April 19, 2010

Marquette Physical Therapy faculty honored with national awards

Pan receives American Physical Therapy Association’s highest honor

MILWAUKEE – Three physical therapy professors in Marquette University’s College of Health Sciences have been honored by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). Dr. Lawrence Pan, chair and professor of physical therapy, was elected a Catherine Worthingham Fellow, the professional organization’s highest honor. Dr. Tina Stoeckmann, clinical associate professor, won the Dorothy Briggs Memorial Scientific Inquiry Award, and Dr. Guy Simoneau, professor, was selected as a recipient of the Lucy Blair Service Award.

Pan is being honored as a Worthingham Fellow for excellence in the APTA’s “domain of advocacy” for advancing the profession by improving ethnic and racial diversity within the profession, addressing disparities in health care delivery, and creating a culture of professional responsibility among PT students who raised funds to support physical therapy research.

In his letter nominating Pan, Marquette PT professor Dr. Donald A. Neumann wrote, “Larry has the unique ability of identifying and then tackling difficult and important issues facing the profession, and he possesses the relentless fortitude and commitment to make lasting changes.”

Since 1992, Pan has received five federal Health Careers Opportunity Program grants, totaling $6.5 million, to address disparities in health care delivery by recruiting and training physical therapists from financially or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. Early in his career at Marquette, Pan and his students initiated a “challenge” to other physical therapy students across the nation to raise money for research. In the first year, 11 schools participated and raised $7,400. Since then, an average of 50 programs annually have participated in this event, raising more than $1.5 million for the Foundation for Physical Therapy research.

Pan, of Wauwatosa, Wis., has been on the Marquette PT faculty since 1985, and his teaching and research interests include neuroanatomy, neurological rehabilitation and the central control of breathing.

APTA is honoring Stoeckmann for her doctoral research article, “Elastic, Viscous, and Mass Load Effects on Post Stroke Muscle Recruitment and Co-contraction During Reaching: A Pilot Study,” published in the journal Physical Therapy. This award honors a doctoral student author for the most well-conceived, suitably designed and clearly expressed research published in Physical Therapy.

Stoeckmann, also of Wauwatosa, Wis., has been with Marquette for the past 13 years and has been practicing as a physical therapist since 1988. Program coordinator for the Department of Physical Therapy’s neurological residency program, Stoeckmann has clinical expertise in neurological rehabilitation with a special focus on traumatic brain injury.

Simoneau’s award acknowledges and honors his contributions to APTA, specifically his service as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy. A faculty member at Marquette since 1992, Simoneau’s research interests include gait, posture and orthopedic physical therapy. He currently maintains two primary active research programs in the ergonomic design of computer keyboards and walker-assisted ambulation. Simoneau lives in Whitefish Bay, Wis.

“We are extremely proud of the many national awards garnered by our physical therapy faculty and students over recent years,” said Dr. William E. Cullinan, dean of the Marquette’s College of Health Sciences. “These awards highlight the principal reason why our physical therapy doctoral program maintains such elite national stature – our outstanding faculty.” Marquette’s program in physical therapy is currently ranked 19th of 210 programs by U.S. News & World Report.

Media interested in interviewing Pan, Stoeckmann or Simoneau should contact Christopher Stolarski in the Office of Marketing and Communication at (414) 288-1988 or christopher.stolarski@marquette.edu. Digital head shots of the professors are available via e-mail, upon request.