Faculty: Jo Nijs

Session Details:

Prof. Dr. Jo Nijs is professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Brussels, Belgium), physiotherapist/ manual therapist at the University Hospital Brussels, holder of a Chair on oncological physiotherapy funded by the Berekuyl Academy, the Netherlands, and Visiting Professor at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden). He is the Scientific Chair of the executive committee of the Pain, Mind, and Movement Special Interest Group of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) and holder of the Chair ‘Exercise immunology and Chronic Fatigue in health and Disease’ funded by the European College for Decongestive Lymphatic Therapy. The primary aim of his research is to improve care for patients with chronic pain.

He is ranked 2nd in the world among chronic pain researchers (1st in Europe), received the 2017 Excellence in Research Award from the JOSPT (USA), and the 2020 Francqui Collen Chair awarded by the University of Hasselt, Belgium.

Faculty: Adriaan Louw

Session Details:

Adriaan earned his undergraduate, master’s degree and PhD in physiotherapy from the University of Stellenbosch in Cape Town, South Africa. He is an adjunct faculty member at St. Ambrose University and the University of Nevada Las Vegas, teaching pain science. Adriaan has taught throughout the US and internationally for 25 years at numerous national and international manual therapy, pain science and medical conferences. He has authored and co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles related to spinal disorders and pain science.

Adriaan completed his Ph.D. on pain neuroscience education and is the Director of the Therapeutic Neuroscience Research Group – an independent collaborative initiative studying pain neuroscience. Adriaan is a senior faculty, pain science director and vice-president of faculty experience for Evidence in Motion.

Faculty: Jessie Podolak

Session Details:

Jessie Podolak received her MPT degree from the College of St. Catherine, Minneapolis, in 1998, followed by her transitional Doctorate from Regis University, Denver, in 2011. She has been teaching pain neuroscience education and manual therapy techniques at continuing education courses since 2013 and has served as the Program Director for Evidence in Motion’s Pain Science Fellowship.

She has participated in and lead research exploring the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of middle school students related to pain, emphasizing healthy options to address pain when it inevitably occurs. Jessie owns and operates an outpatient physical therapy practice, seeing a variety of patients with acute and chronic pain conditions.

Faculty: Kory Zimney

Session Details:

Kory received a Master’s in Physical Therapy from the University of North Dakota in 1994. He completed his transitional DPT from Des Moines University in 2010 and a Ph.D. in Physical Therapy from Nova Southeastern University in 2020. His dissertation focused on the construct of trust as part of the therapeutic alliance and its relation to outcomes in persistent low back pain. Currently, he works as an Associate Professor with the University of South Dakota in the Department of Physical Therapy.

He teaches evidence-based practice for musculoskeletal care focusing on the spine, rehabilitation neuroscience, and leadership/management. His primary research focuses on therapeutic alliance, pain neuroscience education, and measurement with tactile acuity and laterality. In addition, he also serves as the Director of the Ph.D. in Health Sciences program at USD. His past work experiences have been with various community-based hospitals working in multiple patient care areas of inpatient, skilled rehab, home health, acute rehab, work conditioning/ hardening, and outpatient. Most of his practice was directed toward occupational medicine with musculoskeletal management of work-related injuries and cost prevention services with ergonomics and wellness programs for businesses.

He also served as department manager of rehabilitation services at St. Luke’s Health System in Sioux City, Iowa, for eight years. He is an Advanced Credentialed Clinical Instructor through the APTA, Certified Spinal Manual Therapist (CSMT), Therapeutic Pain Specialist (TPS) through International Spine and Pain Institute, and has completed Certification in Applied Functional Science (CAFS) through the Gray Institute.

Faculty: Louie Puentedura

Session Details:

Dr. Louie Puentedura is a Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at Baylor University. He is a seasoned clinician, having completed a Bachelor of Applied Science in Physiotherapy (1980) and a Graduate Diploma in Manipulative Therapy (1983) from La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. Since arriving in the USA, he completed a post-professional Doctorate in Physical Therapy (2005) at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, and a PhD in Physical Therapy (2011) at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Dr. Puentedura has been an ABPTS board-certified Orthopaedic Clinical Specialist and a Fellow in the American Academy of Orthopaedic and Manual Physical Therapists for three decades. He completed 10 years on faculty as Associate Professor of the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.

Dr. Puentedura has taught physical therapists and physical therapy students for more than 35 years and has published more than 80 scientific papers since 2010. Dr. Puentedura has received several awards including the Rose Excellence in Research Award from the Orthopedic Section of the American Physical Therapy Association, the John Medeiros Award from the Journal of Manual and Manipulative Therapy.

Faculty: Stephen Schmidt

Session Details:

Steve is a physical therapist with over 25 years of experience. He is the PT supervisor for the Kaiser Foundation Rehabilitation Center, co-lead of the spinal cord injury specialty program, faculty for the Kaiser Vallejo PNF program, and is senior faculty for Evidence in Motion’s (EIM) pain curriculum. Steve has co-authored several books on pain neuroscience education and has taught numerous seminars on neurodynamics, graded-motor imagery, and pain neuroscience education.

He is a PhD candidate in the Health Sciences program at the University of South Dakota with research interests in assessment, intervention, and pain neuroscience education for patients with spinal cord injury.

Faculty: Ina Diener

Session Details:

Dr. Diener practices as a clinician in Stellenbosch. She qualified at the University of Stellenbosch in 1974 and graduated with her PhD in 2003, from the University of the Western Cape. She has been in private practice for nearly 40 years and started teaching undergraduates in 1990. Since 2003 she has been involved with the orthopaedic manual therapy modules of Masters’ degrees at Stellenbosch University and the University of the Western Cape, and a study leader for many post-graduate students in the field. Her main clinical field of interest is musculoskeletal pain, and especially headache and facial pain. Her enthusiasm in promoting best-practice in musculoskeletal health is evident in the many CE courses she presents to both local and international physiotherapists.

She has published several academic papers, and has presented at many national and international conferences, mainly in the field of pain education and chronic headache. She has been actively involved in the South African Society of Physiotherapy, over several years, having served as the SASP President recently. Ina has been the chair of the OMPTG in and is still actively involved in the OMT/ANMS annual course.

Faculty: Paul Mintken

Session Details:

Dr. Mintken lives in Denver, CO and works remotely as a Professor in the DPT education program at Hawai’i Pacific University. Prior to HPU, Dr. Mintken was faculty in the Physical Therapy Program at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (Aurora, CO). Dr. Mintken served in various faculty roles during his tenure as a Professor at the University of Colorado, including chair of the Senior Faculty Committee for the Physical Therapy Program and chair of the promotions committee for the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Dr. Mintken is a board-certified Orthopaedic Clinical Specialist and a Fellow in the American Academy of Orthopaedic and Manual Physical Therapists.  He remains clinically active one day per week as an orthopaedic physical therapist at Wardenburg Health Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he has worked for almost 30 years. Dr. Mintken has served the physical therapy profession as member of the research committee for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists (AAOMPT) and the Orthopaedic Section of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).  He is currently a member of the nominating committee for the Orthopaedic Section of the APTA.

Dr. Mintken has received numerous awards, including the Dorothy Baethke-Eleanor J. Carlin Award for Excellence in Academic Teaching from the APTA, the James Gould Excellence in Teaching Orthopaedic Physical Therapy Award from the APTA, the Rose Excellence in Research Award, the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy (JOSPT) Excellence in Research Award, the Chattanooga Research Award, and the Outstanding Physical Therapist Award for the State of Colorado. Dr. Mintken has served as a presenter and keynote speaker at national and international conferences and his work appears in over 15 different peer-reviewed journals including Physical Therapy, the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, the Journal of Manual and Manipulative Therapy, and the Journal of Physical Therapy Education, among others. Dr. Mintken has over 60 peer reviewed articles and 7 book chapters. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Manual and Manipulative Therapy.  He maintains an active research agenda investigating conservative care for musculoskeletal disorders as well as spinal and extremity manipulation.

Faculty: Mai Huong Ho-Tran

Session Details:

Dr. Mai Huong Ho-Tran has been practicing physical therapy since 2002. She has a wealth of experience in the areas of persistent pain, functional restoration, multidisciplinary care, pediatrics and neurology but has also worked in the out-patient setting in private practice, worker’s compensation and hospital-based systems. She is the Director of the Pain Science Fellowship for Evidence in Motion. She also serves as the Lead PT for Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California region in Pain Medicine. She received her master’s in physical therapy from Chapman University and her transitional DPT from UCSF/SFSU’s Graduate Program in Physical Therapy. She completed her TPS certification and is proud to have completed EIM’s inaugural cohort of the Pain Sciences Fellowship in 2019. She currently serves as clinical faculty for UCSF/SFSU and Kaiser Permanente’s Orthopedic Residency.

She has guest lectured, taught continuing education courses and spoken at national conferences including Kaiser Permanente locally and regionally, the American Association of Pain Psychology, the San Diego Pain Summit, PainWEEK, and ALIGN. Her experience also delves deeply in mindfulness, yoga therapy, Tai Chi, somatic movement retraining and spiritual direction. She is a mother, yogi, runner, agent of change and life-long learner.