Dallas 2019: Joint National Conference of Nigerian Physical Therapy Alumni Associations, July 11-13, 2019 in Dallas, TX

I bring you greetings on behalf of the National Organizing Committee of the Joint Conference of Nigerian Physical Therapy Alumni Associations, and to kindly request the pleasure of your presence at the forth coming National Conference of Nigerian Physical Therapy Alumni Associations, holding in Dallas, Texas, July 11-13, 2019, at the Embassy Suites Hotel by Hilton, Frisco, TX.   We particularly need and crave your esteemed presence at the conference this year for the following main reasons: The President of the AMerican Physical Therapy Association (APTA), Dr. Sharon Dunn, will be addressing us (virtually) as the keynote speaker during the opening ceremony, and she will be declaring the conference open. We will also be joined at the conference by: (1) Dr. Scott Ward, a former APTA President (2006-2012) who visits Nigeria frequently for missionary work. (2) Dr. Barbara Sanders, President of the American Council for Academic Physical Therapy (ACAPT), and a Past President of the Texas Physical Therapy Association. (3) Dr. Johnette Meadows, Program Director-Minority/Women’s Initiatives, Department of Practice at the APTA will be with us at this conference to represent the APTA.   The University of Ibadan (UI) Physical Therapy Alumni Association will debut, and will be launched at this conference. The presence of our senior colleagues who are mostly graduates of UI is highly desired, and will tremendously be a source of great encouragement to the younger generation of interim leadership of the UI PT in Diaspora, Inc.   Preliminary discussions on the formation of a Combined Organization of Nigerian Physical Therapists in the USA/Canada/Diaspora will be initiated. Updates on the state of Affairs of Physiotherapy Education & Practice in Nigeria will be presented. Discussions on formation of other PT Alumni groups (e.g., UNN/UNEC, etc)   As an introduction, and reminder, the National Conference of Nigerian Physical Therapy Alumni Associations, brings together colleagues who received their entry-level physical therapist education in Nigeria, but living in the diaspora (especially, USA and Canada, and elsewhere), and secondarily include colleagues of Nigerian origin who are either natural born US citizens, or naturalized citizens, but who received their entry-level physical therapists education here in the US. We are severally organized as individual Alumni Associations (grass root) of each Physical Therapists Education Program in Nigeria (OAU, CMUL, UI, other schools Associations yet to debut), but jointly come together at a national conference involving all the Alumni Associations, including colleagues of Nigerian origin with US entry-level education. This in some way is akin to the Combined Sections Meeting of the APTA, but of course, but much smaller in attendance given our number (usually 100-200 colleagues and their family members). You may review more information about some of our individual Alumni Associations, and the Nigeria Physiotherapy Network at:

• https://www.cmulptalumni.org
• https://www.oauptalumni.org
• https://www.uiptindiaspora.org
• https://www.nigeriaphysio.net

Physical Therapists of Nigerian origin and their family members have been meeting together annually at our National Conferences, where programing focuses on issues that fosters/further the progress and interests of our group in general, and specifically those programs that helps to improve our skills for clinical practice and continuing education, knowing that we are physical therapists practicing in a ‘foreign land’, the United States/Canada/elsewhere, which we now call home.   Should your schedule permit you to attend the conference, we kindly request that you arrive at the conference hotel on Thursday July 11, 2019, and join us in spending some informal time together starting at 5.00pm. The informal gathering and Alumni reunion starts at 5.30pm after registration.   Discounted Hotel reservations can be made at the URL below at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in Frisco, TX: https://embassysuites.hilton.com/en/es/groups/personalized/D/DALFSES-NPT-20190711/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG Advance Conference registration, for the Dallas 2019 Conference is available here:

• CMUL PT Alumni should register at: https://www.cmulptalumni.org/dallas-2019
• UI PT Alumni should register at: https://www.uiptindiaspora.org/dallas-2019
• OAU PT Alumni should register at: https://www.oauptalumni.org/en/events/Alumni-Conference
• Onsite Registration is available, but online advance/pre-registration is preferred.

  Closest Airports to Embassy Suites by Hilton, Frisco, TX:

• Dallas-Fort-Wort (~25 miles)
• Dallas-Love Field (~25 miles)

Sample Programing for the Conference is below:

We look forward to having you and your family join the National Organizing Committee, the Local Organizing Committee, and all colleagues of Nigerian origin at this conference.

Sincerely,

Emmanuel B. John, PT, DPT, PhD, MBA
Executive Director,
Nigeria Physiotherapy Network
Irvine, CA, USA
Email: ebjohn@nigeriaphysio.net
Web: http://www.nigeriaphysio.net