SHRS Blog

If you are considering Pitt’s Doctor of Occupational Therapy Program, you will need to complete your online application through the Occupational Therapy Centralized Application Service, or OTCAS. After reviewing applications for more than a decade, I am happy to offer some expert tips to creating a stellar application!

I applied for the University of Pittsburgh Bachelor of Science in Nutrition Science program on the last day that applications were open! It was a lazy summer day, and I’d been lingering around the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS) website, rather clueless about what major I’d pursue, but knew that I was “pre-Physician Assistant (PA)” and working to fulfill those prerequisites. The Nutrition Science program was rather a spur-of-the-moment decision, but it wasn’t arbitrary and also happened to be a very correct one.

June Bracken (CSBA ’23) grew up in Wexford, Pennsylvania, and originally wanted to pursue a career in music. Her talents included singing and playing a variety of instruments, which led her to the music therapy program at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.

In the mid 1960’s after Keith Erb (PT ’65)  graduated from West Virginia University, he enrolled in the D.T. Watson School of Physiatrics in Sewickley, PA, which was where Pitt’s physical therapy program began in 1927. At the time, it was a one-year certificate program and men made up one-third of the program’s students. They attended classes or labs for eight hours a day and had four to five hours of studying each night. Keith’s one special treat each school week was to watch 30 minutes of his favorite television show, Mayberry RFD, with his wife Barb.

University of Pittsburgh Doctor of PA Studies (DPAS) student Gianna Coscia (DPAS ‘24) from Buffalo, NY, began the online program in summer 2023 while continuing to work full-time as a clinical research physician assistant (PA) in neurosurgery at University at Buffalo Neurosurgery. Coscia is excited to be part of the Pitt DPAS program and shares her experience being an online doctoral student. Read how the program is setting her up for expanded leadership opportunities in the PA profession.

Professor Susan L. Whitney from the Department of Physical Therapy was recently re-elected to serve as the vice president of the International Neurologic Physiotherapy Association (INPA), a subgroup of World Physiotherapy based in the United Kingdom. She will serve a three-year term and as part of her duties will be co-planning an international virtual neurologic meeting that will involve at least 25 world experts in stroke, Parkinson’s disease, vestibular disorders and spinal cord injury and another 20 people to plan the meeting that will be held in fall 2024. As vice president, she works with the practice, education, webinar and special interest group teams to improve neurologic physical therapy practice globally.

Pursuing a doctoral degree is a transformative intellectual journey. Most PAs welcome advancement within their scope of practice and are willing to engage in projects that foster professional improvement. The University of Pittsburgh Doctor of PA Studies (DPAS) program provides students with the education to independently design and conduct a quality improvement (QI) project, analyze data, evaluate corresponding literature and develop ideas contributing to their practice setting. As graduates from the first cohort in the DPAS program, we can attest to the benefits and necessity of this advanced degree.

On Jan. 2, 2023, sports fans around the world held their collective breath as they watched Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin suffer sudden cardiac arrest on the field during a Monday night football game against the Cincinnati Bengals. What they may not realize is they were watching a highly orchestrated medical rescue—one that is rehearsed day in, day out in every sports facility in the country, from schools and community parks to colleges, universities and professional athletic venues. Kevin Conley, associate professor and chair, Department of Sports Medicine and Nutrition, notes that every team, every facility has an emergency action plan (EAP).

I am pleased to announce that Director of Admissions Jessica Maguire is now Executive Director of Student Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS). In this position, she will provide strategic direction and oversight of admissions, advisement, student engagement and student services. She will advise and advocate for students and student groups, and collaborate closely with and advise the dean, vice dean, associate deans, department chairs and program directors.

Congratulations to Kristofer Herlitz!

Herlitz was awarded with the Pitt Sports Science program’s Emerging Sports Science Professional Scholarship at The 3 World of Sports Science 2023 virtual conference in March.

There’s something in the DNA of occupational therapists that propels them to seek out ways to implement positive change. 

According to Juleen Rodakowski, associate professor and chair, Department of Occupational Therapy (OT), occupational therapists often seek ways to improve the lives of their clients. This desire spurs practitioners to wonder how to best deliver interventions and support their clients—or even how the use of evidence can influence the OT profession as a whole.