Prof. Alia Alghwiri participated in several roles in the World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) Congress that was held in Geneva, Switzerland this year.
During the opening ceremony of the congress, Prof. Alia Alghwiri from Jordan was mentioned as a member of the Congress Program Committee among 11-members from all over the world. Each member’s picture was placed on the map of the world to show diversity in the selection of members. This is the first time that a physical therapist from the Arab world has been selected in the organizing committee of the congress, which has been held since the 1950s.
Prof. Alghwiri moderated three session formats: 1) A networking session entitled “Early Career researchers” with the aim of discussing the difficulties faced by the new researchers and the proposed solutions 2) INDABA sessions with different physical therapy topics 3) A platform presentation on physical therapy for neurological diseases.
Finally, she presented her research entitled “The effect of stem cell therapy and combined exercise program on balance and gait in people with multiple sclerosis” which won the World Confederation for Physical Therapy’s outstanding platform presentation award by an Early Career Researcher. Prof. Alghwiri from the School of Rehabilitation Sciences has started this research project two years ago with the Stem Cell Therapy Center and with the support of the Deanship of Scientific Research at the University of Jordan. This research idea is novel and one of the first researches that combines physical therapy and stem cell therapy in the world.