Pacific’s PT Program Represented at 2022 American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting
Pacific’s Physical Therapy program was well represented at the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Combined Sections Meeting held Feb. 1-5, in San Antonio, Texas. Thirteen students and five faculty members attended in-person and many others attended remotely.
Third-year students Sara Tomlinson '22 and Sydney Neumann '22 and second-year student Madelyn Foulk '23, along with assistant professor Dr. Tzurei Chen, presented the poster, "Center of Mass Control during Turning in Older Adults with and without Fall Histories."
The study investigated the effect of age and fall history on center of mass displacement during turning. The students have been working on this study for the past two years under the guidance of Dr. Chen, who is the primary faculty investigator on the project.
Sydney Neumann and physical therapist alumna and adjunct faculty member Tabitha Galindo '19, PT, DPT, presented their joint year-long Centennial Scholars project to APTA leaders at the Component and Section Leaders meeting.
The project focused on the development and implementation of the Early Career Bridge Program, a pilot program which took place in 2021 to facilitate mentor-mentee relationships between early career leaders and student physical therapists within APTA Oregon to influence organizational membership value, engagement, and leadership.
Neumann and Galindo were selected as one of two scholar projects featured at this national meeting and have a presentation proposal accepted at the upcoming APTA Oregon Spring Conference. They were mentored and supervised by faculty members Dr. Jeremy Hilliard and Dr. Kevin Chui.
Adjunct faculty member Talina Corvus was part of a four-person panel presentation and discussion, “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in PT Research: Where Are We Now? How Do We Grow?”
Panelists shared their insights on diversity, equity, and inclusion based on their experiences as researchers, as well as the opportunities and challenges involved in recruiting and developing diverse faculty members who can become successful researchers.
