HIGH POINT, N.C., May 27, 2015 – High Point University’s Department of Physical Therapy has joined with the School of Physiotherapy at the University of Otago, New Zealand in a partnership that will expand future academic and research opportunities for students.
Under the new partnership, the two departments will collaborate on student and faculty exchange in support of teaching, research and clinical opportunities. The first research exchange is planned for August 2015, when one of Otago’s Ph.D. students will visit the world-class facilities in High Point to collaborate with faculty at the Department of Physical Therapy. Plans are already underway for selected Physical Therapy students from High Point to undertake clinical rotations in Otago’s School of Physiotherapy Clinics in Dunedin, New Zealand.
The partnership formalizes a strong relationship that already exists between the two programs.
“We are excited to be aligned with an international partner whose philosophy of integrating strong clinical practice, research, teaching and learning fits perfectly with our own,” says Dr. Eric Hegedus, professor and founding chair of the Department of Physical Therapy at HPU. “This partnership also provides future physical therapy students at HPU with opportunities for clinical experience and the chance to pursue a Ph.D. internationally.”
The Otago School of Physiotherapy was originally established in 1913, making it one of the oldest physiotherapy schools in the world. It has the top-ranked research program of its kind in New Zealand and offers high-quality postgraduate study through the school’s Centre for Health, Activity and Rehabilitation Research.
Professors from Otago and HPU have visited each other’s universities for years, and one of HPU’s faculty members, assistant professor Alexis Wright, earned her doctorate from the University of Otago. Professors of both universities recently came together to hold a “Friends of Otago and High Point University” reception at the Combined Sections Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association, the largest gathering of physical therapists in the world.
The state-of-the-art technology and facilities available at HPU, including the Human Biomechanics and Physiology Lab, have allowed the Physical Therapy faculty to create collaborative research endeavors with universities around the world. In addition to this partnership with the University of Otago, HPU also collaborates with the University of Ulster, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Department of Orthopaedics, University of Chicago, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Ohio State University and Washington University.