GALVESTON, Texas –The School of Health Professions at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston will provide the health care workforce with 260 new health professionals at their upcoming commencement.

During the ceremony, with all of the normal pomp and circumstance, the graduates also will receive advice from Dr. Phillip Sizer Jr., who received his degree in physical therapy from the school in 1985.

Since his time at UTMB, Sizer earned a Master of Education in Exercise Science and a Doctor of Philosophy with a motor control emphasis from Texas Tech University.

Sizer is the associate dean for research at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center’s School of Health Professions, where he also is an endowed professor in pain science.

Reached by phone in Lubbock, Sizer explained why he is excited to speak at the school’s commencement. “My time at UTMB taught me to love the science of rehabilitation via professors that taught me to dig deep and think big. I have only been back to Galveston several times and look forward to returning.”

Graduating students will be entering fields such as respiratory care, clinical laboratory sciences, occupational therapy, health professions, physical therapy, rehabilitation sciences, and nutrition and metabolism.

Sizer hopes to inspire the graduates with an address that will encourage each student to think as a scientist, explore as a learner, move forward as an innovator and care for patients with a servant’s heart.

As the population grows and ages, there will be an increased need for health care providers. Graduates from the SHP can help fill that need, entering a strong job market that has key economic indicators projecting continued growth

This year’s commencement will be the first at UTMB for the school’s new dean, David Brown. His response when asked what students should know was, “Be flexible, stealth and ready to adapt to the rapidly changing world of health care,” said Brown.