Galveston County Daily News, July 31, 2007 GALVESTON - The department of physical therapy at the University of Texas Medical Branch will offer a doctorate in physical therapy beginning fall 2008. The new degree, which was approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in July, is designed to reflect the scope of the educational preparation needed for physical-therapy practice. The nine-semester program will consist of 101 to 103 credit hours and 40 weeks of full-time guided clinical practice. The new courses will include pharmacology, imaging, differential diagnosis and medical Spanish. Clinical education will include rotations in acute care, orthopedics, neurology and other specialty areas. The department of physical therapy is part of UTMB's school of allied health sciences. Information is on the Web at sahs.utmb.edu/programs/pt/.