Prisca Collins
Professor and Chair
School of Health Professions
Physical Therapy
2156 CHS Building 2
pcollin3@samford.edu

Prisca Collins, PhD, joined the Department of Physical Therapy in July of 2023. Previously, Collins served as associate professor & director of community engagement at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida, assistant professor at Northern Illinois University and co-director of clinical education at Governors State University in Illinois. Her teaching expertise is in the areas of psychosocial aspects of physical therapy, wellness and health promotion, evidence-based practice, policy and advocacy. Her research focuses on using community-based participatory approaches to address psychosocial factors that predispose individuals to developing chronic musculoskeletal & lifestyle conditions, improving access to health care services for traditionally marginalized populations and curriculum development for societal impact.

Collins is a licensed physical therapist as well as a program evaluator. She was instrumental in the development of the cutting-edge curriculum for the American Evaluation Association Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI). Her work related to this curriculum is published in the New Directions for Evaluation journal and as a chapter in the Handbook of Leadership Development in Evaluation. Collins continues to use her expertise in program evaluation within the field of physical therapy in her role as chair of the physical therapy department and in her current work as an external evaluator for Project ELEVATE, a National Science Foundation Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NSF AGEP) funded collaborative project between Carnegie Mellon University, Johns Hopkins University and New York University.

Degrees

PhD - University of Pittsburgh, PA, Rehabilitation Sciences

MS - University of Pittsburgh, PA, Health & Rehabilitation Sciences

BS - Florida International University, Miami, FL, Physical Therapy

Certifications

  • Interdisciplinary Pre-Doctoral Fellow in Policy & Evaluation - University of Pittsburgh, Office of Child Development
  • APTA Academy of Pelvic Health, Level 1 - Certification of Achievement in Pelvic Health (CAPP I)
  • Credentialed Clinical Instructor, APTA
  • Certified Zumba Instructor, Zumba Instructor Network (ZIN)

Expertise

  • Community-based participatory research
  • Assessment & Evaluation
  • Health Disparities
  •  Health Promotion & Wellness