DPT Newsroom

Trevor Lentz, PT, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of Orthopaedic Surgery–Physical Therapy Division, was selected as the recipient of the 2023 G.F.

The bipartisan House bill would explicitly refer to PT falls-related services in Medicare's "welcome" visit and annual wellness checks. 

The physical therapy community has long understood that the best way to reduce the impact of fall-related injuries in older adults is to prevent them from happening in the first place.

Katherine D. Myers, PT, DPT, PhD, successfully passed her final defense for her PhD, titled “Educator Identity Formation of the Clinical Instructor in Physical Therapy: A Qualitative Exploration.”  

She began her studies at NC State in the fall of 2020, at the height of a global pandemic. While holding the clinical education program together at Duke and ensuring all our students had clinical placements in an unforeseeable clinical environment, Dr. Myers plugged into a very demanding program.

Corey B. Simon, DPT, PhD, associate professor in Orthopaedic Surgery–Physical Therapy Division, and his research team recently published comments about movement-evoked pain (MEP), or pain that occurs with or is provoked by movement, is prevalent in individuals with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and is associated with mobility impairment, clinical pain, and poor health outcomes (Butera et al., 2024).

March is Developmental Disability Awareness Month (DDAM). Developmental disabilities are a group of conditions related to the impairment in physical, learning, language, or behavior areas. This year’s DDAM theme is “A World of Opportunities”, which was selected to bring awareness to the barriers people with developmental disabilities face in our communities.

On behalf of the APTA NC Student SIG and the Community Service Project Committee, we have two events planned for this spring semester.   

Members of the Duke DPT Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee set up a recruitment and information table at an event hosted at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) on Valentine's Day to promote physical therapy, specifically Duke DPT. 

Photo caption (l to r): Lytzy Hernandez, Telkevia (TK) Mackey, Chanté Pettiford, Kiara Smith, and Dr. Gary Johnson.

They enjoyed talking with NCCU students. Many thanks to the Duke DPT admissions team for providing materials for distribution!

We are excited to welcome student services and DEI coordinator Paige Vinson, who begins on March 11. 

Every year, the Duke Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program hosts a 5K to raise money for the Foundation for Physical Therapy Research, which is an organization that funds PhD students, postdocs, and rehab-focused projects. The 

Katherine D. Myers, PT, DPT, PhD candidate (pictured on left), received a 2024 Adopt-A-Doc award. The award recognized her dedication to the profession of physical therapy and the education of physical therapists and physical therapist assistants.