I am a physical therapist and I love what I do. Throughout my career I have remained very curious about physical therapy from the diagnosis and prognosis of my patients to the myriad of treatment options available; I find it all fascinating. This intellectual curiosity has driven me to go through a fellowship program in orthopedic manual therapy, become a board certified orthopedic clinical specialist, and then finally earning a PhD in physical therapy where I wrote my dissertation on whiplash associated syndrome and its long-term prognosis. I feel there are two primary reasons for my desire to better myself regarding my career: 1) I truly appreciate working with people, and the fact that I have the opportunity and knowledge to help them drives me to ensure I am doing all that I can to deliver the best possible care. 2) I love solving problems, and each person I work with is a puzzle that I am looking to help unlock and hopefully make an improvement in their life. Unfortunately, most of the people I treat come to me because something hurts, but as I work with them, I can use some of my problem-solving skills to have a positive influence on their recovery and ideally help them to feel better.My desire to solve problems has recently pushed me towards research and teaching. For research, I enjoy the process of learning about a problem and trying to devise ways to help solve or at least learn more about the area. Although research often does not provide a definitive answer, the idea that I can contribute to the overall body of literature and help others through my work provides me with great satisfaction. For teaching, being around students, with their enthusiasm and inquisitive minds, perks me up and often makes me think outside of my comfort zone; there is rarely a dull day when I am working with students.