Bob Deusinger Oral History

Robert H. “Bob” Deusinger is associate professor emeritus of physical therapy at Washington University. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Slippery Rock College in Pennsylvania, Deusinger received a master’s degree in biomechanics from the University of Massachusetts. He then entered the physical therapy program at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons program as part of the U.S. Navy National Scientific Scholarship Program in 1968. After earning his degree in physical therapy, Deusinger began his Navy service as a physical therapist at the National Naval Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He was transferred to Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he became the director of the physical therapy clinic. He then entered the University of Iowa’s engineering department and graduate program in physical therapy. While working on his doctorate at Iowa, Deusinger went to Buffalo, N.Y., and worked with Steve Rose, Ph.D., who subsequently was recruited to Washington University to direct the physical therapy program here. He immediately recruited Deusinger to Washington University. In the early 1990s, Deusinger was asked to help start a clinical practice for the Program in Physical Therapy and served as Director, Clinical Practice for seven years. He then became the director of the Human Biodynamics Laboratory (HBL) leading a team in research directed at understanding complexities of the knee joint and the mechanisms of injury or disease. He retired in 2013.