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Research Resources
4Cardiopulmonary & Diagnostic Sciences
4Communication Science & Disorders
4 Health Psychology
4 Occupational Therapy
4 Physical Therapy

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Research

Cardiopulmonary & Diagnostic Science
The MU Department of Cardiopulmonary and Diagnostic Sciences provides training in Diagnostic Medical Ultrasound, Nuclear Medicine, Radiography, and Respiratory Therapy; each leading to the BHS degree, and the MHS in the ultrasound program. The Radiography program, established in 1960, encompasses conventional radiography, computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and ultrasound. Graduates have achieved a 99% success rate on the national certifying examination. The Nuclear Medicine program trains students in the use of radioactive compounds used for imaging studies and to treat cancer. It is one of only six sponsored by academic institutions that are members of the Association of American Universities, and the only baccalaureate level program at a public higher education institution in the state of Missouri. Graduates have had 100% pass rates on the national certifying examination for the last 10 years, with scores for MU graduates in the top 10% of those taking the exam. The Respiratory Therapy program trains students to evaluate, treat, and care for patients with breathing problems. The program, begun in 1967, was the first of its kind in the nation, and the only program at a public higher education institution in Missouri. The MU graduate pass rate on the national certifying examination is 85% compared to the national pass rate of 60%. The Diagnostic Medical Ultrasound (DMU) program was established in 2001 and offers both bachelor's and master's degrees. In addition to general ultrasound, specialty areas are also offered in this field of study.

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Communication Science & Disorders
The MU Department of Communication Science and Disorders (CSD), which offers the BHS, MHS, and PhD degrees, encompasses the scientific field of the speech, language and hearing science, and the distinct but related professions and Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. The MU CSD program conferred its first master's degree in 1947 and its first doctoral degree in 1952. It was one of the earliest CSD programs in the nation to offer a PhD program and continues to be the only department in Missouri to offer a PhD in communication science and disorders. Master's level graduates meet all academic and clinical requirements for the Certificate of Clincal Competence awarded by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and for the Missouri State License in Speech-Language Pathology. The MHS program has been continually accredited by the American Speech-Langage-Heariung Association since 1965.

MU CSD research facilities include rooms for naturalistic, observational research as well as for structured testing, equipped with closed-circuit television and other videorecording facilities, both analog and digital. Specialized equipment includes three Computerized Speech Lab stations, including a nasometer, and an Audiology suite along with portable audiometers. The department also maintains an extensive library of standardized assessment tools, and a student computer laboratory. Nearly all the computers in the department have direct internet connections, which provide access to the extensive information network maintained by the MU Libraries and other entities at MU and elsewhere on the internet.

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Health Psychology
The Department of Health Psychology (SHP) obtained independent status in the MU School of Health Professions in 2001, after having divisional status in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation for nearly two decades. The Department of Health Psychology has 10 faculty, 7 of whom are board certified in rehabilitation psychology or neuropsychology. DHP faculty and trainees provide rehabilitation and neuropsychological services to adults and children with cognitive, physical, and mental disabilities at Rusk Rehabilitation Center, the Missouri Rehabilitation Center, and the MU Health Care system. Clinical services are also offered in rural sites throughout central Missouri, including state Vocational Rehabilitation offices, schools, and hospitals. DHP faculty routinely train post-graduate students (i.e., interns and post-doctoral fellows) who wish to become rehabilitation or neuropsychologists, and have grant funded training programs (NIH T32 Rehabilitation Research program; HRSA GPE training grant). The DHP faculty have a long and successful history of research with extensive external grant support from NIDRR, NIH, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and publish on average approximately 25 peer reviewed articles per year. Professionally, DHP faculty are actively involved in rehabilitation and psychological organizations, with faculty serving as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow, Fulbright Fellow, Missouri Psychological Association president, APA Division 22 President, and member of the Missouri State Committee of Psychology.

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Occupational Therapy
The MU Department of Occupational Therapy, which offers an entry-level master's degree, is accredited by the Accreditation Council on Occupational Therapy Education. This program is the only publicly funded professional-level occupational therapy education program in Missouri. Its graduates have achieved 100% pass rate on the national certification examination for 24 of 25 years. Occupational therapists are skilled health professionals who provide services to infants, children, adults, ad elderly persons who experience physical, emotional, or mental limitations in performing everyday activities. The practice encompasses evaluations of performance and cognitive abilities, treatment interventions, and consultation using selected rehabilitative, educational, and vocational activities to help individual lives. Specific services include teaching daily living skills, developing perceptual-motor skills and pre-vocational leisure capacities, designing, fabricating, or applying selected orthotic and prosthetic devices and selected adaptive equipment. Graduates are employed in public and private schools, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, mental health facilities, nursing homes, community-based programs, home health settings, and health promotion and prevention programs.

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Physical Therapy
The MU Department of Physical Therapy, offering the MPT as the professional entry-level degree, is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy. The profession is dynamic with widespread clinical applications. The professional MPT program is three years long following two years of prerequisite courses. Students who enter the professional program in 2007 will be required to have an undergraduate degree and will be awarded a Doctor in Physical Therapy (DPT).

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