A doctor of physical therapy degree, or DPT, a professional clinical doctorate, will become the entry-level degree for physical therapy students at Georgia State University, beginning fall 2005.

Forty students will be accepted into the program.

The physical therapy master's program will be phased out after the last class graduates in 2007.

The clinical doctorate, the first to be offered in a Georgia public institution, differs from an academic doctorate such as a Ph.D. in that it's designed to train students as physical therapy practitioners, said Marcia Pearl, associate professor and chair of the department of physical therapy at GSU.

The degree is on par with doctors of optometry and podiatry, she said.

"The DPT degree is an enhancement of a strong and successful program at Georgia State University," Pearl said. "Population growth and aging of the population in Georgia drive increased demand for physical therapy services."

Interested students must have a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university. They are required to have a 2.75 minimum GPA, with prerequisite courses in anatomy, physiology, biology, statistics and psychology. A master's degree is not required to enter the program.

The curriculum for the DPT, which is 137 credit hours over nine consecutive semesters, is only one semester longer than the master's program at GSU.

"The reason we went to this [program] is that current practice in physical therapy requires greater scope and rigor and the curriculum has to have greater depth and breadth," Pearl said.

Courses in the DPT program that aren't in the master's program include differential diagnoses, pharmacology and radiology.

"Everything we teach is research-based and they will be able to incorporate that into the patient's treatment plan," Pearl said.

For more information, go to chhs.gsu.edu/pt.