Category: News

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a rare, motor-based neurodevelopmental speech disorder with a genetic basis. Children with CAS know what they want to say, but have difficulty planning and coordinating the movements needed to speak, which results in speech breakdowns.  While much of the existing research has focused on young children, growing evidence shows that the effects of CAS often persist into adolescence and adulthood—highlighting the need...

Louise Thoma, PT, DPT, PhD, began her academic training at The Ohio State University, where she completed physical therapy school and earned her PhD, focusing on how people move using tools such as biomechanics. Specifically, she worked with individuals who suffered cartilage injuries in their knees.  Thoma continued her training...

Lee esta historia en español. | Read this story in Spanish. “To just be able to communicate with somebody in your language is so important.” -Sergio Martinez Sergio Martinez is one of the 37 students in the Doctor of Physical Therapy Class of 2028 at UNC Chapel Hill. As a retired U.S. Army veteran, first-generation college student, and multilingual...

Join Us for the 10th Annual Tar Heal Tuesday! UNC Health’s Giving Tuesday celebration returns—supporting life-saving research, world-class medical education, and compassionate care across UNC Health, the UNC School of Medicine, and affiliated departments and programs such as ours. Our department is proud to participate once again in the Tar Heal...

On Tuesday, November 11, the UNC School of Medicine released a new video, Leading Through Service and Medicine. This inspiring piece highlights three students from the Department of Health Sciences who are making an impact through their studies and service. We’re thrilled that the video features: Kip Crozier (Audiology) Sara...

The Department of Health Sciences recognizes Allied Health Professionals Week each November as an opportunity to celebrate its students, faculty, staff and alumni and their impact on advancing the allied health professions and improving access to health care for all.  Allied health practitioners make up approximately 60 percent of the...

When Dara Chan first joined the Higher Education, Employment, and Living Success (HEELS) 2 Transition (H2T) project toward building an inclusive post-secondary educational program at UNC in 2017, she did not expect the program to grow as expediently as it did. Beginning with discretionary funding from Oak Foundation in 2016,...

The Third Annual Southeast Clinical Educator Symposium was held on Thursday, September 25, 2025, in Wilmington. This symposium is a celebration of our collaborative efforts to strengthen clinical education across southeastern North Carolina. This annual event, co-hosted by the UNC Department of Health Sciences and Novant Health, honors the partnership...

The Department of Health Sciences faculty and staff came together on Wednesday for a fall department meeting. During the meeting several faculty members were recognized for recent accomplishments: Jessica Cassidy – Awarded an R21 grant from the NIH Deidre Charity – Selected to participate on the UNC SOM Leadership in...