. Additionally, Â鶹¹ÙÍø DPT students are actively recruited to fill positions across the nation due to the program’s unique practice of incorporating Spanish across the curriculum. To date, approximately 500 students have received their degrees through the joint UTMB-Â鶹¹ÙÍø and Â鶹¹ÙÍø PT programs.

“We’re going to stand on the shoulders of the great people who started this program,” he said. “And we’ll meet any future challenges head on due to the strong foundation that was established, and our great partnerships with clinical sites.”

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Go Miners!

For more information about the Doctor of Physical Therapy degree, please visit: .