Chair of the Department of Physical Therapy
Howdy! Welcome to Fort Worth. My name is Michael Furtado, currently I am the chair of the Department of Physical Therapy at HSC where I also hold an associate professor rank. My role at HSC is to supervise our 10 faculty members and our approximately 150 students as we have a 33-month long Doctor of Physical Therapy residential program. I am also a private practice owner. I was the CEO and founder of AMPT Rehab in Houston, Texas. Looking forward to meeting you all!
Department Details: As mentioned above, I oversee the Department of Physical Therapy located in the School of Health Professions, which is in the academic enterprise of HSC. My faculty consists of 10 individuals with a variety of clinical specializations in all fields of physical therapy with different expertise areas in biomechanics, neuroscience, or clinical medicine. Faculty have unfunded research time as part of their workload, so along with teaching the students and serving the department/school/profession, they are active and interested in research projects that align with their interest areas. As part of a DPT program, we are accredited and can connect to other DPT programs, and we have more than 200 contracts with clinical sites for our clinical education placements. The department also works collaboratively with other departments in the school and the institution.
We are kicking off HSC Physical Health which is a pro bono clinic seeing patients who are underserved or underinsured with different diagnoses, so we have some capacity to be seeing patients in a clinical setting. In this space, we will have a biomechanics lab with motion capture cameras and various other research equipment available for use. We have 150 students in our three-year program, about 50 students per cohort year. The students are busy in their education, but they enjoy serving and connecting with others.
What’s the best way to work with your department? Our department will likely be interested in participating in consulting or research roles based on their specific expertise areas. We will be happy to meet to discuss mutual areas of interest, then once those individuals are identified, they can work collaboratively based on the needs and interests of all.
Who are the best points of contact in your department? Michael Furtado
Additional Resources: Website 1, A well-rounded education in all aspects of physical therapy. (unthsc.edu), Video, Published Research
