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Greg Karst, Ph.D. |
Professor and associate director of physical therapy education, Dr. Karst has been a faculty member in the SAHP for the past 15 years. With his promotion, he will step down as associate director, but continue his other duties in the division of physical therapy education.
“Dr. Karst brings extensive experience in student recruitment and admissions, as well as in curriculum development and assessment,” said Kyle Meyer, associate dean of the SAHP. “This is a new administrative position in the SAHP, and I am delighted Dr. Karst has agreed to serve in this capacity.”
“I’m very happy to be in a position to help further elevate the School of Allied Health Professions,” Dr. Karst said. “Dean Meyer has some great ideas for advancing the school and I look forward to working with him to accomplish these goals.”
Dr. Karst said his initial focus would be directing the SAHP’s participation in new campus initiatives aimed at enhancing the assessment of educational programs for health care quality and safety. He also will work to develop programs to recruit and retain minority students.
A native of Kansas, Dr. Karst received his bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from Wichita State University (1976), and his master’s degree (animal physiology, 1984) and research doctorate (physiology, 1989) from the University of Arizona in Tucson. His clinical experience in physical therapy includes hospital-based and outpatient orthopedic practice. He was an assistant professor of physical therapy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1989-1992) before joining the UNMC faculty.
Dr. Karst’s primary area of research is in motor control, where he uses electromyographic, kinetic and kinematic analyses to study motor control strategies and to address clinical issues related to orthopedic and neurological conditions. He has published more than 20 research manuscripts in a variety of refereed journals, including Physical Therapy, Journal of Orthopedics and Sports Physical Therapy, Journal of Physiology, Gait and Posture, Journals of Gerontology, Journal of Sport Rehabilitation, Journal of Neurological Physical Therapy, Experimental Brain Research and the Journal of Neurophysiology.
He is an active member of the American Physical Therapy Association and the Society for Neuroscience, serves on the editorial board of Physical Therapy, and is a manuscript reviewer for more than a dozen scientific journals.
He has served on the UNMC Faculty Senate since 2002 and served as president this past year. His wife, Melanie, is a toxicologist working in the area of environmental risk assessment. Their 8-year-old daughter, Sierra, is busy teaching the couple new aspects of motor and cognitive development.