Carey Glass, CPO, FAAOP, is helping develop the first program in Israel where students can earn a master’s degree to become a physical therapist and certified prosthetist/orthotist. He will serve as clinical adviser, instructor, and practitioner in the new academic program, which will bring international state-of-the-art practices and training to the Israeli O&P profession. The two-year program expects to have 15 students each year; the first class will start in October.
Prosthetists in Israel do not have extensive, advanced degree-level training equivalent to that in the United States, and the system is small and centered around basic facilities that have not been updated in 20 years, Glass told The Jewish Link. He told the newspaper that when he determined that the country needed to upgrade its professional O&P training, he decided to redirect his career to lead that change.
Glass plans to relocate to Israel in July to oversee the program’s development and the completion of laboratory facilities. He is working with colleagues at the ADI Negev Rehabilitation Center and Ben Gurion University of the Negev and with the support of the Israeli Ministries of Education and Health.
