About the Program—Program History
For 60 years, the University of Colorado’s Program in Physical Therapy has educated physical therapists to serve in the world of health care. The Program was the first civilian professional program situated in the Rocky Mountain region, graduating it’s first class of six students in 1948.
The Program received initial accreditation in 1947 from the Council on Medical Education and Hospitals of the American Medical Association and has maintained an uninterrupted record of approval since that date. The Program was most recently accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education in 2001.
The Program made the transition from offering only a certificate to awarding a baccalaureate degree in 1952, and continued at that degree level until 1990 when a Master of Science, Physical Therapy degree was initiated. Over that period, the Program expanded from the original 12 months to 24 months in length.
The 60 graduating classes of the Program have supplied over 1,800 new therapists, many of whom supported growth of physical therapy services in the Rocky Mountain region. In 2004, the Program was approved to offer a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree by the Colorado Commission of Higher Education.
To fulfill its mission of research and scholarship, the Program, in 1999, in conjunction with the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, UCDHSC, and The Children’s Hospital’s Departments of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, the Program opened the region's first research laboratory, the Center for Gait and Movement Analysis. In 2000, the second research laboratory, the Human Performance Laboratory opened, a joint venture between the Program and the UCDHSC Department of Rehabilitation Medicine.
In 2001, the Program partnered with the Foothills Park and Recreation District to provide physical therapy services ( education, clinical outcomes,and service) in a community-based setting as part of a prevention, health, and wellness program. This same year, the Program signed an agreement with the Department of Physical Therapy, Yamagata Prefectural University of Health Science, Yamagata, Japan, to share faculty, students and research.
In late 2007 we entered one of the most exciting periods in the history of the University of Colorado Denver Physical Therapy Program, with our move to the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, CO. Designed as a square-mile center for healthcare delivery, research and education, our new home at AMC includes three teaching hospitals, five health professions schools, and a bioscience research enterprise.