Board-certified: Eight UTC DPT alums advance their physical therapy careers

Eight University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Doctor of Physical Therapy alumni from the Classes of 2020 through 2024 recently talked about their newly earned board certifications, adding to careers already taking shape in hospitals, rehabilitation centers and clinics across the country.

Their stories stretch from fragile infants in a neonatal intensive care unit to older adults rebuilding independence, from athletes working toward a return to sport to patients recovering from strokes, surgeries and life-changing injuries. Together, the graduates represent pediatric, geriatric, sports, neurologic and orthopedic physical therapy.

At 35 weeks pregnant, Dr. Sarah House sat for a demanding board certification examination.

A few weeks later, she and her husband, Dr. Scott House, welcomed their daughter, Jane. Around the same time, both learned they had earned advanced specialty credentials in physical therapy.

The couple, graduates of the UTC DPT Class of 2024, completed residencies at the James H. Quillen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Johnson City, Tennessee, before beginning their careers in Richmond, Virginia. Sarah is now a board-certified clinical specialist in geriatric physical therapy. Scott is a board-certified clinical specialist in orthopedic physical therapy.

Pursuing advanced credentials was a shared goal for the Houses, even though they chose different specialties.

“We had a partner to go through it all with,” Scott House said. “You learn a lot about each other.”

They met as undergraduate Division I swimmers at Eastern Illinois University and came to UTC after a spring-break stop in Chattanooga turned into a three-hour tour of the Department of Physical Therapy. Already married when they entered the DPT program, they found a professional home that prepared them for more than graduation.

Scott found the same study habits that had carried him through UTC useful once residency began.

“It made the process not as much of a memorization, but application to practice, which is really similar to how UTC approaches its curriculum anyway,” he said. “So the transition was pretty easy.”

That foundation mattered when both began preparing for certification exams while starting careers, moving and preparing for parenthood.

“I’m very proud of studying and prepping for the certification all the while pregnant,” said Sarah House, who works at an inpatient neurological rehabilitation center. “I am very grateful to now have a 3-month-old and be a board-certified specialist.”

Board certification recognizes advanced clinical knowledge beyond entry-level preparation. It also requires physical therapists to demonstrate continued growth in their specialty over time.

Dr. Carolyn Blair Padalino, UTC director of clinical education and associate professor of practice in the Department of Physical Therapy, said the credential signals advanced training and knowledge to patients, communities and referring providers.

Earning board certification, she said, is a commitment to stay current in a chosen specialty.

“I hear a lot from clinical instructors that our students have an incredibly strong foundation that they can build off of to learn more challenging things more readily than students from some other programs,” Padalino said. “It felt as though students who’ve been out for two, three, four, five, even six years, they still have a strong enough foundation to then study for these board certifications and be successful.”

That continued learning reaches patients at every stage of life.

Dr. Will Benson, a 2023 UTC DPT graduate from LaFayette, Georgia, is a pediatric physical therapist at Anna Shaw Children’s Institute and in the neonatal intensive care unit at Hamilton Medical Center—both in Dalton, Georgia. He recently earned board certification as a pediatric clinical specialist.

Benson and his wife, Dr. Anna Adele Benson—who earned her Doctor of Occupational Therapy degree from UTC in 2023—were dating as undergraduates at the University of Georgia when they began looking for graduate programs together. They found a fit in Chattanooga.

Benson entered the DPT program thinking he would work in outpatient orthopedics or neurology. Then he shadowed a pediatric therapist, watching children move beyond what they could do at the beginning of a therapy session.

“It just really opened up my eyes and I fell in love with it in a week,” Benson said. “I knew, ‘Yeah, this is what I want to do.’”

He said his pediatric-focused clinical experiences at Erlanger, including outpatient pediatrics, acute care pediatrics and the NICU, made the decision permanent. His work now includes medically complex and fragile infants and children, and he sees certification as a source of confidence for their families.

“When they see those credentials and they see that I am a board-certified specialist in pediatrics, it gives them another level of comfort,” he said.

Benson also returned to UTC as a lab assistant in pediatric physical therapy courses, working with Dr. Ashley Schilling. He said the program’s academic expectations helped establish the study habits and clinical reasoning that carried into certification preparation.

“UTC DPT held us to a really high standard academically,” he said. “They made that pretty clear from orientation. And I would say that the rigor of our courses from year one through year three really prepared us for our national examination and from there into board certification.”

Dr. Elizabeth Burcham, a 2021 UTC DPT graduate, has followed her own pediatric path. She works as an outpatient physical therapist at Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital in her hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee.

Burcham worked toward board certification over five years of full-time clinical practice.

“I’ve always been drawn to working with kids,” Burcham said. “When I started PT school, I don’t think that’s what I thought I would end up doing. But in our second year, we do a lot more pediatrics and neuro, and I remember doing my ortho rotation and being like, ‘OK, I could see myself doing this, but it’s not really my favorite.’”

After a second round of clinicals, she knew pediatric physical therapy was what she wanted to do.

“I’m really enjoying working with kids, motivating them and helping them get back to where they want to be,” she said.

Her decision to pursue board certification came as she and her husband, Dr. Ryan Burcham—a 2022 UTC DPT graduate who is now an outpatient physical therapist at Blount Memorial Hospital in Maryville, Tennessee—prepared to start a family. Elizabeth studied through her first trimester, took the five-hour examination during her second trimester and gave birth to their son, Graham, on July 29.

“I think there was added pressure, but also I think a lot of motivation was like, ‘OK, let’s get this,’” she said. “This is something that I want for my career, but I also wanted it to be done so that I could focus on being a mother.”

While preparing for certification, Burcham also began helping to lead a seating clinic, working with families and a rehabilitation physician to evaluate equipment such as walkers, wheelchairs and gait trainers. The role expanded her responsibilities at Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital and gave her another way to apply what she was studying.

“I am a certified specialist. It’s helped my confidence for sure in that I can go in and explain something a lot better and be comfortable telling this family that this is what I’m seeing and this is what we should do about it,” she said.

For Dr. Brooke Rogers, her path to becoming a board-certified clinical specialist in sports physical therapy began years ago.

The 2024 graduate from Huntsville, Alabama, played softball and volleyball growing up, worked with athletes during and after their injuries, and went straight from UTC into a sports physical therapy residency with ATI Physical Therapy in Birmingham, Alabama.

As an undergraduate physical therapy technician at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Rogers worked with UTC physical therapy alum Katy Parsley Jumper. Watching Jumper work and talking with her helped Rogers see UTC as a fit.

“I was seeing the type of therapist that she was and knowing that I essentially wanted to be a lot like her whenever I was a PT and treating,” Rogers said.

She said the intensity of UTC’s program gave her a head start in residency, where she encountered topics that had already been covered in the classroom.

“The professors at UTC and just the mentorship and the guidance that they gave me” helped her reach this point, Rogers said. “There are also opportunities that we have at UTC that some other schools don’t get.”

Board certification did not feel like an ending to Rogers. She said it put her in a good position to keep working toward the goals ahead in her career.

Dr. Shane Gregory, another board-certified sports clinical specialist, took a different route. The 2022 UTC DPT graduate, a Michigan native, completed a sports physical therapy residency at TrinityElite Sports Performance in Livonia, Michigan, and now works at Peak Performance Physical Therapy in Detroit.

During his final clinical rotation, Gregory sought an opportunity with Rehab 2 Perform in the Washington, D.C., area. The experience gave him exposure to a practice serving active patients across a wide range of sports and activities.

“It was another stepping stone to spur me on to seek out specialization,” he said.

At UTC, Gregory found early encouragement to seek out specialized knowledge. He pointed to a sports elective taught by Dr. Betsy Myers and to a program culture that expected students to keep learning beyond the degree.

“One of the pillars in PT is being a lifelong learner, always seeking more education,” Gregory said. “Even more so after you graduate, the onus becomes the PT to seek out that learning.”

Gregory said the certification helps him explain to coaches, parents and local high school athletic programs the advanced training he has completed and the care he can provide to young athletes working to return to their sport.

Dr. Callie Patterson’s move to becoming a board-certified clinical specialist in neurologic physical therapy began with an unexpected turn during her time at UTC. The 2023 DPT graduate from Carthage, Tennessee, arrived with a different specialty in mind.

“I actually was initially interested in orthopedics with very little to no interest in neurological physical therapy when I started PT school,” Patterson said. “Neurologic therapy began to pique my interest when I got to Dr. Derek Liuzzo’s neuro class, where he made learning so enjoyable and fun.”

Patterson’s interest moved from the classroom to patient care during her second clinical rotation.

“After starting my rotation, I quickly realized that I was really excited to evaluate all of the neurologic patients, especially stroke and brain injury,” she said. “I knew I wanted to take our advanced neurological class as an elective during my final didactic portion of PT school. This class helped seal the deal on where I wanted to take my future career as a physical therapist.”

After graduation, Patterson and her husband moved to Tucson, Arizona. She is now a senior physical therapist with Encompass Health and an adjunct professor in the University of Arizona’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program, where she lectures on neurological content. She also helps onboard new clinicians and recently presented a case study at the American Physical Therapy Association’s Combined Sections Meeting.

Patterson said the habits formed at UTC remained with her as she prepared for board certification. She drew on the study strategies the DPT program used to prepare students for the National Physical Therapy Examination.

“The continuous integration of clinical reasoning, evidence-based practice, hands-on labs, practicals and direct patient care allowed me to have a deeper understanding of what I was studying and how to apply it into my future career,” Patterson said.

She sees board certification as a way to bring additional knowledge to the patients she serves and the students and clinical residents she teaches.

“Right now, I hope it helps me provide better care and education to the patients I see within the clinic,” she said. “As I continue teaching students, as a clinical instructor and in the DPT program, I hope it helps me sharpen their clinical reasoning and help them truly understand just how special and rewarding it is to evaluate and treat the neurological population.”

Dr. Alex Woodard, a 2020 UTC DPT graduate from Alabama, also chose board certification as a way to become a better clinician.

Woodard is clinic director and a physical therapist at P4 Physical Therapy in Florence, Alabama. He became board-certified as a clinical specialist in orthopedic physical therapy in June.

“It was always in the back of my mind, but I wanted to do it for the right reasons,” Woodard said. “I just kind of waited, waited, wanted to get some experience out in the clinic. And then suddenly one day I was like, ‘I’m going to go for it.’”

His patients include people recovering from knee replacements and rotator cuff surgeries, along with those living with chronic low back pain, nagging shoulder pain and other conditions that limit daily activity.

The more he studies, Woodard explained, the more he recognizes what he does not know. That realization has made him more intentional about evidence-based care.

“There is a certain level of confidence you get when you have that because you know you’re treating people with the best evidence we have now,” he said. “There’s a certain level of almost peace, like peace as a clinician, knowing I’m doing the best I can for this person in front of me to get them back to doing what they want to do.”

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Woodard said UTC stood apart because it taught students how to learn and use material, not just memorize it. Years later, he still sees the program’s focus on current research and evidence-based practice in his day-to-day work.

That is the point, Padalino said. The DPT degree prepares graduates for entry-level practice, but their education cannot stop there.

“Look at what people keep doing once they graduate,” she said. “It doesn’t stop.”

For Sarah House, that commitment to continued learning began with a personal experience. Her grandfather, who had multiple sclerosis, was the first reason she saw the importance of preserving mobility and independence as people age.

“My grandmother, a small 4-foot-10 lady, actually was the sole caregiver of my grandfather for the entirety of his life as he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis just months after they were married at the age of 20,” she said. “Seeing her preserve his independence to the best of her ability made me want to help older adults.”

She has carried that purpose from UTC to residency, certification and her work with older adults. For the Houses, the profession’s next chapter is arriving in parallel with a new chapter at home.

“I think doing something like this early in your career exponentially grows the opportunities in the future,” Sarah House said.

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