One of the reasons why the Boston Red Sox won the 2013 World Series is due to the work of a man who never put on a uniform or faced a big league pitcher. Dan Dyrek, PT, DPT, a 2003 Doctor of Physical Therapy alumnus of MGH Institute of Health Professions, became Coordinator of Sports Medicine for the 2013 season after being a consultant the prior year. His mission: to work on keeping the players on the field and off the disabled list. Rob Bradford of WEEI.com recently wrote a story on Dr. Dyrek’s special relationship with designated hitter David Ortiz, who calls him a “genius” and credits him...

A note from Alex: It is National Physical Therapy Month. I am interrupting the series on "The Impact of Impact" and will follow up with Part III soon. In the meantime I wanted to acknowledge National Physical Therapy Month with a shout out to our own PT program. I also am taking this moment to express some thanks for special attention I have received from the PT profession over the past year or so. I don't usually use this blog for highly personal matters, but I am violating that rule today. In any case, I hope that you will join me in saluting and thanking our PT colleagues-faculty, students...

In my last post I described the IMPACT program. Anyone who has been at the IHP for the past two semesters has certainly heard of IMPACT and what we are trying to accomplish. This interprofessional set of experiences for our students, clustered under this new logo, is providing a fresh and welcomed approach to our long time commitment to interprofessional education. For the IHP community, and the larger community, this new image and new set of activities is designed to impact all of us by imprinting within our lexicon and within our day to day teaching and learning a highly principled approach...

On a beautiful sunny day in April, countless lives were touched and, for some, irretrievably altered by the horrific and senseless bombings that marked an abrupt and gruesome ending to this year’s Boston Marathon , and shook the foundations of our community. Many have already written about and commented poignantly and eloquently on the unimaginable destruction, grievous deaths and injuries, heroic bystanders and first responders, and the surreal days that followed. Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital , posted a notable blog for The New Yorker two days after the bombings,...

As a student or professional, one thing is clear these days; you need to make your life as efficient as possible. With all this technology, comes the extra pressures of always being available to connect with friends and family, and stay up to date on topics of interest. Did you know there is a Boston mayoral election in a couple of months? You should, it is an important race and affects the Health Professions. Here are some applications, tips, and tricks to keep you organized and give you more time to enjoy the finer things in life. Applications that simplify your life. Flipboard. Have you...

Part 1: What is IMPACT? Founded on principles of interprofessional education and practice, the Institute is now ready to live into its next generation of education and excellence. Dr. Mary Knab is ready to launch an entirely new curriculum for entry level students in the masters programs in Nursing, Speech-Language Pathology and the doctoral and masters programs in Physical Therapy, starting in September. A team of three faculty members (Gail Gall, Chuck Jeans, Laura Plummer) have created the first course for the program to be launched next week . The new program, called "IMPACT PRACTICE" is...

For some reason, when something is "sold out" it's value is increased dramatically. The housing market in Boston has gone a bit wild recently, because of the lack of availability of homes on the market. This has driven prices up and the competition for desirable houses, apartments, and condos is intense. It seems that limitations in access make things highly desirable. We see this in the fierce competition for admission to many of our academic programs each year. Over the past two days, many of our faculty development sessions have been "sold out." Although the competition and dollar price of...

Aphasia is a communication disorder that occurs frequently after someone experiences a brain insult; the most common cause is a stroke in the left hemisphere of the brain. More specifically, the communication impairment experienced by people with aphasia includes problems in spoken language, understanding, reading and writing; while for the most part thinking remains clear. The MGH Institute of Health Professions has a long standing treatment program for people with aphasia. In honor of Aphasia Awareness Week, the staff and faculty of the Institute produced a video to educate others about...

We decided to experience some more South African culture during our last weekend of our trip. On Saturday, we headed to uShaka Marine World. uShaka opened in 2004 and offers an aquarium, a beach, and an amusement park. Most of our day was spent at the aquarium. The shark tank was by far our favorite. On Sunday we headed to Tala Game Reserve before heading to King Shaka Airport. We had a great Ranger for our guided game drive. We were able to see rhinoceroses, zebras, wildebeests, hippopotamuses and numerous other animals. We all had a wonderful time on our trip and we learned so much. We are...

On Thursday (6/13) we said our goodbyes to Port Shepstone and the lovely friends we made with both staff at Murchison Hospital and with the Johns Hopkins group. Our journey back was beautiful and we arrived safely in Durban. We met with a man from McCord Hospital’s former HIV+ choir. We discussed the many amazing accomplishments of the choir and his perspective on South African healthcare. We then gave him clothing donations that we had gathered in the US from friends and family for him to give to a local community. On Friday (6/14) we traveled to the University of KwaZulu-Natal to meet with...