Spring 2017 VCU PT newsletter web

A Therapeutic Tradition Department of Physical Therapy Newsletter

Spring 2017

Message from the chair Greetings from the basement of West Hospital!

We are looking forward to breaking ground on a beautiful, new building that will allow our department’s faculty and students to see the light of day from the fourth floor, where there will be no threat of flooding and where we will optimize the integration of research and teaching. The groundbreaking ceremony is planned for April 2017, and we hope to move in 2019. There are many opportunities for you to contribute and name teaching or research areas to educate future students. Several of you have already contributed scholarships to help current students that are struggling with their finances.

Even in our anticipation and impatience for the new digs, the faculty continues great research in orthopedics, biomechanics, pediatrics and amputees. The National Institutes of Health and the departments of Education and Defense fund most of these projects. Several faculty and their graduate students present their research at the APTA meetings (Combined Sections Meeting and NEXT), so stop by to see us when you are there. It is exciting to see the evidence for what we are doing marching on and gaining strength.

We are very proud of our VCU students, who are smart, resourceful and driven. You will read an article in this newsletter about their tremendous success leading the country by winning the Marquette Challenge, raising money for the Foundation for Physical Therapy. Nationally, a lot of faculty will be retiring in the next 10 years, and we need to keep supporting the education of more academic faculty. It is exciting that students are stepping up and contributing to their future profession. We had a 100-percent pass rate on the licensing exam this year, so we are proud of our graduates and hope the class of 2017 will follow suit. We are also proud of the students’ efforts to advocate on behalf of the profession and to serve the community at home and abroad.

In this issue you will read about the student-run pro bono clinic, the CARES Clinic at VCU, that they have opened. We appreciate the efforts of our clinical affiliates to pass on their experience to the next generation and serve as mentors in many of their initiatives.

The class of 1967 returned this year on April 8, 2017, for their 50-year reunion. We were excited to hear their stories and show them where we are now. We are planning an alumni reception for NEXT 2017, so if you are in the Boston area, please come join us. Details will be sent out in the coming weeks.

—Mary Shall, PT, Ph.D.

Email addresses Our intent is to transition this to an electronic newsletter. If you didn’t receive this newsletter in your inbox, then we don’t have a current email address for you.

Please help us stay in touch by sending your email address to mlee27@vcu.edu.

Students and faculty advocating at the Virginia Physical Therapy Association Lobby Day 2017.

Contents VCU Marquette Challenge

2

White coat ceremony

6

CARES Clinic at VCU opens

7

New hospital will be joint venture

8

Residencies develop skills

9

Final clinical experiences extended to 12 weeks

10

Robert Lamb Distinguished Lecture

11

Awards and scholarships

12

In memoriam

15

Graduation 2016

15

SAHP building update

16

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VCU students and faculty celebrate their win at the annual Foundation for Physical Therapy Gala in Nashville.

VCU Marquette Challenge

Each year, new students enter the VCU physical therapy department wondering what the future holds in this new chapter called graduate school. Infectious energy and innovative minds are ready to be sculpted and seek to be challenged. This is exactly the way I felt the day I first learned about the Marquette Challenge during the department’s challenge kick-off event. I had just finished seven grueling credits of gross anatomy and was ready for the next challenging, but rewarding, accomplishment to check off my list. With 54 familiar faces and more than 200 unfamiliar ones of upperclassmen and faculty alike, the goal was clear: 2015-2016 was our year to take first place in the Pittsburgh Marquette Challenge, earn the title and receive co-sponsor status of the challenge. The students, faculty and department were not ready to concede with second place. We were going for the gold. We wanted schools to be competing in the VCU Marquette Challenge. There was nothing but determination and perseverance in that room that day, and I wanted in. I wanted to help be a part of the reason why schools around the country would be raising money for the Foundation for Physical Therapy, not in the Pittsburgh or Miami Marquette Challenge, but in the VCU Marquette Challenge. And saying it will never get old!

So a bit of history before I jump into our journey to victory. Marquette University started this student-run grass roots fundraising competition 29 years ago to support new, promising investigators in the field of physical therapy research. The Marquette Challenge is a friendly competition between both physical therapist students and physical therapist assistant students aimed to “challenge” each other to raise money for the Foundation for Physical Therapy. The 2 | A Therapeutic Tradition

school that raises the most funds is deemed the winner and will help the Marquette students co-sponsor the next year’s challenge. The challenge is then renamed to honor the efforts of the winning school. The funds raised annually through the Marquette Challenge are the foundation’s largest monetary contribution compared to other foundation philanthropic activities each year.

Since the start of this event, more than 264 schools have helped raise $3.3 million for physical therapy research. Although participation continues to grow, the challenge has seen very little diversity in its winners. For the past 20 years, only one other school, Georgia State University in 2008, has taken the title away from the alternating wins between universities in Miami and Pittsburgh. Those two schools were the leaders, and the 2015-2016 Pittsburgh Marquette Challenge was no different.

Since 2005, VCU physical therapy students have participated in the Marquette Challenge each year and have collectively raised over $162,166. Surpassing the $100,000 mark, our department has high recognition within the Marquette Challenge Philanthropy Circle (Challenge Society). Although this is a feat within itself, over the past two years, our contribution to the Foundation for Physical Therapy through the Marquette Challenge has been unparalleled to previous years. In 2015, raising over $24,000, VCU placed second in the challenge, marking the second time that VCU was recognized as one of the top three schools participating. The work of three classes, along with the strong support from the department, brought awareness of the challenge within the Richmond community through a variety of fundraisers. The classes hosted Spring 2017 | 3

As the co-sponsor of this year’s VCU Marquette Challenge, VCU students worked the foundation booth at the National Student Conclave. Their goal was to encourage schools to get on “The List.”

A year of hard work paid off, and these VCU class officers and Challenge coordinators could hardly contain their excitement.

They enjoyed celebrating with the coveted Challenge Cup throughout the foundation gala.

sporting events like golf and cornhole tournaments, continuing education opportunities and percentage nights at local breweries. And these events, paired with the tireless dedication of the department as a whole, translated into a lofty donation to the foundation, along with bragging rights and VCU being put on the map through this challenge. However, placing second in that year’s Marquette Challenge was not where the philanthropic spirit and drive ended. It was just a stepping stone, and this bittersweet accomplishment was the fuel needed to ignite an even bigger and relentless effort in the next year’s challenge.

I felt such inspiration to continue this legacy as a leader in supporting our future profession through physical therapy research. The class of 2018 and I shared this drive to join forces and follow the path of our peers to raise money to help fund projects that support so many promising physical therapy researchers — researchers who we are fortunate to have as our VCU PT educators and professors. Even outside the realm of supporting physical therapy research, our efforts while participating in the challenge have brought us closer together as a unified class, program and department, benefiting the VCU PT community on a much smaller and intimate level. This challenge presented opportunities to make a difference in our future career outside of our didactic work, something many graduate students are eager to find.

Mentors like Drs. Steven Tepper and Shawne Soper helped motivate us to bring awareness to this challenge and strive to continue to be a part of the development of the profession they love so much.

With a boosted morale and the unified front that is the VCU Department of Physical Therapy, we started our journey in the 2015-2016 Pittsburgh Marquette Challenge. We not only continued the traditions of the annual fundraisers that previous classes had set in motion, but also created new events like gift wrapping at the local Barnes & Noble, bowling nights and a basketball tournament. Our professors and their friends and colleagues donated their

expertise and the proceeds from continuing education events for the cause. Devoted clinical instructors supported our percentage night at Chipotle, and family and friends showed their support by attending our Flying Squirrels baseball game. Each step along the way, our cause gained momentum. Our faculty adviser, Dr. Soper, who carried the same amount of passion and perseverance as the VCU students, was an integral part in our success. She helped keep our efforts afloat and helped bridge the gap between students and the local physical therapy community. Dr. Shall, our department chair, showed unparalleled support, attending countless events and approving funding to help successfully host, reward and advertise our events.

Mentors like Dr. Tepper and Michael Kelo noticed and appreciated the efforts of the students and the department, and gave us the opportunity to raise a record amount. The overall total raised by 156 participating schools in the challenge tallied up to an impressive $354,000 — over $51,000 of which was raised by VCU alone. We accomplished our big dream and won the challenge!

This Marquette Challenge has brought members of our department much more than just the title of first place. Through social fundraisers, we created fun and memorable moments that all contributed to our experience in physical therapy school. We also brought education and knowledge to clinicians in the community through our continuing education events. Gaining recognition through the challenge opened up more opportunities for students to attend national conferences to broaden our scope of knowledge beyond the basement of West Hospital.

And for these moments, I can say, on behalf of the VCU physical therapy students, we are extremely grateful for all that this challenge has brought us and the difference it has made in our educational experience. The challenge was won by the efforts of countless VCU physical therapy students, the guidance of endearing professors, the donations of honored clinicians and benefactors, and the backing of the VCU Department of Physical Therapy.

—Casey Burruss, Marquette chair, Class of 2018

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Left: Barbara Davey, Class of 2017, and Elizabeth Goodwin-Horn, Class of 2018, cut the ribbon on the new CARES Clinic at VCU. Top right: Kate Ainsworth and Fallon Bormann, both from the Class of 2018, presented at the Eastern Physical Therapy Pro Bono Conference in March 2017. Bottom right: VCU D.P.T. students Julie Fioramonti, Mimi Garcia-Otero, Fallon Bormann, Kristie Carpenter, Kate Ainsworth and Ashley Bruce represented VCU well during the recent Eastern Region

CARES Clinic at VCU opens The Class of 2019 with Sharon Dunn, PT, Ph.D., president of the American Physical Therapy Association

White coat ceremony The white coat ceremony in the health professions marks a commitment to the ethical and professional standards of their chosen field of study and is traditionally held at the beginning of the students’ professional program. On September 9, 2016, the VCU Department of Physical Therapy held its 4th Annual White Coat Ceremony for its new D.P.T. students. The keynote address was given by Sharon Dunn, PT, Ph.D., president of the American Physical Therapy Association. She welcomed the new D.P.T. students into the profession and encouraged the students to always take the time, as students and physical therapists, to listen carefully to what their patients tell them and always remain observant in their clinical work. She cited examples from her own long clinical career to reinforce the importance attending to those details.

Excellent advice for the new and future clinicians.

Dr. Dunn also congratulated the second- and third-year D.P.T. students on their hard work and winning the Marquette Challenge in 2016. The Marquette Challenge is the Foundation for Physical Therapy’s largest annual fundraising event where students from PT and PTA schools around the country compete to raise the most money for the foundation. Scholarship and award recipients were also recognized, and the event was followed by a reception for the students and their families.

—Thomas Mayhew, program director

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Students in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Virginia Commonwealth University celebrated the grand opening of the CARES Clinic at VCU, a nonprofit, pro bono physical therapy clinic, in October 2016. The concept was conceived two years earlier when several students attended the Pro Bono Network conference at Widener University. After months of hard work, networking and planning, the opening of the clinic finally happened. The CARES Clinic at VCU is currently housed within the Center for Healthy Hearts on West Cary Street in Richmond, Virginia.

The mission of CARES Clinic at VCU is to serve the uninsured and underinsured members of the Richmond community by providing physical therapy care that targets functional limitations and optimizes movement. Physical therapy is provided by the students of the D.P.T. program under the supervision of a licensed physical therapist as part of a lasting educational partnership between the school and the community.

Since opening, 43 VCU D.P.T. students in all from all three classes have volunteered their time to evaluate and treat patients. Twenty-two licensed physical therapists, including eight VCU alumni from the Richmond community, have shared their expertise with and supervised these students.

As the clinic closed out 2016, the over 40 referrals for physical therapy had been received from Cross Over Ministry, the Center for Healthy Hearts and Health Brigade. From those referrals, 22 patients were seen, and there have been a total of 73 patient visits.

Organization and operations of the clinic are managed by a student board. Of course ongoing operation of the clinic requires financial resources for costs and supplies. Students have held several fun fundraising events, including a Chipotle percentage night and a trivia game night. Having successfully built the clinic, the VCU students were tapped as presenters for the Eastern Physical Therapy Pro Bono Networking Conference that was held in March. The focus of their presentation was on successfully building a brand identity for community outreach.

To learn more about the CARES Clinic at VCU, or to volunteer or make a donation, please visit the clinic website https://rampages.us/caresclinic/ and be sure to like the CARES Clinic at VCU on Facebook.

—Fallon Bormann, Class of 2018

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New hospital will be joint venture The VCU Department of Physical Therapy enjoys strong relationships with many clinical partners.

One such partnership is the research relationship with Sheltering Arms Rehabilitation Hospital that has developed over the past four years. This formal relationship has grown to promote clinical research in a rehabilitation setting. The mission of the research group is to “conduct cost-effective scientific inquiry… and return knowledge for direct enhancement of clinical operations…”. To date, there have been more than a dozen projects incubated in this environment.

Many have led to national and international presentations.

The most recent development in the ongoing evolution of the partnership between VCU and Sheltering Arms is a proposal for a new inpatient rehabilitation hospital, which will advance the patient care, education and research missions of both organizations.

The proposal for a 114-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital was submitted in October 2016 to the commonwealth of Virginia and was approved in March 2017. The facility will be a joint venture between Sheltering Arms Rehabilitation Hospital and VCU Health. The programs will combine the beds from their existing locations to have a single, freestanding rehabilitation facility in Goochland County. The facility is expected to open in 2020.

The new rehabilitation hospital will serve the existing population residing in central Virginia, but is also expected to be a regional referral site for more complex brain injury and spinal cord injury patients. The joint venture will provide a unique opportunity to combine the academic resources of VCU with the rehabilitation resources of Sheltering Arms. The planning for the rehabilitation hospital includes a full commitment to support clinical research and clinical education pursuits. Representatives of the VCU School of Allied Health Professions and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation have had early input into how best to incorporate research and clinical teaching into this exciting new facility.

—Macon Sizemore, director

Rendering of the new hospital, Sheltering Arms Rehab Institute, that will be built in the West Creek Medical Park near the intersection of Broad Street and Route 288

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Liz Trinchere Brown, PT, D.P.T., sports PT resident, providing care to a VCU women’s basketball player

Residencies develop skills VCU is proud to offer two residency programs for the PT community. The VCU-Sheltering Arms Neurological Physical Therapy Residency is fully accredited and in its third year of operation. The VCU Sports Residency is in its first year of operation and received accreditation from the American Board of Physical Therapy Residency and Fellowship Education in early April 2017.

The selection of residents occurs annually starting in December. There is a centralized application process, and the candidate pool is narrowed based on a review of applications. Phone interviews then are conducted, and selection is made after onsite interviews that occur in March.

Typically, the candidate pool is a mix of new graduates from the Eastern Seaboard and several new professionals within their first five years of practice.

Both residencies are designed to advance the clinical skills of the resident and prepare them to sit for the specialty exam. A hallmark of the VCU residency programs is the ability for the resident to help customize their experience based on their interests such as a more focused clinical interest, a desire to pursue research or a passion for service.

The sports resident sees patients at VCU Sports Medicine and works closely with VCU Athletics training staff to provide event and practice coverage for VCU’s Division I athletes. They complete a series of didactic learning experiences, assist with teaching in the entry-level program, and participate in other research and service experiences as opportunities present. For more information regarding the residency program, please feel free to contact the VCU sports residency director, Chad Taylor, PT, D.P.T., ATC, sports certified specialist, at taylorcc2@vcu.edu.

The VCU-SA neuro residency is unique because it is a partnership between VCU and Sheltering Arms. Each resident has the opportunity to spend six months in each organization, expanding the breadth and depth of the learning experiences. The residency is comprised of a network of community clinical partnerships that provide the resident with a wide variety of opportunities promoting enhanced clinical reasoning and exposing the resident to differing perspectives on care.

The residency program is designed to develop strong clinical leaders who will positively influence the health of their patients, the community and ultimately the health care system; serve as ambassadors of the residency program; demonstrate lifelong learning and a commitment to advancing the profession; and help others achieve advanced practice in neurological physical therapy. For more information about the VCU-SA neuro residency, please feel to contact the VCU-SA neuro residency director, Cheryl Ford-Smith, PT, D.P.T., M.S., neuro-certified specialist, at cdfordsmith@vcu.edu.

—Chad Taylor and Cheryl Ford-Smith, residency directors

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Final clinical experiences extended to 12 weeks The VCU Department of Physical Therapy recently re-evaluated its clinical education program and explored several alternative models in response to feedback solicited from multiple stakeholders. As a result the program will change the length of its final two clinical experiences from 8 weeks to 12 weeks. Effective for the Class of 2019, the D.P.T. students will complete four full-time clinical experiences. The first full-time experience will be two weeks in duration at the end of the first academic year. The intermediate experience will remain eight weeks in duration and occurs in the summer between the second and third academic year. The final clinical experiences will change from three 8-week to two 12-week experiences.

The first of the two extended 12-week experiences will occur in the fall semester of the third year. The second 12-week clinical experience will be in the spring semester ending around the beginning of April. This will allow students time to study for the National Physical Therapy Exam prior to graduation in May of their third academic year. One of the three intermediate or final experiences must be in an outpatient orthopedic clinic and one must be working with medically complex patients. The third clinical experience is selected by the student based on identified interests. At least one of these experiences must also be outside of the greater Richmond area.

The change in the length of the final clinical experiences was made after soliciting feedback from multiple stakeholders, including students, clinical instructor and employers. Thank you in advance to all who will work with us to implement this new model.

—Emma Wheeler, director of clinical education

The Class of 2019 sailed through gross anatomy with the legendary Dr. Thomas Mayhew at the helm. This class will be the first to experience the new clinical education model.

Alumni news

We love to hear from you! Please send your alumni news to tinyurl.com/goww355.

10 | A Therapeutic Tradition

VCU Physical Therapy faculty with Robert Lamb and Alan Jette. From left: Cheryl Ford-Smith, Thomas Mayhew Dixie Bowman, Shawne Soper, Robert Lamb, Daniel Riddle, Alan Jette, Benjamin Darter, D.S. Blaise Williams, Stacey Dusing, Emma Wheeler, Sheryl Finucane, Mary Shall

Robert Lamb Distinguished Lecture The Robert L. Lamb Distinguished Lecture award was established in 2012 to recognize an individual who has made significant contributions to the physical therapy profession, particularly in the area of research. The recipient is invited to give a lecture to VCU faculty, students and area clinicians.

Alan Jette, PT, Ph.D., FAPTA, gave the 2016 lecture. He is a professor of health law, policy and management at the Boston University School of Public Health and the director of the Health and Disability Research Institute. During his presentation, “‘Systems Thinking’ to Thrive in a Changing Health Care Environment,” Jette discussed the process of looking at whole systems and recognizing interdependencies.

He also noted how systems thinking helps develop reliable inferences about behavior by developing a deep understanding of underlying structures.

Jette stressed that, in rehabilitation, “our goal must not be to ‘prove’ that our rehabilitation interventions work, but to discover what works, for what conditions, under what circumstances, to achieve what outcomes and at what cost … and get people to adopt innovations.” It was a fascinating presentation and well received by those in attendance.

—Thomas Mayhew, D.P.T. program director

Robert Lamb congratulates Alan Jette on his outstanding lecture

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Awards and scholarships

Awards and scholarships A special thank you to the donors who make these scholarships and awards possible. Your support enables us to provide them annually.

Lewis and Violet Childers Memorial Scholarship

This scholarship recognizes a student dedicated to providing care in a rural setting. It is renewable annually for each subsequent year of study.

Class of 2017: Kelly Parker Class of 2018: Lauren Luttrell Class of 2019: Caitlin Coleman

The A.D. Williams Award

This award is given annually to one second-year student and one third-year student who demonstrate high scholastic achievement and professional performance, as well as unusual promise and ability to contribute to the profession.

Class of 2017: Alison Owens Class of 2018: Carlin Tettlelbach

Cindy Gouldin Memorial Scholarship

This scholarship honors Cindy Gouldin, a 1987 graduate of our program who died from a brain tumor in 2003. Her family established it to recognize students who demonstrate outstanding volunteer service, a quality that was a hallmark of Cindy’s life.

Class of 2017: Rebekah Rubin Class of 2018: Tiel Westbrook

M. Scott Sullivan Memorial Scholarship

Named in honor of our faculty colleague and friend Scott Sullivan, who died suddenly in 1998, this award recognizes a second-year student for professional involvement in the American Physical Therapy Association or the Virginia Physical Therapy Association.

Class of 2018: Joshua Simons

Jules Rothstein Scholarships

Awarded to two students in the third-year class, these scholarships are named for an iconic and influential physical therapist researcher and teacher who served on the VCU faculty from 1984 to 1991. His professional legacy was challenging us to find evidence for the care that we provide.

Class of 2017: Lauryl Andrus

Katrina Smedley

Marjorie Champion Salamone Award

Established by the Class of 2002 to honor a classmate’s mother who died during the September 11 attack on the Pentagon, this is a character-based award granted to a third-year student who emulates the values of the award’s namesake, specifically concern for their fellow man and willingness to give of one’s time and talent to the overall benefit of individuals and society.

Class of 2017: Alexandra Reimer

Outstanding Clinical Instructor Awards Carlton Jones Award for Outstanding Clinical Teaching

This award is named for a physical therapist who served as a staff PT and clinical instructor at MCV hospital and later, on the PT academic faculty. The award was established to recognize the outstanding contributions of our clinical instructors.

Steven Campbell, PT, D.P.T., Professional Physical Therapy Shaunna Mayers, PT, D.P.T., Sentara Therapy Center Port Warwick Melanie Marks, PT, D.P.T., Centra Lynchburg Medical Center Brett Mitchell, PT, D.P.T., University of Virginia Brad Milam, PT, D.P.T., OrthoVirginia

Special clinical instructor awards

Two clinical instructors, Daniel Kahsar, PT, and William Tatu, PT, were honored at the 2016 white coat ceremony for their lifelong commitment to the education of VCU D.P.T. students.

Dan Kahsar received his entry-level physical therapy training at Ohio State University and obtained his advanced master’s of physical therapy from VCU. He was a therapist for the 1984 U.S. Olympic team and has served as an instructor of athletic training at VCU, as well as a physical therapy consultant for the VCU men’s basketball team. He is currently the clinical manager at OrthoVirginia in Richmond, Virginia, and has been a clinical instructor to approximately 60 D.P.T. students over the last 30 years.

Bill Tatu graduated from the U.S. Army-Baylor Physical Therapy Program. He served in the Army for 20 years as a physical therapist performing in a true direct-access role. Bill then worked at VCU Massey Cancer Center from 1997 to 2016. He was a CI to approximately 63 D.P.T. students, taking up to four students every year.

Clinical instructors (left to right) Shauna Mayers, Dan Kashar and Melanie Marks

Marianne E. “Mac” McDonald Award

This award honors a dedicated faculty member who served the department from 1964 to 1992. In addition to her outstanding teaching, Mac was always known for her compassionate and caring personality, and this award honors a student from the third-year class who shares those important values.

Class of 2017: Kelly Hainline

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Awards and scholarships

In memoriam

Lifetime Achievement Award

The Lifetime Achievement Award was created in 2011 to recognize a VCU graduate who has made significant contributions to the field of physical therapy over the course of their career.

This year the award is being given to two members of the Class of 1967, both of whom are still actively engaged in practice. The recipients are Gloria Sanders and Daniel Hooker.

They will be recognized at their reunion weekend in April 2017.

Past Recipients

2011: 2012: 2013: 2014: 2015: 2016:

Doris Estelle Charles Smith, PT Elnora Allen, PT, MS Leslie Portney, PT, D.P.T., Ph.D., FAPTA Martha Clendenin, PT, Ph.D. Marianne McDonald

Faculty awards The VCU D.P.T. faculty received several awards in 2016.

American Physical Therapy Association awards

Lucy Blair Service Award: Shawne E. Soper, PT, D.P.T., M.B.A. Minority Achievement Award: Cheryl Ford-Smith, PT, D.P.T.

Marianne E. “Mac” McDonald, PT Marianne “Mac” McDonald, PT, of Richmond, Virginia, passed away on July 20, 2016, at age 84. After earning a B.A. in physical education from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, her love of teaching and the study of human movement led Mac to pursue physical therapy at MCV. She practiced at Veterans Affairs for eight years before being hired to teach Functional Anatomy in 1964. The impact she had on physical therapy students culminated in Mac being presented with the Dorothy Baethke/Eleanor J. Carlin Award for Teaching Excellence at the 1983 American Physical Therapy Association national conference. She also served as president of the Virginia Physical Therapy Association from 1970 to 1971.

Mac retired in 1992 after 28 years of teaching and inspiring students. As a tribute to her contribution to the field and to the quality of student life on the MCV Campus, she was honored with the Marianne E. “Mac” McDonald Award. In the final year of the physical therapy program, students select one of their classmates who has demonstrated the qualities embodied by McDonald: an unselfish commitment to assisting other students, a caring and supportive influence on the members of the class, and the personal qualities necessary to succeed in physical therapy. McDonald was awarded the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Academy of Pediatric Physical Therapy, APTA Stephen Haley Research Award: Stacey Dusing, PT, Ph.D.

Virginia Commonwealth University awards

Emerging Leader in Interprofessionalism: Shawne E. Soper, PT, D.P.T., M.B.A.

American College of Sports Medicine

Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine: D.S. Blaise Williams, PT, Ph.D., FACSM

Class of 2016 prepares for the School of Allied Health Professions graduation ceremony.

Graduation 2016 Shawne Soper received the Lucy Blair Service award that recognizes service to the APTA at the state and national levels.

14 | A Therapeutic Tradition

Mary Shall accepted the Minority Achievement Award for Cheryl Ford-Smith that recognizes initiatives to increase diversity within the physical therapy profession.

The Class of 2016 graduated on Saturday, May 14, 2016, and the ceremony was capped off by a luncheon hosted by the department, which gave graduates’ families a chance to meet one another. A slideshow highlighting projects, parties and friendships ran while student leaders offered stories of their three-year journey. Fifty-four outstanding graduates are now in clinics as enthusiastic new professionals.

—Shawne Soper, PT, D.P.T., M.B.A.

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SAHP building update The new School of Allied Health Professions building is becoming a reality. Opening in fall 2019, the 154,100-square-foot facility will house the school’s 11 units and a new healthrelated sciences major, uniting them for the first time under one roof. The building will be constructed on East Leigh Street between Turpin and 10th streets, where four low-rise dormitories stood.

A capital campaign is underway to secure funding to design and outfit our teaching and research spaces with the most cutting-edge technology and equipment. In doing so we hope to meet the challenges of the ever-changing health care environment.

A physical therapy alumna kicked off our capital campaign with a very generous matching gift of $100,000. Janet Showalter and her husband, Lee, are strong supporters of our program. She graduated from the MCV PT program in 1958, and their daughter Sarah Showalter Mays graduated in 1984. The Showalters’ gift provides a dollar-for-dollar match for all other contributions to the building campaign.

A donation of any amount will have an impact as we work to create the best Department of Physical Therapy facilities in the country. The Showalters’ pledge makes any donation have twice the impact. If you are interested in donating, please contact T. Greg Prince in the dean’s office at (804) 828-3269 or Janet and Lee Showalter tgprince@vcu.edu.

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1200 East Broad Street Box 980233 Richmond, Virginia 23298-0233

003506-01

Virginia Commonwealth University School of Allied Health Professions