Bellin College Physical Therapy

Congrats to Dr. Jodi Young, our Director of Research for the Bellin College DSc program, for being elected to the AAOMPT Nominating Committee! Jodi has held other leadership roles within AAOMPT and we are excited for her role within this important committee.

Congrats to our clinic partners on this recognition! We are thankful to have the ability to allow our DPT students to perform lab activities and integrated clinical experiences at this location.

🎉 Thank you, Green Bay!

Emplify Health by Bellin Orthopedics has been named the 2026 Best of the Bay Physical Therapy Clinic! We're grateful for the opportunity to help athletes, active individuals, and community members reach their goals through expert, personalized care.

Here's to keeping our community moving! 💪

Shout out to OMPT Fellowship graduate Bryce Zaffarano for his recent publication in MSK Science and Practice!

Bryce and his colleagues from the University of Colorado published this Professional Practice paper to establish the rationale for a shared exercise prescription framework in MSK patients and to briefly introduce a novel Exercise Decision Making Framework.

Check it out ➡️ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468781226001475?dgcid=coauthor

DSc student of the month for August is Dr. Jonathan Fass!
Dr. Fass is a licensed physical therapist, Board-Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopaedic Physical Therapy (OCS), Certified Orthopaedic Manual Therapist (COMT), Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), and Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists (FAAOMPT). He serves as faculty in Harrisburg University's Doctor of Physical Therapy program and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Science (DSc) in Physical Therapy at Bellin College.

Dr. Fass specializes in orthopedic and musculoskeletal physical therapy, with particular expertise in the management of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). Earlier in his career, he served as the private physiotherapist and sports manager for His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a role that involved extensive international travel across 47 countries and more than 50 cities while providing exposure to diverse healthcare systems and approaches to patient care.

In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. Fass has served in leadership roles as a Clinic Manager, developed clinician advancement programs and post-operative rehabilitation protocols, and mentored orthopedic residents, student physical therapists, and early-career clinicians.

His scholarly interests focus on how physical therapists develop expertise throughout their careers, with particular interest in clinical reasoning, adaptive expertise, and educational strategies that support the development of expert clinicians.

We have more 10 year OMPT fellowship graduation anniversaries to celebrate! (From left to right)

𝗗𝗿. 𝗞𝘆𝗹𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲 - Currently an Assistant Professor in the DPT program at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. After fellowship, he returned to Bellin College to get his terminal doctorate (DSc). Earlier this year, he was awarded the Faculty Award for Research for the College of Education and Health Sciences at Bradley.

𝗗𝗿. 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝗵 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗻𝗲𝗿 - After fellowship, Beth moved to Fort Collins, CO from Iowa and works for Banner Health in Greeley. She has since furthered her education in the area of pelvic health which is now 75% of her caseload. She has taught with EIM for the past 10 years and continues to mentor fellows-in-training in our program.

𝗗𝗿. 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗠𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 - Soon after fellowship Chris went on to become a faculty member in South College's DPT program in Knoxville, TN where she is Director of Clinical Education and an Associate Professor. She also returned to Bellin College to get her terminal degree (DSc) and published research looking at the therapeutic alliance. She teaches continuing education for IAMT.

𝗗𝗿. 𝗛𝗶𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗵𝗶 𝗞𝗶𝘆𝗼𝘁𝗮 - Currently working for Rusk Rehabilitation at NYU Langone Orthopedic Center in New York City. He serves as the program coordinator for the OMPT fellowship program at Rusk. His clinical interests include fencing, martial arts, and soccer, as well as chronic pain. He serves as adjunct faculty in the DPT program at Touro University New York.

Our OMPT fellowship strives to create leaders in clinical, educational, and research settings and these graduates demonstrate just that since graduating from the program a decade ago. Let's give these Bellin College grads some love!

Our hearts go out to all those impacted by the devastating storms 💙 🤍