APTA 2011 Award Recipients
Catherine Worthingham Fellow Award
Roberta Ann Newton, PT, PhD, FGSA, an internationally recognized expert in fall-prevent programming for older adults, has distinguished herself within the profession as an educator and researcher.
Presently professor of physical therapy, Newton also serves as clinical professor of medicine with the School of Medicine, Temple University. Past posts at Temple have included director for the Institute on Aging, regional coordinator and director of education of the Gerontology Education Center. Newton was also a tenured associate professor at the Department of Physical Therapy, School of Allied Health Professions, Medical College of Virginia of Virginia Commonwealth University. Newton earned a PhD in neurophysiology and BS in physical therapy from the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, and BS in biology from Mary Washington College.
With 53 Medline publications, 5 books, and 16 book chapters under her belt, as well as involvement in more than two dozen funded grants as either PI or co-PI, Newton's work has changed neurologic physical therapy practice related to balance and falls in older persons, including developing the Multi-Directional Reach Test. Many of her recent papers are interventional trials aimed at decreasing fall risk; her research expertise has been validated via her service on a multitude of external review panels. She has served on five editorial boards and reviews 17 journals, all of which relate to the profession, and she has served as a poster and abstract reviewer for five different organizations outside of the PT community. The Neurology Section has recognized her great respect for the clinician and ability to translate the meaning and significant of falls to the health and wellness of the elderly.
With APTA, Newton has been involved with the sections on Neurology (as a charter member), Education, Research, Gerontology, Clinical Electrophysiology, the Vestibular Interest Group, and the Falls and Balance Interest Group. In addition, she has held leadership positions with the Arthritis Foundation, American Society on Aging, Delaware Valley Geriatric Education Center, and the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education.
Within her community, Newton developed and distributed more than 50,000 brochures for fall prevention and safety and created a fall prevention Web site. In addition, she produced and distributed more than 3,500 videotapes and CD-ROMS of Balance Testing in Older Adults. In addition to winning dozens of grants for her research, Newton has been honored with the Pennsylvania Chapter's Research Award, fellowships with the Gerontology Society of America and College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and the Canadian Physiotherapy Association Silver Quill Award.
John P. Scholz, PT, PhD, is a highly regarded movement scientist renowned for his ability to take complex theoretical concepts of motor control and apply them to the understanding and treatment of neurologic problems.
Presently professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and the Biomechanics and Movement Science Program, University of Delaware, Scholz has also served the university as associate professor and assistant professor. Previous posts have included assistant professor at Georgia State University's Department of Physical Therapy and Laboratory of Behavior of Neurobiology, and teaching positions with the University of Texas at San Antonio. Scholz received a PhD from the University of Connecticut, MACT from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and BS from West Chester State College in Pennsylvania.
Early in his career, Scholz applied the concepts of Dynamical Systems Theory to interventions for physical therapy. The resulting 1990 paper has become a classic, cited more than 100 times. Scholz's research in the control of human movement has, according to a colleague, led to viewing the problem of motor redundancy not as the one of finding a unique solution, but as one of facilitating families of solutions that afford both stability and flexibility. Along with Dr Gregor Schoner, Scholz developed a mathematical toolbox that allowed others to apply concepts to a variety of populations with atypical movement patterns. As an instructor, he applies Dynamical Systems Theory and the Uncontrolled Manifold concept to movement disorders in neurologic populations, and challenges his students to use these concepts with patients he brings into the classroom. In addition, he is an advocate for individuals who have sustained a stroke, and developed a Stroke Clinic at the University of Delaware to offer free evaluation to the population he is passionate about serving, as well as providing a rich learning opportunity for DPT students.
Scholz has served APTA as a member of the Research Committee of the Neurology Section. He co-organized a research retreat titled "Multisegmental Motor Control: Interface of Biomechanical, Neural, and Behavioral Approaches," sponsored by the Section on Research in 1995. He has lent his experience and expertise to opportunities with the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Delaware Stroke Task Force, the Journal of Neurophysiology, Motor Control, and a host of other professional groups and publications.
Outstanding Physical Therapist Assistant Award
Janet Adams, PTA, has made outstanding achievements in improving direct patient care, contributing to the community and the advancement of the profession, and mentoring peers and students to pursue excellence.
Adams' career as a licensed PTA is extensive and ongoing, with 20-plus years of experience. Ms Adams currently is employed full-time at St Jude Children's Research Hospital in the Division of Rehabilitative Medicine in Memphis, TN. Adams treats children who have functional loss/disorders, developmental delays, and neurological deficits due to hematology, oncology, and Immunodeficiency disorders, including patients undergoing Limb Salvage and Amputations. Adams is involved indirectly and directly in research initiatives at St. Jude and is currently serving as coordinator for the "Gait 09" protocol. She serves as a certified clinical instructor for PTA students locally and in surrounding areas.
Adams is employed as a PTA, PRN, for Select Specialty Hospital of Memphis, where she rehabilitates patients in the acute phases of illness who exhibit severe weakness and are ventilator-dependent and undergoing ventilator weaning as a result of respiratory failure and cardiac failure, as well as patients with neurologic and orthopedic disorders. Adams' career as a PTA began with employment by Baptist Memorial Hospital Regional Rehabilitation Center and Baptist Memorial Hospital's Home Health Agency. She earned her AAS from Shelby State Community College, now Southwest Tennessee Community College.
A strong team participant, Adams works well alongside therapists and medical staff, as well as serves on several task forces and committees within and outside of her department, including CAPTE as the PTA onsite reviewer team member and through APTA as a member of the PTA CPI revision group. Adams primarily treats in-patients, demonstrating superior knowledge and clinical skills to provide exceptional care to patients who are often medically fragile, transferring her care to the outpatient center to improve consistency of care and assist with the transition of patients to outpatient therapy. Adams provides, fun, creative, and individualized treatment interventions successfully, involving parents and siblings in treatment sessions to optimize patient participation, resulting in exceptional goal achievement and patient outcomes.
Adams has often been recognized for her achievements and accomplishments, including receiving certificates as "Outstanding Clinical Instructor" from Southwest Tennessee Community College. She received the Advanced Proficiency for the Physical Therapist Assistant in Neuromusculoskeletal Therapy through APTA, and was featured in Physical Therapy magazine and in APTA's Revised Fit Teens magazine. In 2001, she was St Jude Children's Hospital Employee of Quarter and St Jude Hospital's Employee of the Year. She also been featured in an article in St Jude Hospital's "Corridor" as "People Who Care."
Lucy Blair Service Award
Joanell A. Bohmert, PT, MS, has provided continuous years of service and effective leadership on behalf of the association and the profession. Bohmert is recognized by her peers as not only a visionary leader but also a tireless worker; not only an enthusiastic innovator but also a practical implementer; not only a leader by also an effective team member and supporter of physical therapists and physical therapist assistants.
A graduate of the University of Minnesota with a bachelor's and advanced master's degrees in physical therapy, she began her career as a public school itinerant physical therapist. She continues today as a full-time clinician in Anoka-Hennepin Schools in Anoka, Minnesota. She was instrumental in eliminating the referral requirement in public schools and has set an example for professional autonomy, leading the way for direct access in all practice settings.
At the component level, Bohmert has been an active member of the Health Policy, Neurology, and Pediatrics sections, and served as director of Region II and as chair of the Practice Committee for the Section on Pediatrics. For the Minnesota Chapter Ms. Bohmert served as president 1994-1998, multiple times as delegate, chair of the Government Affairs Committee, and co-chair or the chapter's successful statute revision process that resulted in direct access in 1988. She has served as content expert and testifier in support of direct access since the 1980s. For her many contributions to the chapter, she was awarded its highest award, the Corinne Ellingham Outstanding Service Award, and for her tireless grassroots advocacy was recipient of APTA's State Legislative Award.
At the national level, Bohmert continues to share her expertise as a clinician, her skills as an effective collaborator, and her vision, leadership, and passion for physical therapy. Bohmert was instrumental in the development, education, and revision of the Guide to Physical Therapist Practice, serving on the Project Advisory Committee (PAG), PAG liaison to the Musculoskeletal Panel, project editor for Parts One and Two of the second edition, core faculty for APTA Regional Training Workshops, and member of the Guide Revision Focus Group. Elected to the APTA Board of Directors for 2000-2005; 2006-2007 she served as vice president March 2005-June 2006. Contributions include chair of RC 40-01 Task Force on the Future Role of the Physical Therapist Assistant; chair of the Task Force on Branding; participant in the curriculum development for the Advanced Clinical Instructor Education and Credentialing Program and core faculty member for the "Train the Trainer" program.
Bohmert continues her service on the Steering Committee for the "Physical Therapy and Society Summit (PASS 2009)," the Steering Committee and a presenter for "Creating a Culture of Collaboration: Visualizing Practice Through Research and Research Through Practice (2010)," and the Steering Committee for Physical Therapy, APTA's official journal.
Nancy Berryman Reese, PT, PhD, MSHA, has served APTA in numerous roles at the chapter, section, and national levels.
Presently professor and chair of the Department of Physical Therapy, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas, Reese also holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences. She was a physical therapist with Conway Physical Therapy Clinic and Arkansas Rehabilitation Institute. Reese holds a PhD from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, MHSA from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and BS from the University of Central Arkansas.
Reese was a member of the Academic Administrators Special Interest Group Organizing Committee, which came about from a 2007 task force that investigated the feasibility of forming a new organization within APTA to better represent physical therapist education programs. As part of the committee, Reese played a key role in budget and leadership groups; her efforts paid off when the Board of Directors voted to establish the new Academic Council. She currently serves as treasurer of the council and continues to shape the new group, most notably in the development of the budget. As president of the Arkansas Chapter, Reese was instrumental in overturning a law that allowed the Arkansas Chiropractor Board to sue physical therapists for performing "chiropractics," a huge victory for physical therapists in the State of Arkansas.
A member of APTA since 1980, Reese now serves on the Neurology, Education, and Health Policy & Administration sections. She is also active with the Arkansas Chapter, having served as chapter president and treasurer, president of the Central District, Federal Affairs liaison, chief delegate and Legislative Committee co-chair, and with the Society for Neuroscience. Over the course of her career, Reese has been honored with the Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Award from the University of Central Arkansas, the Arkansas Chapter's Distinguished Service Award, and the Joe Finnell Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Central Arkansas.
Marilyn Moffat Leadership Award.
Babette Seligmann Sanders, PT, DPT, MS, sets high standards, creates new possibilities for any responsibility, and guides others toward the same goals with integrity.
Presently associate professor and assistant chair for curriculum affairs for the Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Sanders also serves as physical therapist at Evanston Hospital, Evanston, Illinois. She has held educator positions with the University of Illinois and SUNY-Downstate Medical Center, and a number of clinical roles.
Sanders has had a lasting impact on the development and progression on the physical therapy profession. On a day-to-day basis, she is an educator; at the individual level, she has mentored countless physical therapist and PTA students as a colleague. Her areas of expertise include acute-care practice and professional development; as a clinical educator she has assumed a critical role in developing safe and effective new graduates for many years. Sanders was an early advocate of mentoring more than one student at a time and instrumental in evaluating the pros and cons of this model of clinical education. In her faculty role, she is always ready to provide extra clinical supervision to students who are struggling with the adaptation of classroom to clinic. With a long history of active participation in leadership roles within the profession at the state and national levels, her interest in education and legislation has benefited the association in many ways. For example, she was instrumental in Illinois in the early development of a Common Evaluation Tool for use in evaluating student clinical performance, which led to an appointment to the first APTA task force in this area.
Active in APTA since 1970, Sanders has served the Education, Women's Health, Orthopaedic, Acute Care, Neurology, and Health Policy & Administration sections. She has served in the House of Delegates and in leadership positions at the national and local levels. Sanders has been honored as the inspiration for the Babette Sanders Leadership and Service Award by the Illinois Chapter and has been presented with the award, Outstanding Physical Therapist Award, Lucy Blair Service Award, and Outstanding Clinical Educator Award from the Chicago Area Clinical Educator's Forum.
Dorothy Briggs Memorial Scientific Inquiry Award
When people with stroke recover gait speed, they report improved function and reduced disability. However, the minimal amount of change in gait speed that is clinically meaningful and associated with an important difference in function for people poststroke has not been determined. The purpose of this study was to determine the minimal clinically important difference for comfortable gait speed associated with an improvement in the modified Rankin Scale score for people between 20 and 60 days poststroke. The paper determined that clinicians can use this reference value to develop goals and interpret progress in patients with subacute stroke.
Pamela Duncan, PT, PhD, FAPTA
Dorian K. Rose, PT, PhD
Katherine J. Sullivan, PT, PhD, FAHA
Julie K. Tilson, PT, DPT, MS, NCS
Julie K. Tilson, PT, DPT, MS, NCS, Katherine J. Sullivan, PT, PhD, FAHA, Dorian K. Rose, PT, PhD, and Pamela Duncan, PT, PhD, FAPTA, are authors of "Meaningful Gait Speed Improvement During the First 60 Days Poststroke: Minimal Clinically Important Difference."
Tilson JK, Sullivan KJ, Cen CY, Rose DK, Koradia CH, Azen PA, Duncan PW for the LEAPS Investigative Team. Meaningful gait speed improvement during the first 60 days post stroke: Minimal Clinically Important Difference. Phys Ther. 2010 Feb; 90(2).
Helen J. Hislop Award
D. Michele Basso, PT, EdD, has studied the factors that mediate or inhibit recovery of locomotion following spinal cord injury, and her research has had a significant impact on the profession.
Presently tenured professor, director of research, and associate director at the School of Allied Medical Professions, The Ohio State University, Basso was previously associate professor and assistant professor. She was a research scientist and postdoctoral fellow with the university's Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy under the direction of Drs Jacqueline Bresnahan and Michael Beattie. Basso holds an EdD and MA in motor learning from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a BS in physical therapy from the University of Utah.
Basso's research models the definition of translational research for recovery from spinal cord injury. She studies cellular factors that mediate or inhibit activity-dependent neuroplasticity to provide clinicians with new intervention and assessment tools for use in patients. As both a basic scientist and clinical researcher, Basso uses clinical observations of factors that impact recovery of locomotion following spinal cord injury to stimulate her cellular and mechanistic investigations. For nearly 20 years and with more than 30 publications, Basso's investigations have focused on 3 components within the theory of activity-dependent plasticity to promote recovery after spinal cord injury: developing sensitive and accurate measurement of recovery from spinal cord injury; identifying neural mechanisms that underline recovery; and the translation of basic science findings to clinical practice. Basso's 33 articles have been cited a total of 2,526 times, with an average of 97 citations per year.
Basso is a member of the Neurology and Research sections of APTA, and involved with the Society for Neuroscience, Women in Neurotrauma, and Neurotrauma Society. She has been honored with the National Research Award from the Neurology Section, Who's Who Among America's Teachers, and the Outstanding Faculty Research Award from The Ohio State University.
Jack Walker Award
William G. Boissonnault, PT, and Mary Beth Badke, PT, PhD, are authors of "Pursuit and Implementation of Hospital-Based Outpatient Direct Access to Physical Therapy Services: An Administrative Case Report," the first publication describing the development and implementation of a direct-access patient-care delivery model in a large academic medical center
Despite legislative approval of direct-access to physical therapy, other regulatory barriers and internal institutional policies often must be overcome before this practice model may be fully adopted, and few institutional initiatives have been published describing strategies designed to change policies restricting direct patient access. Reviewed patient care decisions by therapists participating in the pilot program were deemed appropriate 100 percent of the time by physician chart reviewers. Approximately 10 percent of the patients seen were referred to a radiologist for plain film imaging, and 4 to 16 percent were referred to physicians for pain medications or medical consultation, respectively. The report's goal was to assist other institutions in implementing a similar consumer-access practice model; the pilot program’s success led to institutional adoption of the direct-access model in all physical therapy outpatient clinics.
Boissonnault WG, Badke, MB, Powers, JM Pusuit and Implementation of Hospital-Based Outpatient Direct Access to Physical Therapy Services: An Administrative Case Report Phys Ther 2010, 90 100-109.
Marian Williams Award for Research in Physical Therapy
David A. Brown, PT, PhD, combines strong academic and clinical backgrounds in educator/scientist roles. A nationally known expert on stroke, Brown's current research investigates factors, evaluation, and intervention strategies in locomotor dysfunction.
Brown is tenured associated professor at Northwestern University. In addition, he is an adjunct faculty member at Rocky Mountain University and founder of KineaDesign LLC. Brown holds a PhD in exercise science from the University of Iowa, MS in physical therapy from Duke University, and BA in physics and astronomy from the University of Rochester.
The primary focus of Brown's research is locomotor recovery poststroke; in particular, he examines how locomotor function and balance can be improved with various forms of exercise interventions. Notably, his research has resulted in the awarding of several patents for robotic devices designed to improve balance and gait in persons with chronic stroke. He is recognized worldwide as an authority whose research has added significantly to the field of rehabilitation science, a logical extension of his clinical training as a physical therapist. Brown's ability to produce and disseminate research has resulted in more than 40 peer-reviewed articles that have appeared in 20 different journals, a tribute to the multidisciplinary nature of his research. The demand for and interest in his expertise has resulted in oral presentations worldwide, including both the medical, engineer, and physical therapist communities.
A member of APTA since 1981, Brown is currently active in the Neurology, Education, and Research sections. He is a member of the Society for Neuroscience, International Gait and Posture Research Society, and Society for Neural Control of Movement. He has been recognized with the Silver Medal-Industrial Design Excellence Award, APTA's Margaret L. Moore Outstanding New Faculty Award, and the California Physical Therapy Association Research Award, among others.