As part of Hispanic Heritage Month, ACAPT proudly highlights the journey and impact of Dr. Al Gurovich, PT FACSM, Chair and Program Director of the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).

Originally from Chile, Dr. Gurovich’s career has spanned over 35 years—shaped by mentors across South America and the U.S., and guided by his belief that education multiplies impact. At UTEP, he has led transformative growth, doubling class size while maintaining strong Hispanic representation and advancing research.

“Community is everything. I call it ‘your tribe.’”

Let's dive deeper:

What inspired you to pursue a career in this field? 

I was a high school swimmer in the mid-80s. I really wanted to be a high-performance swimming coach. A friend of mine, also an athlete, told me that working with high-performance athletes was very disappointing because everyone was a loser except the one who won. That made me realize that applying high-performance training principles to cardiovascular patients was doable and, in that case, there were no losers, only winners (completely the opposite). That stamped up my years as a clinician. When I decided to shift toward academia, it was all about impact. As a clinician, I was making a positive impact on my community, one patient at a time. As a teacher, you impact 30 to 50 students per year, making the positive impact exponential. 

Share a defining moment in your professional journey.

I have had a rather long professional journey (35 years), and it is hard to find only one defining moment. I can count 4 defining moments that have shaped my current professional approach.

• First, as a PT student in clinical rotations, I have a clinical instructor who was the “father” of cardiovascular rehabilitation in Chile, Mr. Ramon Valdez. He was very reserved, but he invited me to shadow him in his CV rehab program. That opened my eyes to what I really wanted to do when I graduated.
• Secondly, I received a scholarship to learn about high-performance exercise training programs from one of the most influential training laboratories in South America, the Biosystem Lab in Rosario, Argentina, led by Dr. Juan Carlos Mazza. There, I learned about training efficiency and how exercise intensity, which is a variable in our hands, was paramount for successful outcomes, both in high-performance athletes and clinical populations.
• Third, coming back to school as a PhD student in the Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology at the University of Florida at Gainesville, under the mentorship of Dr. Randy Braith, PhD. This moment was very important because of two major moments: 1) I moved to the United States from Chile, and 2) I learned so much about cardiovascular pathophysiology and how exercise can impact it.
• The fourth defining moment was when I decided to pursue a leadership role as the Chair and Program Director of the DPT program at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). After my PhD, I just wanted to be a faculty member doing research and teaching classes. However, a few years after my first faculty position at Indiana State University, I realized that there were several things that needed to be different if we wanted to have a healthy and strong profession. It starts by having strong, evidence-based, and evidence-generating DPT programs. That is why I accepted my current leadership position, which opened new and amazing opportunities to continue growing.

How has your heritage influenced your approach to work and leadership? 

During my first 6 years in the U.S., I was not very aware of how my heritage could influence my work. I was conscious that I was a foreign-trained PT and I was an international PhD student in a rather diverse and international community. Moreover, I worked hard to understand the American culture to feel that I belonged. But it was after my first year living in rural Indiana that I started to feel that my Hispanic heritage was important. That the way I had to solve problems and create networks was different. That brought both good and bad things. The good ones, I was more resourceful than the rest of my colleagues. The bad ones, some colleagues felt threatened by my creativity and different perspectives. They wanted to keep the status quo, and I wanted to innovate and move forward. That was also the time I thought that my Hispanic Chilean heritage would be useful in a leadership position, especially at UTEP, which is the leading Hispanic serving institution in the U.S.

Why do you think the National Hispanic Heritage Month is important in our profession? 

The United States is the most diverse country in the world. In fact, one of the things that I like the most is the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. There is no other country in the world that brings this level of diversity. Therefore, every heritage is paramount to the well-being and health of our society and our country. I absolutely love how every different ethnicity has its Heritage Month because I can learn from each one of them how to be a better person. Specifically with Hispanic Heritage Month, I feel that I 100% belong to UTEP, as more than 60% of our DPT students are Hispanics (80% of undergraduates), and we are the DPT program that is moving the needle in PT Hispanic representation. And we see it every day.

What are some projects or initiatives you’re most proud of? 

There is a huge shortage of PTs in the Paso del Norte Region, and the population in this region is 80% Hispanic. Four years ago, I began working toward an increase in the DPT class size. Even though the needs assessment was there, I needed to convince the institution’s administration (and R1 University) that we did not want to be a “money-maker” program and that any growth should come with significant support for research to fulfill the University’s mission. Four years later, we have doubled the class size, keeping over 60% Hispanic students, hired four tenure-track and six clinical faculty, and our scholarship deliverables have increased 300%. I am very proud to have led this effort, but I can’t thank enough all the faculty and university administrators for supporting our vision.

How has your role in ACAPT shaped your perspective? 

Since I've been serving on the ACAPT board, I have learned so much. There is a lot to do to move our profession forward. Being part of ACAPT has confirmed the need to have strong, evidence-based, and evidence-generating DPT programs and ACAPT is crucial to accomplish that. It is great to find a community where you feel that you belong. 

What impact do you hope to leave on the profession? 

Our PT profession is the most wonderful profession of all. It is the perfect blend between serving the community with an evidence-based approach and creativity, which demands higher critical thinking and knowledge. To educate the next generation of PTs, every single PT program must work toward excellence in teaching, research, and clinical practice.

Once everyone is on the same page, the PT profession will continue to be wonderful and indestructible; PTs will become vital and irreplaceable within healthcare teams. The DPT program at UTEP was a small, regional program that provided professionals to our region. After 8 years, our DPT program is not only providing PTs to the region but also beyond it, with high-quality standards and a new culture based on evidence, critical thinking, and hard work. If we were able to do it in an underrepresented and underserved region, everyone could do it. It is just a new mindset. And if more programs are motivated to do it, that would be the impact I hope to leave on the profession.

What does community mean to you, and how do you build connections in your work? 

Community is everything. I call it “your tribe”. Because of my background, I used to say “I am not from this world." However, I have found my tribes within the APTA’s Academy of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary PT, UTEP DPT, and ACAPT. Now, with this sense of belonging, I can continue pushing forward to help my community. 

Are there cultural traditions or values that you integrate into your career? 

Of course! Although they have gotten me in trouble. For example, in Chile, we celebrate everything. It might be that we never win anything, we are used to celebrating even small “ties”. Then, for my first publication, my first promotion, and my first big grant (all in different institutions here in the U.S.) I brought a nice bottle of Chilean wine. I was sure I was doing the right thing until they told me that alcohol was forbidden from University campuses. That is when I understood how uncomfortable some of my colleagues were when I showed them the bottle. Another example is the big cookout we do at my house every Fall. It started with no more than 20 people. Now, we are up to 50 people and counting. It is a way to open my house to everyone and show my appreciation for their hard work and friendship.