PT Reviewer, 2401 S Indiana Ave, Chicago, IL (2026)

10/12/2026

🎤⚔️ Oxford Debate at ELC 2026!

Excited to be taking the stage for another Oxford Debate at this year’s Educational Leadership Conference (ELC) alongside an incredible group of colleagues and friends! And I have to say, our competition is pretty impressive too!

This year’s topic is particularly interesting because I’ll be arguing against the inclusion of artificial intelligence in PT and PTA education, a position that challenges my usual perspective! It should be a fun intellectual exercise to step outside my own views, challenge some assumptions, and make a compelling case for the other side.

It’s also a bit nostalgic! The last time I participated in an Oxford Debate was at the final APTA Annual Conference in Chicago back in 2019. Seven years later, I’m excited to return to the debate stage!

And this time, my team gets the final word! 😎

Looking forward to some spirited debate, plenty of laughs, and perhaps a different outcome this time around! 🤖🔥

10/01/2026

A potentially unpopular question for PT education: Are we sure competency-based education is the direction we should be heading?

I’ll acknowledge my bias upfront: I am not yet sold on competency-based education as a model for professional education.

That doesn’t mean I am opposed to assessing competence. Of course DPT graduates should demonstrate competence. But moving from a traditional, time-dependent model organized around semesters and credit hours toward a truly time-independent, competency-based model is a much bigger shift than people may realize.

It changes how we structure curriculum, student progression, assessment, remediation, but also faculty workload, tuition, financial aid, and other systems built around the time-dependent model of credit hours. And, at least within PT education, I’m not convinced we yet have a sufficiently robust evidence base to justify that degree of transformation.

But there is another issue that increasingly concerns me.

At the same time we are discussing CBE, we are also having serious conversations about the preparedness of students entering professional education. We hear concerns about foundational academic skills, time management, independent learning, and students’ ability to manage the demands of professional education.

Yet we are simultaneously considering an educational model that may require more of many of those same skills.

CBE is not students teaching themselves. Done well, it requires substantial faculty facilitation, coaching, assessment, feedback, and scaffolding. But it also places considerable responsibility on learners to manage their learning, identify gaps, respond to feedback, and demonstrate mastery.

That feels like an incongruence worth discussing.

The CBE train started moving years ago. But the student entering professional education today may not be the same student we were designing for when many of these conversations began.

If we genuinely believe learner preparation has changed, shouldn’t that new information cause us to revisit some of the assumptions underlying the educational models we’re pursuing? Also, have we asked students at large their preference?

Maybe the answer is still CBE. Maybe elements of CBE belong in professional education while maintaining more traditional structures. Or maybe a fully time-independent model isn’t the right answer for DPT education.

But I don’t think the train should keep moving simply because it already left the station.

Educational innovation should not become an inevitability. Sometimes we need to stop and ask whether the direction we started moving years ago still makes sense for the learners we have today.

09/28/2026

There has been increasing discussion about declining foundational skills and knowledge among students entering DPT programs. From what many of us are seeing, I think there is some truth to the observation that, nationwide, students may not be entering professional education with the same level of academic preparation we have historically expected.

But I think there is another side of this conversation that we don’t discuss enough.

Once a program admits a student, the responsibility shifts.

Admissions standards are supposed to serve as a filter. Programs establish the prerequisites, determine the requirements, and decide how applicants are evaluated. Ultimately, when a program offers someone admission, it is saying: This applicant has demonstrated the capacity to succeed in our program.

So if DPT programs are consistently finding that admitted students lack the foundational skills necessary to succeed, I don’t think that responsibility can simply be placed back on the students.

The program admitted them.

Students absolutely have responsibility for their own learning. They have to engage, study, respond to feedback, develop their clinical reasoning, and ultimately demonstrate that they meet the standards of the profession.

But once admitted, it becomes a two-way street.

Education should be transformational, but there is also an inherently transactional component to professional education. Students are investing substantial time, effort, and money in an education intended to prepare them for a profession.

Admission isn’t a guarantee of graduation or licensure. But it is an institutional judgment that a student has met the standards established by the program and has a reasonable opportunity to succeed within the educational program that institution designed.

That should give us some pause for introspection.

If student preparation has changed, have admissions processes changed with it? Are the measures being used still identifying the skills necessary for success in DPT education? If admitted students increasingly need support in foundational skills, are programs identifying those needs early and providing the necessary resources?

And we should be willing to examine the other end of the process: outcomes.

If we are seeing national concerns about student preparedness alongside changes in remediation, progression, and licensure outcomes, perhaps we need to examine the entire process.

That doesn’t mean lowering the bar. It means asking whether the system; from who is admitted, to how students are educated, to the outcomes ultimately produced is working as intended.

Perhaps the conversation shouldn’t simply be:

“What’s happening to today’s students?”

Perhaps we should also be asking:

“If students have changed, how should admissions processes and educational systems change with them?”

Once a program admits a student, it can’t put the outcome entirely on that student.

Their success becomes a shared responsibility.

09/28/2026

🎬 “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV…”

Except I actually am a doctor. Just… not that kind of doctor. 😂

Had a great time stepping a little outside my usual world and serving as an extra in a short film! A huge thank you to Adam McNinch for the opportunity to come on set and be part of the project.

It was really cool getting a behind-the-scenes look at just how much work goes into filmmaking; even for a short film. I also enjoyed being able to draw a little on my background as a healthcare provider and offer some insight for the scenes I was in.

Thanks as well to the entire cast and crew for making it such a fun experience. Looking forward to seeing everything come together in post-production, and wishing Adam and the team lots of success as the film makes its way to the festival circuit!

09/14/2026

Great time in Pittsburgh for the 2026 APTA Academy of Cardiovascular & Pulmonary Physical Therapy Conference!

One of the highlights was presenting “Point-of-Care Ultrasound for Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation” alongside a fantastic group of collaborators. It was a particularly meaningful full-circle experience getting to work with colleagues spanning different generations of the University of Miami Physical Therapy, as well as a trainee of my colleagues from the UK.

I led the diaphragm ultrasound portion of the session. Our primary goal was simply getting ultrasound imaging into the hands of more PTs. Which I think we accomplished. These skills are much more approachable than they may initially seem, and it was great seeing people realize that firsthand. As physical therapists continue to expand our role in primary care, I think POCUS offers another unique skill set we can bring to patient examination and clinical decision-making.

There was another full-circle moment for me: getting to teach respiratory muscle ultrasound to one of my former professors and mentors Dr. Larry Cahalin; the person who taught me my foundational knowledge of respiratory muscle assessment when I was a DPT student at UMiami!

Beyond the excellent keynote, presentations, it was great reconnecting with colleagues, meeting new people, and exchanging ideas throughout the weekend.

Thank you to Academy of Cardiopulmonary PT for another excellent conference. As a Penn State grad, though it pains me slightly to admit it, the University of Pittsburgh was a great host!

And a special thank you to EMST150™ for supporting multiple sessions and activities throughout the conference. It was great spending time at the booth again and talking with clinicians about respiratory muscle training.

Already looking forward to next year and the collaborations that come from conferences and conversations like these!

08/28/2026

And the crazy thing is that it’s so obvious when an account starts outsourcing the creative process to a bot. Immediate unfollow.

I’m not interested in the output of a data aggregator bot or software that follows predictable and stereotyped patterns for content creation. I’m interested in a person’s unique creation both in thoughts, words and graphics.

Be original! Be weird! Be unique! That’s the whole point!

08/28/2026

In the era of AI, too many content creators are too focused on engagement, and forgetting that the most important part of content creation is CREATING content.

The whole point is creating something unique and interesting. The process is an expression of your thoughts and creativity. If you’re outsourcing that whole process to a bot or an app, what’s the point?

Why should anyone care? It’s not original.

08/16/2026

A little update to the UIC faculty directory!

First day as a Clinical Associate Professor! 🙌

08/08/2026

The financial viability of the profession is the most critical issue facing it and affects all aspects of the profession.

This is a perfect example of how inextricably linked our profession really is.

Challenges to the financial viability of physical therapy clinical practice affect academic physical therapy programs. If the finances of clinical practice are under threat, that affects qualified application rates, enrollment rates, and even general interest in entering the profession. Every academic should be concerned about this issue and working to help solve it, and I think most are.

This generation of students is more aware of their finances than ever before, and I think that’s a good thing. I’ve had more students and applicants ask about the finances of the profession in the past five years than ever before, which is great. However, if prospective students look at the financial ROI of becoming a physical therapist and decide that it doesn’t make financial sense, they’re not going to choose our profession.

That puts academic PT programs under threat, particularly those with higher tuition costs. Lower enrollment in PT schools means fewer students entering the profession, fewer graduates, and a smaller workforce available to meet society’s need for physical therapy services. This is notwithstanding the number of practicing therapists who leave the profession because of the finances. We already don’t meet the demand for physical therapy services in many regions of the country, especially in rural and marginalized urban communities.

I hate to make this all about finances or focus so heavily on money, but this has to be something we are all concerned about and something we all work together to solve.

This again illustrates the larger point: We are inextricably linked across every area of this profession because what happens in one part affects the others, both positively and negatively.

And the reverse is also true.

If the financial situation in clinical practice improves, the value proposition of becoming a physical therapist improves. That can improve interest in the profession, applications, and enrollment, which ultimately strengthens the workforce.

Everything and everyone in this profession is connected. That’s why we must work together to solve these critical challenges affecting this great profession of ours.

Success.
Sustainability.

08/08/2026

Every member of the physical therapy profession is on the same team and is inextricably linked to one another.

Everybody member of the physical therapy profession wants it to be successful and sustainable.

When you look across social media or other spaces within our profession online, there is so much divisiveness and negativity over trivial things. Pitting academic PTs vs clinical PTs, cash-based vs insurance-based, private practice vs hospital-based etc. These are ultimately meaningless differences because, at our core, we are all members of the same profession and thus on the same team.

Some may be more in the clinic. Some may be more in the lab. Some may be more involved in teaching. Some may be more involved in advocacy. Some may be more involved in administration. And some do a little bit of it everything. While some may contribute differently to the profession, all those contributions matter and have value.

I believe everybody in our profession is concerned about some of the serious threats facing it: student debt, declining reimbursement, rising business costs, and other external pressures. There are real problems facing our profession. Infighting over relatively meaningless differences or ill-conceived perceptions of superiority doesn’t help us address them or move us toward long-term success.

We may contribute differently, and may have different views on how we ultimately become successful. However, let’s not lose sight of the fact that we’re all on the same team and we’re all working toward the same goal!

Success.
Sustainability.

PT Reviewer

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