Skill Works was founded in 2004 to provide quality continuing education to physical therapists. We believe that:

• Every therapist owes it to his or her patients to strive to reach their highest potential through the relentless and habitual pursuit of clinical excellence.

• Guided self-reflection is the cornerstone of professional growth and development.

• The principles of evidence-based practice should guide your clinical decision-making process.
  

• Participants in continuing education should be held accountable for the information and skills that are presented. With that in mind we will strive to assess our course participants' learning through the use written, oral and practical examinations.

• Participants should be able to use the information learned and skills gained during our courses immediately upon return to the clinical setting.

• The older one gets, the younger old becomes.

Faculty

Rob Landel, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS, MTC

Rob Landel is associate professor of clinical physical therapy in the Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He is the Director of Residency Programs at USC, the co-founder and Director of the USC Orthopedic PT Residency Program, and the coordinator of the musculoskeletal curriculum in the entry level DPT program. A graduate of USC in 1984 with a masters of science degree in physical therapy, Dr. Landel earned his Certificate in Manual Therapy (MTC) from the Institute of Graduate Health Sciences (now the University of St. Augustine) in 1989. He became a Board Certified Specialist in Orthopedic Physical Therapy (OCS) in 1992, and earned his post-professional Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree in 1996. He became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist  (CSCS) in 2004.

Dr. Landel began his clinical work at Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center, where besides time in the burn, arthritis and outpatient neurology units he worked with Dr. Jacquelin Perry on the Polio service. He then worked in outpatient orthopedics until he began teaching part time at USC in 1988. He came to USC on a full time basis in 1989 to continue teaching and to start  the faculty practice, USC Physical Therapy Associates. He continues an active practice there, including managing patients with orthopedic and vestibular disorders.

An accomplished teacher, Dr. Landel has taught orthopedic physical therapy, vestibular rehabilitation, balance retraining and fall prevention to physicians, audiologists, and physical and occupational therapists across the US, Europe, Asia and Australia. He received the Division's Outstanding Teacher Award at USC twice (2005, 2009), and the James Gould Excellence in Teaching Orthopedic Physical Therapy Award in 2009 from the Orthopedic Section of the APTA.  He has presented at professional and scientific meetings locally, nationally and internationally. He is on the faculty of the Vestibular Rehabilitation Competency Course series sponsored by Emory University and the APTA, directed by Susan Herdman, PT, PhD. The Cervicogenic Dizziness Competency Course offered by Skill Works is the fourth course in that series.

Active in the APTA at the national level, Dr. Landel is a past member and chair of the Orthopedic  charged with writing, updating and maintaining the Board Certification Examination and the re-certification process in Orthopedic Physical Therapy (OCS). Dr. Landel wrote questions for the OCS exam for 5 years prior to joining the Specialty Council, and was a member of the task force that wrote the current Description of Specialty Practice for Orthopedic Physical Therapy. In addition, he served for four years (two as chair) on the Clinical Residency and Fellowship Program Credentialing Committee. During his tenure the number of newly credentialed programs nearly doubled, including the first residency programs in Neurology and Gerontology and the first Sports Fellowship. He continues his advocacy of long term continuing education and the development of residency programs through Skill Works by providing consultation services to new programs. Besides getting the USC Orthopedic Residency program credentialed he assisted in getting the USC Neurologic Residency program credentialed, and has consulted with several other successfully credentialed programs including the first program in Pediatric Physical Therapy.

Dr. Landel co-authored the chapter on cervicogenic dizziness in the third edition of Vestibular Rehabilitation by Susan Herdman. He has also coauthored chapters in therapeutic exercise for the thoracic spine and knee, published 13 peer reviewed articles on various topics in physical therapy, and authored four invited articles. He is currently studying Art History with his 11th grade daughter, assisted by his 18 and 22 year old sons.