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Physical Therapist (PT)
Professional Bio
Dr. Harper-Hanigan currently serves as the Program Director for the developing Doctor of Physical Therapy Program as well as an Associate Professor of Physical Therapy at LMU-Knoxville.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry with a minor in Physiological Psychology from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire and her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from the University of Southern California. After practicing in outpatient orthopedics for 3 years in El Segundo, CA, she then completed a Post-Doctoral Research Assistantship at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in qualitative research methods and community-based participatory research focusing on improving racial health disparities in birth outcomes and began working in the acute care setting. She then moved to Indiana to become core faculty at the then developing DPT program at Indiana State University. While there, she earned her PhD in Epidemiology from Indiana University-Bloomington with an emphasis on biomechanics and physical activity epidemiology. She is passionate about applying the rigor of traditional epidemiological methods related to both study design and statistical analysis to secondary data sets and physical therapy research. She was recently appointed as the statistician reviewer for Rehabilitation Oncology Journal published by the APTA Academy of Oncologic Physical Therapy.
She is a Board-certified Geriatrics Clinical Specialist through the APTA as well as Wound Care Certified. She is also a 2023 graduate of the APTA's year-long Fellowship in Higher Education Leadership.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry with a minor in Physiological Psychology from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire and her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from the University of Southern California. After practicing in outpatient orthopedics for 3 years in El Segundo, CA, she then completed a Post-Doctoral Research Assistantship at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in qualitative research methods and community-based participatory research focusing on improving racial health disparities in birth outcomes and began working in the acute care setting. She then moved to Indiana to become core faculty at the then developing DPT program at Indiana State University. While there, she earned her PhD in Epidemiology from Indiana University-Bloomington with an emphasis on biomechanics and physical activity epidemiology. She is passionate about applying the rigor of traditional epidemiological methods related to both study design and statistical analysis to secondary data sets and physical therapy research. She was recently appointed as the statistician reviewer for Rehabilitation Oncology Journal published by the APTA Academy of Oncologic Physical Therapy.
She is a Board-certified Geriatrics Clinical Specialist through the APTA as well as Wound Care Certified. She is also a 2023 graduate of the APTA's year-long Fellowship in Higher Education Leadership.
Physical Therapist (PT)