News

The Department of Health Sciences is pleased to announce 2025 U.S. News & World Report program rankings across multiple divisions. Five programs eligible received top 10 placements on the national list, and four programs improved position from last year’s rankings. #2 – Doctor of Audiology #5 – Master of Science...

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...

Ver esta historia en inglés | Read story in English “Poder comunicarse con alguien en su propio idioma es tan importante.” –Sergio Martinez   Sergio Martinez es uno de los 37 estudiantes de la Clase de 2028 del programa de Doctorado en Terapia Física en UNC Chapel Hill. Veterano retirado del Ejército de los Estados Unidos, estudiante universitario de primera generación y con experiencia en varios idiomas, Martinez aporta más de dos décadas de servicio y un compromiso de toda la vida con la comunicación en su formación en terapia física. A lo largo de su vida, el lenguaje ha sido más que una habilidad: ha sido una herramienta clave para conectar con los demás y servir a su comunidad.  Los padres de Martinez llegaron a Los Ángeles, California desde México a finales de la década de 1970. Cuando Martinez nació, sus padres vivían en un apartamento pequeño, del cual se mudaron. Al crecer en un hogar donde se hablaba...

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...

APTA’s Combined Section Meeting is always a highlight of the year in the Physical Therapy profession, and UNC’s Division of Physical Therapy will have multiple faculty and students attending and presenting at the event in Anaheim, CA taking place February 12-14, 2026. Faculty and Student Presentations are listed below: Thursday,...

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,...