UTC third-year DPT students Jaimin Rasmussen, Rebecca Sullivan, Candace Ricketts and Lauren Clark took home top honors in the 2025 American Physical Therapy Association Knowledge Bowl. Photo courtesy of Dr. Nancy Fell.
A team of University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Doctor of Physical Therapy students made an impressive debut at the American Physical Therapy Association’s annual Knowledge Bowl, competing for the first time on the national stage.
It turned out they weren’t just there to compete.
Third-year DPT students Lauren Clark, Jaimin Rasmussen, Candace Ricketts and Rebecca Sullivan—all set to graduate in May—defeated student teams from some of the nation’s top-ranked DPT programs in winning the APTA Combined Sections Meeting Knowledge Bowl in Houston.
The Knowledge Bowl is a Jeopardy-style competition designed to test DPT students’ knowledge of various topics related to physical therapy—including clinical practice, biomechanics, pathology, patient care and professional standards. Physical therapy programs across the country were invited to compete in a fast-paced and highly competitive environment to showcase their expertise and problem-solving skills.
With April’s National Physical Therapy Exam fast approaching, soon-to-be DPT graduates have been hard at work preparing for the boards. Participating in the Knowledge Bowl is a precursor, but—unlike the NPTE—this high-stakes challenge came with a live audience.
“It was really cool to have a lot of audience members and other students from UTC that ended up coming. We could hear them cheering after each round,” said Rasmussen, who is doing his clinical education at the Blount Memorial Health Center at Cherokee in his hometown of Maryville, Tennessee. “We ended up becoming the people to watch out for halfway through.”
The UTC team defeated student groups from the University of Delaware (ranked No. 2 nationally among DPT programs) and Duke University (No. 6)—along with teams from the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the University of Texas at El Paso, Shenandoah University (Virginia), Marymount University (Virginia), Regis University (Colorado), and a combined group from the University of California, San Francisco and San Francisco State University.
“I’m not shocked at how smart they are,” said UTC Assistant Professor Derek Liuzzo, the assistant program director of the Department of Physical Therapy. “I’m beyond proud of them.”
Clark, Rasmussen, Ricketts and Sullivan—currently spread across the Southeast for full-time clinical education while preparing for their board exams—learned about the Knowledge Bowl opportunity through an email from UC Foundation Professor Nancy Fell, head of the Department of Physical Therapy.
“When Dr. Fell sent us the email, we started looking into it and realized that it was put on by Scorebuilders—who we already do a lot of our review for the National Board Exam through,” said Ricketts, who is doing her clinical education in the UTC athletic training room working with a physical therapist through Erlanger. “We really just discussed it amongst ourselves, those of us who were going to the conference to present, and asked, ‘Who wants to try and form a team? And let’s just do this for a good review.’”
While some students may have been nervous about competing on a national stage, Clark described the experience as both unnerving and thrilling.
“Very unnerving at first but better that our answers were hidden and individual scores not reported, so that made it better, said Clark—a Kingsport, Tennessee, native who received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from UTC in 2022. She is doing her clinical education at Peak Potential Physiotherapy and Wellness in East Memphis, Tennessee.
“As we started pulling ahead and winning, I did become more nervous because then it started to get more competitive. At that point, we really had a chance to win and we really wanted to represent our school and bring home a victory.”
Ricketts compared the Knowledge Bowl to “a competition day for a sporting event or dance performance.”
“It’s like exam day—you know that the answer is coming and you’ve studied for it—but you have that rush of anxiety wondering, ‘Am I remembering this correctly?’ The adrenaline is definitely building as you’re going along,” said Ricketts, a native of Chattanooga who received a bachelor’s degree in health and human performance from UTC in 2022.
Adding to the excitement, Rasmussen said, was that the runner-up group from the University of Mississippi Medical Center was “at the table that was directly behind us, so they were hunting us down. We were basically in first and second (place) and they were constantly staring us down as we were answering. That was the most pressure-filled thing.”
The UTC students gave credit to the rigorous preparation provided by the DPT program.
“I think our professors at UTC do a really good job of preparing us for something like this by making sure we have a very well-rounded knowledge base,” said Sullivan, a Nashville native who is doing her clinical education at Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital in Stuart, Florida. “The questions in the Knowledge Bowl covered a lot of topics, but our faculty prides themselves on giving us a solid foundation in every topic applying to physical therapy. I think this is something that sets us apart from other programs.
“They also drill into us to go with our gut and be sure of ourselves. This is something we were telling each other during the competition—to be sure of ourselves and not change our answers. I am really working on keeping that mentality as I move into my career. Being sure about my knowledge and not second-guessing what I am doing helps to instill confidence in my patients and trust my plan.”
Ricketts echoed Sullivan’s sentiments.
“We felt really prepared going in because UTC does focus so much on preparing us to pass the boards in April,” Ricketts said. “We all did feel like we had the skills to go and do this. That was a contributing factor that the four of us talked about going into this.
“UTC’s PT program really prides itself on providing the students with the best resources to not just be good PTs when we graduate and pass the boards but also to be good human beings in general.”
Dr. David Levine, Walter M. Cline Chair of Excellence in Physical Therapy, highlighted Ricketts’ background as a former Sugar Mocs dancer—saying that her success exemplifies the diverse talents found among UTC students.
“We’ve had a lot of Sugar Mocs in this program, so she has certainly represented UTC well on another stage,” he said.
“I appreciate Dr. Levine putting that out there,” Ricketts said. “Sometimes, as dancers, it’s not always remembered that … a lot of dancers have gone on to be PTs or doctors.”
Fell commended the team members for their swift decision to compete and their eagerness to take on the challenge.
“If they had not decided pretty quickly and submitted their application (right away) they would have been shut out because they do only take 10 teams,” Fell said, “and the fact that they took that quick initiative and then just participated … we were proud just to begin with that.
“But to go ahead and bring home the gold was just an outstanding and really exciting moment. We’re super proud of them all.”
Learn more
From left: Rebecca Sullivan, Candace Ricketts, Lauren Clark and Jaimin Rasumussen. Photo courtesy of Dr. Nancy Fell.
