Midwestern University Adds Orthotics and Prosthetics Program

The Midwestern University College of Health Sciences will debut a new Orthotics and Prosthetics Program, slated to welcome its first cohort of 20 students in August 2023. The new program will offer a Master of Science in Orthotics and Prosthetics and will be the only one of its kind in Arizona and one of just 15 nationwide.

The 30-month curriculum is designed to prepare the newest generation of Orthotist and Prosthetist professionals as client-centered clinician-scholars. The 156-credit hour curriculum consists of two connected phases of learning. The 30-month continuum begins with a 12-month on-campus didactic phase, where students engage in clinically oriented coursework involving client-centered assessment and treatment, movement sciences, anatomical and physiological sciences, orthosis/prosthesis engineering design, fabrication, fitting and clinical outcome assessment, scholarly inquiry, and interprofessional collaboration. During the 18-month off-campus residency/evidence-based practice phase, students are matched to a series of planned residency site rotations involving a network of clinical site preceptors and faculty that guide students to achieve individualized learning goals.

The Orthotics and Prosthetics Program will be led by Christopher Hovorka, Ph.D., CPO, FAAOP, a 30-year veteran in the field with 24 years’ worth of educational, research, and clinical experience in exercise science, orthotics and prosthetics, allied health science, and applied physiology/motor control.

As part of the College of Health Sciences, the interprofessional Orthotics and Prosthetics graduate program will collaborate with related rehabilitation programs such as Osteopathic Medicine, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant, Podiatry, and Nurse Practitioner in didactic and applied client-centered learning. The new program is the only one in the United States to incorporate a Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment (CAREN) into its curriculum, and it will also have its own brand-new, state-of-the-art facilities located on the University’s Glendale Campus, which will include:

• Gait and Movement Analysis Lab
• Clinical Skills Simulation Lab
• Clinical Assessment and Treatment Outcomes Lab
• Technology Design and Innovation Lab
• Machine Room
• Thermoforming and Laminating Rooms
• Digital Shape Capture, Rectification, and 3-D Printing Lab

The Orthotics and Prosthetics Program at Midwestern University received approval by the state of Arizona Board of Private Post-Secondary Education in April 2022. The program is seeking candidacy recognition by the National Commission on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education (NCOPE). The program has initiated the process by submitting an Application for Candidacy to NCOPE, which is required in the pre-accreditation stage. Submission of this document does not assure that the program will be granted Candidate for Accreditation status, nor does it assure that the program will be granted Accreditation. National Commission on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education, 330 John Carlyle St., Ste. 200, Alexandria, VA 22314, Tel: 703-836-7114 http://ncope.org/