Cheryl Cott is a Physical Therapist and Social Gerontologist. In 1995, after a number of years working as a clinical physiotherapist in Geriatrics and Complex Continuing Care, she obtained her M.Sc. and PhD. in Community Health from the University of Toronto and began her tenure stream position in the Department of Physical Therapy. She was promoted to Associate Professor and received tenure in 2000. Subsequently, in 2009, she became the first tenured Physical Therapy faculty at the University of Toronto to be promoted to Full Professor. She held a Career Scientist Award from the Province of Ontario for five years and was Deputy Director of the Arthritis Community Research and Evaluation Unit (ACREU), Affiliate Scientist at the Western Research Institute at the University Health Network, Senior Scientist at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and, latterly, Affiliate Scientist at Bridgepoint Health Research Unit. She retired from the University of Toronto in 2018 and continues to collaborate and publish with international colleagues and former students and colleagues.
Dr. Cott’s research career focused on the experience of older people living with chronic disease and disability, and the interrelationships between clients, families and health care professionals. Two of her signal academic accomplishments are:
The Movement Continuum Theory of Physical Therapy written with colleagues at the University of Toronto and used as the basis of the definition of Physical Therapy by the World Confederation of Physical Therapists (WCPT); and
The Client Centred Rehabilitation Questionnaire (CCRQ), a health care quality measure used with all clients discharged from rehabilitation beds in Ontario. It has been translated and used in numerous countries around the world.
