August 24, 2015: Dr. Janeen Hill, the Dean of the Crean College of Health & Behavioral Sciences at Chapman University, Orange, CA, recently announced the appointment of Emmanuel B. John, PT, PhD as a Tenured Associate Professor and the new Chair, Department of Physical Therapy, effective August, 2015. In the announcement, Dr. Hill writes, "....Dr. John brings to Chapman a rich history as a clinician and academic, an international perspective on healthcare, and an extensive record of national and international professional service.  Dr. John’s research spans three areas:  effects of age, gender, and neurological lesions on the sense of motor effort; effects of discharge destinations and socioeconomic factors on motor function recovery after stroke; and, the impact of brain-drain on physical therapy education in developing countries." 

Dr. Emmanuel B. John who resumed his new position at Chapman University on August 24, 2015, was most recently an Associate Professor and Director of Research at the School of Physical Therapy, Touro University Nevada, Henderson, Nevada (2014-2015). Prior, Dr. John was an Associate Professor and Director, Motor Control and Neuromuscular Performance Laboratory at Radford University (RU), Roanoke, VA (2011-2014) and an Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy at Howard University, Washington DC (2006-1011).

According to Dr. John, "I am particularly excited about this opportunity to bring visionary leadership to the second oldest continually accredited Physical Therapy education program in the country. The Chapman University Physical Therapy education program was founded in 1926, first accredited in 1928, and has remained a very strong program to date. It is indeed a privilege to be chosen to lead this great Physical Therapy Education Program".

Chapman University
Located in Orange, California, Chapman University founded in 1861, is a mid-sized private university with undergraduate and graduate enrollment of over 8,000 students*. Just steps away from the restaurants and shops in Orange’s Old Towne Plaza, Chapman’s stately, palm-treed campus is a centerpiece of this comfortable mid-sized city. Ideally situated within an hour’s drive of Los Angeles, our southern California location provides easy access to LA and Hollywood internships, beautiful beaches, Disneyland, mountains and desert. Chapman University's whole personal education strategy attracts students from different backgrounds and countries from all over the world: with students from 49 states, the U.S. territories and more than 60 different countries.

Chapman University is home to artists, adventurers, leaders and scientists, each with unique stories and goals that come together to form the Chapman Family. At Chapman, students become friends and collaborators; faculty members become mentors with the connections and knowledge to help students' move forward with their goals. Chapman's diverse student body combined with small classes make it possible for students to connect across borders and backgrounds, opening them to experience different cultures and ways of viewing the world. Chapman emphasizes the interdisciplinary study of the arts and sciences as well as professional programs, giving both undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to become multidimensional, original thinkers—the kind of people who flourish in a challenging world. Not only does Chapman strive to connect academic areas of inquiry through interdisciplinary study, students are connected to faculty and the University to the community, so that each student's education is personal, relevant and engaged in the larger world.

Department of Physical Therapy at Chapman University
The Department of Physical Therapy at Chapman University moved into the Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science Campus in Irvine, CA in the Fall of 2014, with brand new facilities.

The physical therapy program traces its roots to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in the early 1900s.  A physical therapy program was started there by Lucile Grunewald, a physical educator, who was among the first women to offer therapeutic applications of exercise for persons recovering from diseases or injuries. She admitted students who already had a degree in some related field, usually physical education. Physical therapy knowledge was added to their existing knowledge base and graduates received a certificate to practice physical therapy. When the program affiliated with Chapman University, the Master of Physical Therapy (MPT) was the degree awarded to graduates. This program has always been offered as a post-baccalaureate program, a rarity in physical therapy educational programs of long standing. Chapman University wanted the historic program to continue with enduring quality and value. The program sought and achieved accreditation for the DPT degree in May of 2001, one of the first twenty-five percent of programs to accomplish that feat. Chapman's first DPT degrees were awarded in 2004.

One, if not, the First
Records at the American Physical Therapy Association indicate that a physical therapy program existed at Children’s Hospital in 1926. That year was the first year that records were kept, and five programs were listed. The start dates of some of those five programs are known and were operating during or after World War I. Historic records allow us to conclude that the program now at Chapman University is either the nation’s longest, continuous program or one of two programs started at approximately the same time. The earliest accreditation was granted in 1928, and the current program at Chapman University is the only program from the initial accreditation that survives to current time. When programs could no longer be based in hospitals, Chapman University responded by affiliating with the Children’s Hospital. That affiliation began in 1985, and the program moved to the Orange Campus of Chapman University in 1993.
(Source: Chapman University websites)

Dr. John can be reached at: ebjohn@nigeriaphysio.net.