About School of Rehabilitation Sciences

The University of the Incarnate Word School of Rehabilitation Sciences was founded in 2012.

We are proud of our Catholic identity, which establishes solid foundations for open discussion, respectful deliberation, the search for truth in a context of excellence, and engagement with our community.

Our graduates are primary care healthcare professionals prepared to function collaboratively in diverse global environments as knowledgeable, competent, compassionate, caring, resourceful, confident, ethical and legal physical therapists. Every graduate of our inaugural class obtained jobs in their field, and our employment rate has consistently been close to 100% since then.

School of Rehabilitation Sciences Highlights

  • Educating future rehabilitation and healthcare leaders through three professional programs: Athletic Training, Physical Therapy, and Occupational Therapy
  • 50,000 sq. ft. facility featuring both large and intimate spaces to support individual and team learning
  • The School of Rehabilitation Sciences Community Clinic provides high-quality care to underserved populations and hands-on experience for students.
  • Collaborative practice opportunities with students from the schools of Nursing and Health Professions, Optometry and Pharmacy
  • Opportunity to participate in interprofessional service-learning opportunities locally and in Mexico, Germany and Italy
  • Faculty nearly twice the size of the mean core faculty size in the U.S.
  • Students have opportunities to work with individuals across the lifespan, from pediatric to geriatric populations.

Rooted in Health

  • We trace our roots to 1869, when the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word heeded a call from the Catholic bishop of Texas to care for the multitude of sick, infirm and orphaned in the Texas frontier.
  • The Sisters arrived in San Antonio (pop. 12,000) and built the region’s first public hospital — Santa Rosa Infirmary (now CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital and CHRISTUS Health System).
  • The Sisters announced that the hospital would be open to "all persons without distinction of nationality or creed."
  • On Dec. 3, 1869, the day of the hospital's opening, the nine-bed hospital admitted eight patients.
  • Over time, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word pioneered the idea of a total system of medical care that would offer the latest preventive, diagnostic and treatment facilities to care for the mind, body and spirit of all the inhabitants of San Antonio and South Texas.