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By Kate Hunger 

School of Health Professions second-year physical therapy student Kevin Hamilton was one of 10 students from graduate schools across Texas to complete the first Texas Society of Allied Health Professions Student Leadership Development Program.

Designed to train future leaders in health professions, the seven-session, synchronous online program began in February and ran through August. The pandemic didn’t impact the sessions, which had been planned as virtual to allow student participants to remotely attend readings and online discussions.

Participating students came from programs including clinical lab science, clinical nutrition, genetic counseling, nutrition, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, pharmacy, radiologic sciences and speech-language pathology.

As the only physical therapy student in the cohort, Hamilton enjoyed the interprofessional insights he gained into other health professions. 

“I think it did highlight commonalities in health care professions, but I also appreciated the context it gave me,” Hamilton said. “I thought it provided a really good interprofessional education. One of the big benefits is having a better contextual knowledge of the health care field.”

He also found the sessions on team dynamics, team building and strategic planning to be particularly relevant.

“I think it’s really valuable that they touched on different aspects of business that I have not experienced to date in PT school so far,” he said. 

Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs David Henzi, Ed.D., co-directed the program along with fellow TSAHP board member Lynette Watts, Ph.D., RT(R), associate professor at The Shimadzu School of Radiologic Sciences at Midwestern State University.

“Kevin’s commitment to the program while managing the rigors of the physical therapy program highlight his sincere interest in providing strong leadership in the future,” Henzi said. “Kevin was a valuable addition to the group and provided great discussion points during the sessions.”