College of Rehabilitation Sciences students Ina Arriane Bunda (Speech-Language Pathology), Danielle Karol Reyes (Sports Science), Christelle Avanzado (Occupational Therapy), Jan Luke Mendoza (Occupational Therapy), Aldric Mikhail Aw (Physical Therapy), and Khristian Ralpheo Furigay (Physical Therapy), are currently participating in an Integrated General Seminar on Inter-Professional Education at the Niigata University of Health and Welfare (NUHW), Japan. The seminar will run from September 7-11, 2015 and is aimed at developing health, medical, welfare, and sports professionals capable of demonstrating “team approach” and “collaborative work” with other professionals who work with them to support patients’ quality of life.
The students are accompanied by two faculty members, Jocel Magpili-Regino, MSPT and Ma. Roxanne Fernandez, MSPT. This activity is part of on-going student and faculty mobility programs covered by the Memorandum of Understanding between UST and NUHW, signed in 2011.
The UST delegation got the chance to meet Prof. Masaharu Yamamoto, MD, MPH, PhD, President of NUHW. He encouraged students with scientific interests in improving people’s health to become “qualified QOL supporters” with the intent to work worldwide in the future.
In addition to the academic exchange program, this visit is also intended to strengthen research collaborations between NUHW and UST. Ms. Fernandez, together with the PT and SPS students in the group, are engaged in research that will utilize the Vicon Motion Analysis System. They will undergo training with Prof. Masayoshi Kubo, a physical therapist who has extensive experience with motion analysis studies, and who has also been instrumental to the continuing academic and research collaborations between UST and NUHW. This training will be relayed to the other members of the research team in UST and aims to inform the on-going faculty-led, student-assisted researches using this technology.
