About Dr. John

Emmanuel B. John, PT, DPT, PhD, MBA, MPH, FAHA, FIMC is Professor and Dean, Dr. Donald E. and Lois J. Myers School of Nursing and Health Professions at the York College of Pennsylvania, York, PA, United States, and a Visiting Professor to Chrisland University, Abeokuta, Nigeria. Until recently, from 2015–2022, he was Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Physical Therapy at Chapman University in Irvine, California. Prior to that, he served as Associate Professor and Director of Research for the School of Physical Therapy at Touro University Nevada, and as an Associate Professor at Radford University in Roanoke, Virginia. In addition, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he also served as Director of the Motor Control and Neuromuscular Performance Laboratory. Prior to migrating to the United States in 2002, he was a Physiotherapist at the National Orthopedic Hospital, Dala, Kano (1996–2002), Associate Lecturer, Federal School of Physiotherapy, Goron-Dutse, Dala, Kano, affiliated to Bayero University, Kano (BUK) at the time, now Department of Physiotherapy at BUK (1996–2002).

Dr. John serves or has served in leadership roles for several professional organizations, including as secretary and a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors for the American Council on Academic Physical Therapy, ACAPT (2018–2022). He is also a member of the American Physical Therapy Association, Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy, the Executive Director of the Nigeria Physiotherapy Network, and President/CEO of Nigeria Physiotherapy Network Foundation, Inc. Dr. John was recently elected as the President of the International Association of Nigerian Physical Therapists (IANPT) for North America (United States and Canada). Dr. John currently serves as a Board member of the Memorial Health Fund, under the auspices of the York County Community Foundation, and is also a Board member of UPMC York Memorial Hospital Advisory Board, both in York, Pennsylvania, USA. He also recently started his tenure as an Editorial Board member of the Journals of the American Heart Association.

Dr. John has demonstrated national and international contributions to education as the founder and Executive Director of both the Nigeria Physiotherapy Network and Africa Physiotherapy Network through which he instituted a ‘Giving-Back Program’ for some Nigeria and African entry-level physical therapist education programs. Dr. John proposed a Vision 2020 and Vision 2030 of entry-level education standards for Africa, adopted by the WCPTA in 2014. He has served as a mentor to several colleagues in Nigeria and other parts of Africa. Even as a student, he was the National President of the Nigerian Physical Therapy Students Association (1992–1994), Secretary of Kano State Chapter of the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy (1999–2002), National Assistant General Secretary of the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy (2000–2002), and Pioneer Editor, National PhysioNews (2000–2002) — the official news magazine of the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy, before migrating to the United States. Additionally, he facilitated an online transitional DPT (tDPT) program between the University of Michigan-Flint (UM-Flint) and physical therapists in Nigeria. Students in the first cohort of this distance tDPT program were awarded their DPT degrees during a historic UM-Flint commencement ceremony on May 5, 2013. He was able to work with colleagues at UM-Flint to design a customized tDPT curriculum which met the needs of Nigerian physical therapists. He actively recruited Nigerian-educated physical therapists based inside and outside Nigeria into the UM-Flint tDPT program, with the 6th cohort of students commencing their online degree program in fall 2016. At least 28–30 Nigerian physical therapists will have earned their DPT degrees through the UM-Flint–Nigeria Collaboration. He also facilitated a faculty exchange program between UM-Flint and Nigeria, bringing a physical therapy faculty from a Nigerian university (OAU) to UM-Flint through a 2013–2014 Fulbright Scholarship. Dr. John also initiated post-professional education programming cooperation between the WCPTA and APTA’s Neurology Section for African Physiotherapists.

Awards & Recognition

• 2024 Cerasoli Lecturer, APTA’s Academy of Physical Therapy Education (APTE)
• 2023 Lynda D. Woodruff Lecturer, awarded by the APTA, APTE and ACAPT
• 2023 Nwuga Physiotherapy Foundation Lecture by the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy
• 2019 Early-Career Achievement in Health Professions Alumnus Award by the University of Kansas Medical Center
• 2013 Most Outstanding Nigerian Physiotherapist in the Diaspora: Award by the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy, recognizing meritorious service to the profession worldwide and especially in Nigeria and Africa; also for bringing DPT back to Nigerian-based physiotherapists through distance education arrangements brokered with the University of Michigan-Flint
• 2013–2014 Secretary, Nigeria DPT Curriculum Design Committee, charged by the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy to design an entry-level DPT curriculum for Nigeria
• 2012 WCPT Africa Region Service Award: Awarded for selfless service to the WCPT Africa Region as Regional Webmaster and online Technical Support for conferences and abstract management
• 2009 “The Dr. E.B. John Department of Medical Rehabilitation Library” — The Departmental Library of the Physical Therapy Program at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi, Nigeria was named in his honor in recognition of his arranging shipment of textbooks, journals, and physical therapy equipment from the United States to the university’s new Physical Therapy Program at no cost

Education

Dr. John earned a Bachelor of Science in Physiotherapy from the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria (1994); a Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Science from the University of Kansas Medical Center (2006); a Doctor of Physical Therapy from Alabama State University, Montgomery, Alabama (2015); an MBA from Louisiana State University, Shreveport (2016); and a Master of Public Health (Global Health) from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia (2020). Dr. John is a Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA), a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants (FIMC), and a Credentialed Fellowship Graduate of the American Physical Therapy Association’s Educational Leadership Institute.

Research

His research spans four areas: the effects of age, gender, and neurological lesions on the sense of motor effort; the effects of virtual reality rehabilitation and robotic rehabilitation interventions on the sense of motor effort; the effects of discharge destinations and socioeconomic factors on motor function recovery after stroke; and the impact of brain-drain on physical therapy education in developing countries.

Personal

Dr. John is married to Pastor (Mrs.) Oluwatoyin John, an Author, Inspirational Speaker and Life Coach. Their marriage is blessed with three children, Oluwatamilore, Oluwatoni, and Oluwadamilola.

Selected Publications & Presentations

1. Soangra R, Jiang P, Haik D, Xu P, Brevik A, Peta A, Tapiero S, Landman J, John EB, Clayman R. Beyond Efficiency: Surface Electromyography Enables Further Insights into the Surgical Movements of Urologists. Journal of Endourology 2022 Jun 20. doi: 10.1089/end.2022.0120.
2. Soangra R, Sivakumar R, Anirudh E, Reddy SV, John EB. Evaluation of Surgical Skill using Machine Learning with Optimal Wearable Sensor Locations. PLoS One. 2022 Jun 3;17(6):e0267936. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267936.
3. Douglas JA, Bostean G, Miles Nash A, John EB, Brown L, Subica AM. Citizenship Matters: Non-Citizen COVID-19 Mortality Disparities in New York and Los Angeles. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(9), 5066. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095066.
4. Harper B, Aron A, John EB. The role of pre-season health characteristics as injury risk factors in female adolescent soccer players. The Journal of Physical Therapy Science 2021, 33: 439–443.
5. Agho AO, John EB. Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy Education and Workforce in Anglophone Sub-Saharan Africa Countries. Human Resources for Health. 2017;15:37. doi:10.1186/s12960-017-0212-5.
6. Barfield JP, Newsome L, John EB, Sallee D, Frames C, Soangra R, Malone LA. A case report of shoulder fatigue imbalance in wheelchair rugby: implications to pain and injury. Spinal Cord Series And Cases 2016, 2:16002.
7. John EB, Okafor UC, Creps J, Fry D, Pfalzer L (2015). UMFlint-Nigeria Distance Transition DPT Collaboration: Overview and Lessons Learned. Physiotherapy 2015, 101 (S1).
8. John EB, Gaskell DJ, Herbertson RK. Effects of Time to Physical Therapy Order on Length of Stay and Discharge Destination in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke. Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, 2013;6:A100.
9. Chesbro SB, Asongwed E, Haile N, John EB. Reliability of Ankle-Brachial Index (ABI) Measurements: A Comparison of Standard and Vascular Blood Pressure Cuffs in Older Adults. Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation 2013; 29(4):195–202.
10. John EB, Pfalzer CA, Fry D, Glickman L, Masaaki S, Sabus C, Okafor UAC, Al-Jarrah M. Establishing and Upgrading Physical Therapist Education in Developing Countries: Four case examples. Journal of Physical Therapy Education 2012; 26(1):29–39.
11. Chesbro SB, Asongwed E, Brown J, John EB. Reliability of Doppler and stethoscope methods of determining systolic blood pressures: Considerations for calculating an ankle-brachial index. Journal of the National Medical Association 2011; 103:863–869.
12. John EB, Liu W, Gregory RW. Biomechanics of Muscular Effort: Age Related Changes. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 2009; 41(2):418–25.
13. John EB, Popoola AO, Allen AA. Eight-Days Isometric Exercise Training Lowers Blood Pressure in Normotensive Subjects. Journal of Clinical Hypertension 2008, 10:5 (Supplement A);A59.
14. John EB, Mukherjee M, Kim SH, Liu W, Gregory RW. A Quantitative Method for Assessing Stroke-impaired Sense of Motor Effort: A Preliminary Study. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 2008, 40:5 (Supplement);S318.
15. Gregory RW, John EB, Liu W. Biomechanical Measures of Muscular Effort: Validity and Reliability. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 2007; 39:5 (Supplement), S256.
16. John EB. Injection Palsy: A true 25-years (1968–1993) endemic rate of a usually misdiagnosed acute flaccid paralytic condition in a Lagos University Teaching Hospital. Physiotherapy 2007; 93 (Suppl 1):S773.
17. John EB, Santos M, Larson J, Bouckhout V, Jernigan S, Kapros I, Gobert D. Effect of Resistance Exercise Training on Resting Blood Pressure of Chronic Stroke Survivors. Stroke 2005; 36 (2): A519.
18. John EB, Gajewski B, Gobert D, Bouckhout V, Billinger SA, Cho JK. Cardiovascular Response of Chronic Stroke Survivors to an Aerobic Exercise Training Program. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 2003; 35(Supplement):S195.

For a complete list of publications, please use the contact form.