Our Team

Co-Founder & Physical Therapist IPA Manhattan

What was your inspiration to join the Physical Therapy profession?

My older brother Lance was hit by a car and shattered his femur when he was 9 years old. I watched him painfully rehabilitate and couldn’t help, but admire the physical therapist that came to our house each day to work with him to get him back on his feet. I’ve always known I wanted to help people. Physical Therapy has given me the opportunity to get to know my patients on a very personal level and to have such a positive influence on their lives.

Where were you born and what has been your living story as it relates to Physical Therapy?

I was born in Ramsey, NJ and lived there for my first 8 years. Having moved around quite a bit, I settled into Rockland County, NY, a quiet suburb north of Manhattan. I started a paper route when I was 12 years old and have been working since. I put myself through undergraduate and graduate school working as a waiter. I worked for 2 years doing biochemistry research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine before attending New York Medical College to receive my masters in Physical Therapy. Having a strong passion for learning and a thirst for knowledge, in 2005 I went on to get a clinical doctorate in upper quarter and hand therapy from Drexel University. What solidified my career and has allowed me to open two successful practices, has been my proficient utilization of functional manual therapy. I continue to be part of the I.P.A. faculty teaching other therapists FMT, as well as completing an intensive Fellowship training at I.P.A. — N Y C. Being surrounded by such an amazing staff of physical therapists continues to challenge and motivate me to provide the highest level of PT to my patients.

What is your favorite aspect about practicing Physical Therapy?

Unlike most medical professions, having 1-hour treatments allows me to get to know my patients on a personal level. I learn their habitual patterns that are typically driving their dysfunction leading to pain. This ability to become so familiar with my patients allows me to get a much better sense of what needs to be changed to prevent the continued damage caused by faulty posture, body mechanics or some type of environmental factors such as a poorly set up workstation. I could provide the best hands on treatment in the world, and my patient can walk out of my treatment room, pain-free, but if they go back to what they were doing that led them to this place, they are going to continue to suffer from dysfunction, leading to chronic pain and inflammation, and what we call in PT terms as the degenerative cascade.

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