Learn more about our DAT
Our Doctor of Athletic Training (DAT) students are professional athletic trainers living and working across the country. Designed for certified athletic trainers, our DAT program is delivered 100% online. The program teaches clinical decision-making skills through training in advanced concepts and practice, with a special emphasis on concussion and mild traumatic brain injury education.
Students learn to collaborate effectively with interprofessional healthcare teams and develop leadership skills—all while exploring athletic training from a public health perspective.
You can complete this 36-credit program in two years of full-time study. The online DAT program prioritizes faculty mentorship and extensive student collaboration. Live online class sessions and activities provide opportunities to interact and network with faculty and peers.
The Doctor of Athletic Training is only open to currently certified athletic trainers. If you are interested in becoming an athletic trainer but you are not one yet, apply to our MS in Athletic Training program.
Meet our students
Stacie Valone always knew she wanted to pursue a career in physical health. She started college as a pre-med student, but as an athlete who played basketball and ran track, Valone fell in love with athletic training as soon as she discovered it. As a Temple undergraduate in athletic training, she gained hands-on experience working with the school’s football and basketball teams, with nearby University of Pennsylvania’s football team and Penn Relays track competition, and the Philadelphia Wings professional lacrosse team.
“It’s great to be with Temple because there are so many connections,” she says. “When I decided I wanted to pursue my doctorate, there was no school I would want to go to other than Temple.”
Because Temple’s Doctor of Athletic Training (DAT) is fully online, Valone has been able to stay in her full time job while pursuing her doctorate. She’s now in occupational health, keeping workers at industrial sites safe and healthy, after working in sports athletic training jobs in Maryland and Florida.
The DAT program adds a new academic layer to her hands-on experience. With its emphasis on evidence-based practice, students are trained to analyze and incorporate the latest research and build career-advancing expertise in the field.
“We’re looking at current studies, new ways to treat injuries,” she says. “So if we have athletes with ACL tears, we can look at the literature being published right now, and say, ‘Okay, well, maybe this patella graft is the best graft to get. And these special tests might be more accurate in detecting ACL tears than previous tests. And this older rehabilitation method may not be as direct as this new one is.”
Having classmates who are working athletic trainers all over the country allows the students to share ideas, Valone says.
“Our classmates are in high schools, clinics, colleges, professional teams, industrial, military settings. So we can piggyback off one another and throw ideas out,” she says. “I can reach out to one of my classmates and say, ‘Hey, I have a patient with a weird knee injury, what are your thoughts?’ We help each other out. It can help you connect socially and professionally.”