Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions was established in 1998 by Dr. Richard P. Nielsen and Dr. Michael Skurja Jr. as an exclusive post-professional graduate healthcare institution. The idea to establish a graduate healthcare university was born on an early morning run in Provo, Utah. Nielsen and Skurja, both board-certified electrophysiologists, had co-founded the Institute for Clinical Electrophysiology in 1993, and they had been involved in developing continuing education courses for several years. They dreamed of combining all of the curricula they had developed into a Doctor of Electrophysiology program, but the Institute wasn’t authorized to award degrees, only certificates. Nielsen and Skurja began the process of obtaining authorization from the Utah State Board of Regents, and on June 8, 1998, The Institute for Clinical Electrophysiology officially became Rocky Mountain University of Physical Therapy and began offering seven Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) specialty programs, including cardiopulmonology, electrophysiology, geriatrics, neurology, orthopedics, sports, and pediatrics.
RMUoHP was the first post-professional Doctor of Physical Therapy-granting institution in the United States.
The following year, in 1999, instruction officially began with ten faculty, six employees, and eight students in the first class. Ninety students enrolled in the first year. In December 2000, Rocky Mountain University of Physical Therapy was registered as developing institution with the Northwest Commission of Colleges and Universities for regional accreditation. That same year, RMUoHP began offering its Master of Science in Physical Therapy program and the university’s name was changed to Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions (RMUoHP).
By 2003, RMUoHP had added the first post-professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) program in the country. The University gained regional accreditation candidacy status in November 2005 and added a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program the following year, in 2006, one of the first in the country. RMUoHP also expanded its OTD program to include specialty tracks and began offering a Doctor of Science in Health Sciences program in 2007.
In May 2010, RMUoHP began offering a residential entry-level Doctor of Physical Therapy program and became the first proprietary graduate institution in the Northwest region to gain accreditation by the Northwest Commission of Colleges and Universities .
In 2014, RMUoHP began offering the first limited-residency model Doctor of Clinical Science in Speech-Language Pathology program. By the next year RMUoHP had also added its entry-level Master of Physician Assistant Studies, and in 2016 its entry-level Post-Bachelor’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (FNP) program, as well as a Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology program with a medical emphasis. RMUoHP is one of the pioneer institutions for Speech-Language Pathology with a medical emphasis.
RMUoHP has been a pioneer in the healthcare sector for years:
- First exclusively transitional DPT in Peds
- First and only PhD in Peds (PT’s and OT’s)
- First Neonatology (PT) Fellowship in Peds (Seattle Children’s)
- First and only DSc in Orthopaedics (PT)
- First and only DSc in Sports (PT)
- First and only PhD in Sports and Orthopaedics (PT)
- First and only DSc in Clinical Electrophysiology
- First and only DSc in Hand Rehabilitation
- First (and then the only) transitional DPT specialty tracks
- Administration and Practice Management
- Aging
- Mobilization
- Pediatrics
- Hand
RMUoHP now awards 10 masters and doctoral degrees and 4 graduate certificates and fellowships. As of spring 2018, RMUoHP has 2058 alumni. In 2018, Wasatch Educational Group, the parent company of Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions, announced plans to break ground on a medical school, which will open in 2021.
