Jefferson College of Health Professions

PT Senior Named Outstanding Student by Pennsylvania Association of Graduate Studies

Heather Shriver, a BS/MS Physical Therapy student at Thomas Jefferson University’s Jefferson College of Health Professions in Philadelphia, received an “Outstanding Student” award from the Pennsylvania Association of Graduate Studies in March. Heather, of Brookville, Pennsylvania, will graduate in August.

The award is presented to a Pennsylvania graduate school student who demonstrates academic excellence; makes a contribution to the chosen profession, community, and research; shows potential for future service to profession; and has persevered in the face of barriers to higher education.

A long resume of achievements easily qualified Heather for the award. She is a Dean’s List student with a great deal of research experience. In 2005, Heather combined her love of travel with academics when she traveled to Sacaton, Arizona, for a clinical rotation at Hu Hu Kam Hospital. She researched and presented evaluation tools and issues regarding balance and falls to doctors and physical therapists. “I loved Arizona, and it was great to work with a population of Native Americans, which is so different from here,” Heather shares. “But it was too far away from my family to stay for the long term.”

That same summer, Heather had a five-week research fellowship at UMC St. Radboud Hospital in Nijmegen, Netherlands, where she conducted a pilot study on facial sensibility and movement dominance in relation to facial palsy. She developed a research protocol, implemented the study on 30 subjects, evaluated the data, and wrote a journal article about her findings.

As a graduate research assistant in the physical therapy department, Heather synthesized information for clinicians on functional outcomes of therapy conducted after primary and metastatic brain tumors. She has also assisted with research on patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Heather’s distinctions reach beyond academics. As a cadet in the Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (AFROTC) at Saint Joseph’s University, she was highly esteemed. In 2005 the AFROTC acknowledged her leadership abilities by naming her a Distinguished Cadet (top 10% of all cadets) and giving her a Top Gun Award (top 4% of all cadets; she was the only female to receive this award at the Ellsworth II encampment 2005). Heather also received the Ironwoman Award in 2005, which recognized her as the single most physically fit female at the encampment.

After 16 weeks of clinical affiliations this summer, Heather will complete her master’s degree. “I still have rotations in pediatrics and rehabilitation, so I haven’t decided what field of practice I’ll go into,” she shares. Whatever she decides, success is sure to follow.