Director of the Scottish Centre for Children with Motor Impairments

Professor Patrick Salter 

The new Director of Scottish Centre for Children with Motor Impairments is Professor Patrick Salter.  Professor Salter formerly held the posts of Dean of the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences of Kingston University and St George’s Medical School, Dean of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at Napier University and Head of Physiotherapy at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh.  Professor Salter studied physiotherapy at the Glasgow Royal School of Physiotherapy then undertook postgraduate study at Strathclyde University and Jordanhill College. He began his academic career at the Queens College Glasgow where he led the development of the first physiotherapy degree programme in Scotland.  In addition to professorships from Napier and Queen Margaret, he was awarded an Honorary Professorship from the University Complutense of Madrid. 

Professor Salter has held a number of pan-institutional roles, including Chair of the Academic Standards and Quality Assessment Committees of Queen Margaret and Chair of the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Committee at Napier.  He has held Governor and Board appointments of St George’s Medical School, Queen Margaret University College, South Thames College and South West London Workforce Confederation. 

Nationally, Professor Salter has had extensive involvement with health and education organisations through a range of appointments including membership of the Scottish Health Service Advisory Council,  the Quality Assessment, Learning and Teaching Committee of the Higher Education Funding Council the Chief Scientists’ Strategic Research Grants Review Group, the Council for National Academic Awards Health Sciences Committee, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy’s Education Committee,  the Physiotherapists’ Board of the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine and was the Secretary of State appointee to the General Osteopathic Council.

Professor Salter has published research and scholarly works and presented papers at national and international conferences on a range of topics including the analysis of human movement, the effectiveness of therapeutic practice, movement analysis of cerebral palsied children, spinal kinematics, continuing professional development and health care education.

He has considerable national and international experience including external examiner roles for King’s College London, University College Dublin, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and course approval experience in universities throughout the UK including East London, Leeds Metropolitan, Salford, Teesside, Ulster, Westminster, Northumbria and Brighton.

While at Queen Margaret, Professor Salter was involved in the early discourse regarding the establishment of conductive education in Scotland, hosting conductors from the Peto Institute, chairing the first national conference on conductive education in Scotland and presenting the laureation when Ester Cotton, a pioneer of conductive education in the UK, received an honorary doctorate.