Fulfilling a leadership role. 解决肯塔基州联邦的康复和保健需要. Succeeding through research, education and service.

这些目标构成了火狐体育下注康复科学博士项目的使命.

拥有39名教师和45名全职和兼职学生，他们来自不同的背景和一系列的临床和高等教育经验, 该计划包括跨学科的教育，通过不同机构的几个参与专业, such as Athletic Training, Communication Science and Disorders, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, 从下学期开始——医师助理研究和健康服务研究.

With the program slated to celebrate its 20-year anniversary in May, program faculty say there is a lot to celebrate, reflect on, and get excited about moving forward.

2000年该项目成立时，首任主任是Susan Effgen PT博士. 她认识到该项目在最初几年面临的独特挑战, 由于普遍缺乏博士级别的教师来教授跨学科的课程. 这成为该项目的早期使命:寻找合适的学生成为康复科学研究和教育的未来领导者.

Effgen remembers some of those early classes fondly, 尤其是当她想到一些校友在各自领域取得的成就时. She has even called them in to help with her own work. For her most recent textbook, Meeting the Physical Therapy Needs of Children, 3rd Edition, alumna Alyssa LeForme Fiss, PT, PhD served as co-author.

“能够让你以前的学生参与进来，这是令人难以置信的，因为他们是如此优秀，如此善于表达，在这种情况下，他们写得很好，受到很好的评价，你让他们共同撰写一本教科书来教新生,” she said. “When you’re doing it right, it becomes a cycle.”

Here, you can see the success all of the program’s alumni are enjoying, 以及他们是如何通过他们的工作最终为项目的使命服务的.

One such alumnus, Scott W. Shaffer, PT, PhD, OCS, ECS, and a 2017 UK Hall of Fame inductee, describes the program in three words: “Inspirational. Thought-provoking, and growth-centric. 你不可能在思考和处理事情的方式上有指数级的飞跃,” Shaffer said. “Even though I was working 80-90 hours a week, I wanted to be there because I was getting so much out of it.”

Effgen希望通过该项目继续培养一批合格的研究人员，以“保持研究议程和临床研究”,” she said. “我们没有临床知识来治疗我们所服务的许多疾病, and research is going to be the best tool to serve those groups best.”

该计划的设立是为了有效地建立学术界康复科学的领导地位, industry, government and research. If the last 20 years can be thought of in phases, 最早的一项是教授和培训博士毕业生到机构任教. Now, 重点已转移到培训和培养一支多样化的跨学科研究人员队伍.

The current director of the program, Esther Dupont-Versteegden, PhD, believes this is the best path to serving communities.

“More and more, 我们希望博士项目的一些早期毕业生现在能教博士生，这些博士生正在建立研究基础，以找到不同行业迫切需要的证据,” Dupont-Versteegden said. She believes that with this research, 将发现对康复领域的新理解，并将其转化为跨多个学科的形成性最佳实践.”

Like Anne Olson, PhD, CCC/A听力学家和通信科学与障碍系主任. She received her PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences in 2010.

“当我在Sharon Stewart的敦促下进入RHB博士项目时，我已经做了将近20年的临床听力学家, PhD, Emerita,” Olson said. “我不确定我是否能完成这个项目，因为当时我和丈夫要抚养三个孩子. In the short run, it was one of the biggest challenges of my life. In the long run, 我现在意识到这是我做过的最好的决定之一，因为它给了我更多的新体验的机会.”

Dupont-Versteegden said that collaborative, 跨学科的研究是至关重要的程序和发展全面, team-oriented graduates.

“The main thing that sets the Program apart from others, is that it is truly interdisciplinary, which gives the students a really rich environment to do research,” she said. “Team-based research.”

Another aspect that Dupont-Versteegden hopes to build on is diversity. 她说:“在许多医疗保健专业中，教员的多样性非常低。. “This can be problematic, as research shows that the more diverse research teams are, the more creative ideas become, the stronger the teams perform, and the more devoted to serving broader demographics inherently.“随着越来越多不同的想法能够聚集在一起，这也创造了更强的跨学科联系, she said.

这种跨学科的关注对于一所大学来说是一项艰巨的任务, 这就是为什么与东火狐体育下注和西火狐体育下注的联系和合作帮助这个项目蓬勃发展的原因.

其中一位合作者是来自东火狐体育下注的Dana Howell博士，OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA. She started working within the Rehabilitation program in 2006, and in 2008, she became the liaison between UK and EKU.

“对我们来说最重要的是，我们自己的很多教员都完成了博士课程,” Howell said. “It’s very hard to get PhD-prepared, Occupational Therapy Faculty. 在我们的后院有一个我们积极参与的项目，这对招聘和留住教职员工有很大的好处.”

Different connections have helped to make the program stronger, especially in recent months, 因为在COVID-19大流行期间，大学被迫寻找新的创新方式来继续教学. Many of the classes are taught in mixed settings, both virtual and in-person, and with collaboration between different universities. 康复计划是唯一能够找到立足点并继续下去的项目.

Of course, there were challenges, including an inability  to do in-person research, 还有今年的毕业生无法参加毕业典礼和兜帽典礼.

Now, 杜邦-韦斯特格登希望至少为该项目20周年举办一次虚拟庆祝活动, in May.

当被问及她将如何继续描述这个项目的目标时，她毫不犹豫.

“(该项目)是将许多不同学科与特定知识结合在一起，建立最强大的研究项目，培养教育领域的领导者,” she said, “which ultimately helps us serve our patients to a higher degree.”