Trinity College Associate Professor Dr Emma Stokes elected President of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) at the WCPT Congress in Singapore

DUBLIN, 12-5-2015 — /EuropaWire/ — Dr Emma Stokes, Associate Professor in Physiotherapy and a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin, this week took office as President of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) at the WCPT Congress in Singapore.

Founded in 1951, the World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) is the sole international voice for physiotherapy and physical therapy, representing more than 350,000 physical therapists worldwide through its 106 member organisations. It is committed to furthering the profession and improving global health through:

• encouraging high standards of physical therapy research, education and practice
• supporting the exchange of information between WCPT regions and member organisations
• collaborating with national and international organisations

Dr Stokes was elected President at a meeting of WCPT’s member organisations, having demonstrated strong leadership skills through her role as Vice-President of the WCPT from 2011-2015.

Commenting on her election as President, Dr Stokes highlighted the opportunity to raise the profile of PT during her tenure and to build on the great reputation of Trinity globally.  Dr Stokes said: “I look forward to leading the WCPT into a new phase of growth and exploring further collaborative opportunities with our global colleagues.  Through dialogue and collaboration, we can improve the services to our patients and positively impact their lives”.

Trinity Provost, Dr Patrick Prendergast congratulated Dr Stokes on her appointment noting how her achievement in this leadership role could positively  reflect on the University’s international reputation.

“It is a great honour for  one of our academics to have achieved this position internationally. I know that Emma will set the highest of standards for physiotherapy and physical therapy during her tenure and we wish her every success in her new role,” said the Provost.

Dr Stokes brings a wealth of experience to this role. The focus of her research and teaching is professional practice issues that builds on her work with professional, regulatory and charitable organisations of which she is an active board member. She supervises both MSc and PhD students in the field of professional issues research including policy and leadership. She has worked with the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists leading a transformation project preparing the organisation for the advert of statutory regulation in her role as the director of the board with responsibility for of professional development. She has an established track record of research funding and international peer-reviewed publications. In addition, Dr Stokes served the Junior Dean from 2005-2010 and was the first woman to be appointed to this position.

Media Contact

Yolanda Kennedy, Press Officer for the Faculty of Health Sciences |yokenned@tcd.ie | 01 896 3551