Pledging Allegiance
In a Jan. 9 press release, the Foundation for Physical Therapy, Alexandria, VA, announced that the APTA Section on Research has pledged to donate $30,000 over the next three years to support research in physical therapy. The press release also noted that the Section on Research aims to facilitate the best practice of physical therapy through enhancement of the quality, dissemination, and utilization of research. This section encompasses more than 3,000 physical therapists and physical therapist students who practice, teach, and study within the field.
"The Section on Research, a longstanding partner of the Foundation, truly recognizes the value of research in advancing the profession for both researchers and clinicians alike," said Foundation Board of Trustees President William G. Boissonnault, PT, DPT, DHSc, FAPTA, FAAOMPT. "I am grateful to their dedicated Board of Directors and members who recently supported the Foundation through the major gifts campaign, ‘Destination Research Excellence.' Their latest pledge of support will help make it possible to build evidence-based practice models well into the future,"
With this pledge, Section President Christopher Powers, PT, PhD, hopes to collaborate with the Foundation to promote and advocate for research within the profession. "The Foundation put research on the map, and by helping to develop physical therapist investigators, the Foundation was instrumental in building a culture of research," he noted. "Now that we have that culture, it is a matter of sustaining it and bringing it to the next level."
Such synergy between two prominent national physical therapy organizations strongly demonstrates the increasing emphasis placed on research as the profession moves forward. What are your thoughts about this emphasis? How have you tried to implement a greater research focus into your own practice?