Ph.D. Health & Rehabilitation

The Doctoral Program in Health and Rehabilitation Science will uniquely position graduates for independent and team investigation of complex health issues and rehabilitation disorders that translate from the laboratory, to the clinic, and community. Graduates will be prepared to lead interdisciplinary teams toward optimizing the health and rehabilitation outcomes of patients through investigations using innovative methods and cutting edge technology.

The three tracks of our program, Pathology and Impairment, Functional Limitations, and Health Services, allow our graduates to address health and rehabilitation questions across all levels of the translational continuum and domains of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF). The core courses permit students to develop their specialized research interests and mentored science from a strong foundation in health and rehabilitation theory, pedagogy, research design, statistics, grant writing, ethics, and diversity. The concentration courses, laboratory rotations, independent studies, electives, and dissertation provide a comprehensive educational experience through a combination of classroom and individualized learning and laboratory research experiences.

Founded in 1824, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) continues the tradition of excellence in education, research and patient care. MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and nearly 800 residents in six colleges and has more than 17,000 employees. As the state’s only integrated academic health sciences center and largest non-federal employer in Charleston, the university and its affiliates have collective annual budgets in excess of $3.2 billion, with an annual economic impact of nearly $4 billion and annual research funding in excess of $284 million.

As the clinical health system of the Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC Health is dedicated to delivering the highest quality patient care available, while training generations of competent, compassionate health care providers to serve the people of South Carolina and beyond. Comprising some 1,600 beds, more than 100 outreach sites, the MUSC College of Medicine, the physicians’ practice plan, and nearly 275 telehealth locations, MUSC Health owns and operates eight hospitals situated in Charleston, Chester, Florence, Lancaster and Marion counties. In 2020, for the sixth consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health the No. 1 hospital in South Carolina.