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» Home » Student Profiles » Jesse Charlton

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Jesse Charlton

By jwong | August 24, 2017

Program: MPT(Master of Physical Therapy)/PhD
Year in program: 1st year
Hometown: New Westminster, BC

What inspired you to pursue your program?
As an undergraduate student, I was very interested in exercise, rehabilitation and athletics. During this time, I was afforded the chance to conduct two small research projects which examined various aspects of sport movement. My initial interest in becoming a high school PE teacher vanished and I fell in love with research. I was drawn to the scientific method as a tool for answering any question one could come up with. However, more answers only beget more questions!

This interest led me to pursue a Master of Science in the Rehabilitation Sciences program here at UBC. My work was predominantly applied research related to rehabilitation and exercise performance, with my thesis focusing on examining gait retraining methods as a treatment option for osteoarthritis. However, the treatment methods we examined had inherent limitations, and I felt that there was room for improvement to better serve those with osteoarthritis. In order to conduct research that is applicable and relevant for the end users, I felt a clinical degree would be of great benefit. To that end, I entered the MPT/PhD program offered by the Department of Physical Therapy.

This program presents a unique opportunity to blend clinical training with research, allowing both areas to inform one another. My goal is to utilize emerging technology to expand the treatment options for those with chronic musculoskeletal diseases.

What are you looking forward to most this upcoming year?
I am excited to get my research projects up and running as the first year of this program will be dedicated to PhD work only. In the first few months I will also spend two months in Shanghai, China, where I will be working with a research group developing the technology I will be implementing in my clinical studies. This will be a fantastic opportunity to learn in a diverse environment and network with international researchers. Overall, I am most looking forward to the studies we will be conducting using this technology, as it is a new area of research for our lab and we will be faced with interesting and novel challenges.

What’s one thing we might be surprised to learn about you?
I am not a naturally strong writer as I have always found verbal communication much easier. But through my graduate training thus far, I have chipped away at this weakness and I am proud of the progress I have made. The demands of academic writing are high, but I now look forward to the process of writing and refining my ideas to try and disseminate my research to those who it will benefit most.

Best piece of advice:
Have strong opinions but hold them loosely; something I strive to be better at on a daily basis.

What superpower do you wish you had?
I think time travel would be a very cool superpower. Whether it be events, people, or ideas I have always loved history. It would be incredible to go back and see things as they were, to get to speak with people at different points in our history and understand how they thought about problems. I think there is so much to be learned from those before us.

Where in the world would you like to get lost?
The highlands of Scotland; this country holds a special place in my heart. The highlands are breathtaking, the people are welcoming, and if you ever get cold you can always warm up with a dram of scotch.

Faculty of Medicine
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