East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is launching a Master of Science in Orthotics and Prosthetics (MSOP) program. Christopher Hovorka, MS, CPO/L, FAAOP, is the program director. ETSU will begin accepting applications in July with the first cohorts of students starting in May 2022. Previously, Hovorka was the co-director of the MSOP program at Georgia Tech.
ETSU is also beginning a doctoral program for occupation therapy, which will share a building with the O&P program. A $4 million renovation will begin in August on an additional 14,000 square feet of space for the new programs.
“There are very few examples of the kind of collaboration that we will have here at ETSU, with these programs—physical therapy, occupational therapy, and orthotics and prosthetics—all housed in the same building and department,” Jeff Snodgrass, PhD, chair of ETSU’s Department of Rehabilitative Sciences, told the Johnson City Press. “In this environment, interprofessional interactions and opportunities among the faculty, students, and staff will happen organically.”
“We aspire to be the only program in the nation that will collaborate with ETSU’s proposed surgical innovation center to encourage training of surgeons on new and innovative approaches to joint reconstruction and limb amputation,” Hovorka told the newspaper. “In addition, we will be one of the only programs on ETSU’s campus that will engage students in creating therapeutic treatments for patients by designing custom medical devices using modern and emerging technologies in state-of-the-art facilities.”
