MIZZOU NEWS

Health Professions Celebrates
25th Anniversary

By Matt McGowan

Back when Jimmy Carter lived in the White House and the Shack served cheap beer and hamburgers across the street from Jesse Hall, the University of Missouri-Columbia established the School of Health Professions. The action formally grouped five “allied health” programs into one school, an “upper division undergraduate unit, administered by the School of Medicine.”

The University’s auspicious decision in 1978 also established Missouri’s only state-supported school of health professions on an academic health campus, a status that continues today. Since that time, the school has built and maintained a strong reputation for providing quality professional education and outreach services. With nationally renowned scientists studying arthritis, exercise, aging, rehabilitation, communication disorders and other health conditions, the school is ranked as one of the nation’s leaders in health-professions research.

Offering the nation’s only master’s degree program in diagnostic medical ultrasound and developing a doctoral program in physical therapy are two examples of the school’s mission to provide advanced educational opportunities that will prepare students and alumni for future developments in health care. The School of Health Professions will honor these achievements in celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

The school’s first five programs—physical therapy, occupational therapy, inhalation therapy (later changed to respiratory therapy), medical technology and radiologic technology — did not miraculously materialize in 1978. Academic courses and clinical training leading to baccalaureate degrees in each program had been offered at MU for several years. For most of the 1960s, for example, hospital-based training programs helped students obtain professional certification in these programs. For example, MU’s Rusk Rehabilitation Center—named after Howard A. Rusk, an MU alumnus and father of rehabilitation medicine—still serves as a clinical training site for physical therapy and occupational therapy students.

In 1969, a formal agreement between the School of Medicine and the College of Education allowed students to earn, for the first time at MU, bachelor’s of science degrees in the five health-professions programs. The collaboration between the colleges worked well for a while, but it wasn’t ideal. The awkward marriage between them wasn’t the only factor that motivated administrators and faculty members to begin talking about starting a new school. Issues such as autonomy, identity and recognition also fueled the discussion.

Virtually everyone connected to an MU health professions program acknowledged the importance of being part of a new school with a clearly defined mission. This strong foundation of support ultimately led to the decision to create the School of Health-Related Professions within the medical school.

In December 1998, faculty efforts—many of which mirrored those 20 years earlier—culminated in unanimous approval of a plan to ask for more autonomy and give the School of Health Related Professions independent status within the University. Students, alumni and faculty members agreed that health-professions issues were unique from those of medicine and needed to be addressed by a unit that had its own identity. They emphasized that an independent health-professions school would be eligible for National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding that it could not receive while part of the School of Medicine. Two years later, the school received independent status and changed its name from the School of Health Related Professions to the School of Health Professions. Richard Oliver was appointed the school’s first dean.

In 2001, shortly after gaining independent status, the school added the Department of Health Psychology.

Today, when compared to other health-professions schools, MU’s School of Health Professions is ranked 15th nationally in NIH research funding. The school currently has more than 650 undergraduate and graduate students and approximately 6,000 alumni, most of whom have remained in Missouri to work in a health-professions career. Several alumni hold critical positions in educational and health-policy organizations, such as the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education, the NIH and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

“Our school has come a long way since 1978,” Oliver said. “I’ve been here since the beginning, and I’m proud of our many accomplishments. We continue to receive national recognition for excellence and innovation in professional education, scholarship and outreach services. But while I honor our history and take pride in current successes, I am even more excited about the future. We will build on our achievements to become one of the premier health-professions schools in the United States.”

Today, the School of Health Professions offers eight different professional programs within five departments, including:

• Cardiopulmonary and Diagnostic Sciences: This department is made up of four distinct programs: diagnostic medical ultrasound, nuclear medicine, radiography and respiratory therapy. The latter share a core curriculum, however each program retains autonomy as an independent academic unit with its own professional licensing credentials. The department offered the nation’s first bachelor’s degree in respiratory therapy and the first master’s degree in diagnostic medical ultrasound.
  
  
• Communication Science and Disorders: The roots of this department, which had been part of the Department of English and the School of Medicine, reach back to the late 1800s. The program currently offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees and is the only program in Missouri to offer a PhD in communication science and disorders. The department also operates the Speech and Hearing Clinic and the Robert G. Combs Language Preschool.
  
  
• Health Psychology: As the only departmental addition since the University granted independent status for the school, health psychology faculty members are the sole providers of neuropsychological and rehabilitation psychology services for central Missouri. They also provide specialized psychological services to underserved rural areas of Missouri. The department has received $4 million each year in research grants. Faculty members also participate in the Missouri Model Brain Injury and Spinal Cord Injury systems. MU is one of only eight sites in the country to direct model systems for both brain- and spinal-cord injury, and of those eight, MU is the primary provider of data on how traumatic brain- and spinal-cord injuries affect rural areas.
  
  
• Occupational Therapy: As one of the original academic units in the school, the occupational therapy program has provided professional training for more than 400 students. These students have scored above the national average on the national certification exam for more than 25 years. While maintaining the professional training emphasis, the department is converting to a graduate program with a stronger research focus, especially on holistic and complementary therapies.
  
  
• Physical Therapy: MU has offered physical therapy training and education since the early 1960s. Today, the department offers a master’s of physical therapy degree and has started to develop a program leading to a clinical doctorate of physical therapy. With external research awards of approximately $400,000 annually, faculty members in the department help lead the nation in arthritis, aging and pain research. Their work is conducted primarily at The Health Connection, a health and wellness facility for Columbia’s older adult population. In 2003, The National Council on the Aging identified The Health Connection as one of the nation’s top health and wellness centers for older adults.

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Last Update: September 3, 2008