California, Hawaii schools merge efforts to produce physical therapists

Two schools in Hawaii and California have merged efforts to facilitate aspiring physical therapists achieve their professional pursuits, according to a press release.

Chaminade University in Honolulu and Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California, agreed to a pact on October 14 that will see widening apertures of opportunity for aspiring physical therapists and podiatric physicians. In 2010, Western University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific committed to assist Chaminade students become doctors. In turn, with the agreement signed earlier this month, Chaminade students can better achieve doctorates of physical therapy and podiatric medicine.

“This is very important, because right now students have to leave the island to get these degrees,” said Associate Provost Patricia Lee-Robinson of Chaminade. “Students come from all over the Pacific, including from Samoa, Guam, Saipan and Micronesia, and I would love to see those students come here to WesternU and go back home.”

The Hawaiin university, a private Catholic Marianist school, first started with biology instruction in 2003, since then healthcare interest among the student body has grown.