Doctor of Physical Therapy

DPT's integrated curriculum requires a three-year, full-time commitment resulting in a comprehensive foundation in the science and art of physical therapy. Aligned with the medical school's goals, the DPT program is focused on personalized treatments that help clinicians understand and promote the health of individual patients, not generalized, formula-driven diagnoses and treatments. Classes are taught by the program's diverse faculty at the medical school and through US-based and global clinical internships. The Faculty of the DPT Division at Duke is comprised of experienced educators who invest considerable effort into curriculum planning. Our recent revision of our curriculum required many hours of planning and development as we identified the best educational practices for students in the 21st century. Our faculties are adept at many instructional methods, including our fifteen-year history with educational technology in the classroom. This expertise enables us to identify the appropriate instructional methods for our new curriculum, and our clinical and scientific expertise allowed us to identify the most important content and sequence for our didactic and clinical curriculum. At Duke, we build a curriculum in which our instructional practices flow from principles, which must be founded on values. We look to recruit students who share our values for excellence in learning and who set high standards for their performance. Learning is most productive and learner satisfaction is highest when both faculty and learners share common values and understand the principles from which our educational practices evolve.