Susan K. Effgen

Susan K. Effgen, PT, PhD, FAPTA, is a professor in the Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Kentucky. She is an established educator and researcher in pediatric physical therapy and has taught at several universities including the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In 1986, she established the sixth doctoral program in physical therapy in the United States at Hahnemann University (now Drexel University) in Philadelphia, PA, and then the Rehabilitation Sciences Doctoral Program at the University of Kentucky. She co-founded the Adaptive Learning Center for Infants and Children in Atlanta, GA.

Dr. Effgen is a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). As co-chair of APTA’s Section on Pediatrics’ Government Affairs Committee, she was active in the process of the authorization and reauthorizations of IDEA. Dr. Effgen has published extensively, has served on several editorial boards, including Physical Therapy, and edited both editions of the text Meeting the Physical Therapy Needs of Children. She was principle-investigator of a US Department of Education grant: PT COUNTS, Study of the Relationship of Student Outcomes to School-Based Physical Therapy Services. Dr. Effgen received the Section on Pediatrics’ Bud DeHaven Award for Extraordinary Service to the Section and the Section’s Advocacy Award, which is now given in her name. She is the founding chair of the Section’s School-Based Physical Therapy Special Interest Group. She is presently working with an adaptive dance program in a number of Kentucky schools.