School of Health and
Rehabilitation Sciences

Overview

At the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS), we move lives forward.

Through academic research, technology design and rigorous training, we educate the next generation of health professionals who will help others reach their fullest potential.  Our many departments and programs include Clinical Dietetics and Nutrition, Communication Science and Disorders, Emergency Medicine, Health Information Management, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Prosthetics and Orthotics, Rehabilitation Counseling, Rehabilitation Science and Technology and Sports Medicine and Athletic Training.  These programs – joined by their common focus on real science helping real people – offer undergraduate, graduate, doctorate and certificate programs.

Learning at SHRS goes well beyond the classroom.  Our close working relationship with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center as well as research labs and clinics throughout the University, means that our students have unique access to internship and research opportunities.

Some students come to us to pursue a degree that leads to professional certification and licensing.  Others want to lay the foundation for a career in academic research or innovative product design.  Whatever the goal, we promise our students the challenge and satisfaction of earning a degree that puts them at the forefront of their health-related field.

SHRS, together with the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, is a community of students, faculty, staff, researchers and clinicians who teach and learn from each other.  We have a sense of mutual value.  We strive to do our best and then to do even better, for ourselves our colleagues and for those we serve.

Donor Profile

Joe David

Joe David knows first hand the importance of physical therapy; and not simply because he’s a board certified specialist in orthopaedic physical therapy and founder of the David Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine Center in Mt. Lebanon, Pa. Before embarking on his PT career, Joe was a standout basketball player at Upper St. Clair High School and an academic All-American at the University of Pittsburgh. And like any accomplished athlete, he spent plenty of time on the PT table.

So when Joe decided “to move on with my life” rather than pursue a professional basketball career, physical therapy seemed a natural progression. He spent the summer of 1986 volunteering in the PT department at Montefiore Hospital, was accepted into Pitt’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences that fall, and in December 1988, graduated with a masters degree in sport and orthopaedic physical therapy. He completed his doctorate in physical therapy from Temple University.

Joe was so grateful to the University of Pittsburgh for giving him his start that he created the David Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Center / Joseph M. David Endowed Scholarship Fund, a scholarship specifically for students pursuing a physical therapy degree.  “You look back on why you are successful – for me, it was folks like Dave Perrin, my athletic trainer at Pitt, who told me about the profession, and the great professors at the University of Pittsburgh’s department of Physical Therapy. It’s an opportunity to give back and thank them for the opportunity they gave me.” Joe says

For a guy who’s used to winning, giving students the opportunity to follow their dreams through his scholarship is a victory for everyone.

Contact us

Patty Kummick

Director of Development
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
4031 Forbes Tower
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Phone: 412-383-6548
pkummick@shrs.pitt.edu

Patty Kummick joined the University of Pittsburgh and SHRS in 2004.  Before working as director of development and executive editor of FACETS magazine, she led public relations, marketing and development efforts in hosopitals and health systems in Pennsylvania, Ohio and northern California.  She received both her undergraduate and graduate level degrees in journalism and communications from Point Park University, Pittsburgh, PA.  A native of southwestern Pennsylvania, Patty enjoys cooking, gardening, bicycling, traveling and caring for her dog.