Grant Writing Why | Samantha Price
My journey to grant writing is a bit different than the typical path. I am a licensed physical therapist with clinical experience practicing in pediatrics. I have known since I was 13 years old that I wanted to be a physical therapist and when I was 18, I decided I was going to become a pediatric physical therapist. Nothing was going to stop me, and I never deviated from my plan. I graduated from the University of Kentucky in 3 years with a bachelor’s degree in human health sciences, pre-physical therapy and was accepted to my top choice physical therapy program at the University of Dayton. Upon graduation from UD with my doctorate in physical therapy, I secured my dream job at Dayton Children’s Hospital working as Neurodevelopmental physical therapist. This gave me the opportunity to work with children with cerebral palsy, down syndrome, arthrogryposis, torticollis, developmental delay, and orthopedic conditions to name a few. Everything was falling into place. I had made it, or so I thought.
One thing I never accounted for along the way was falling in love with research. As an undergraduate, I worked for two years as a research assistant in a biomechanics lab led by Dr. Brian Noehren, PT, PhD, FACSM. In this type of lab, we used reflective markers to create joint models to assess angles and forces during different movement tasks. This allows us to understand how each segment is moving and accepting load to elicit new treatment strategies and assessments for various conditions. Working in this lab, I realized the direct impact research can have on patient’s lives. During my time, I led data collections, analyzed data, and was given the opportunity to present my research at national conferences. Based on this experience, I served as a graduate research assistant in a different biomechanics lab, led by Dr. Joaquin Barrios, PT, DPT. PhD, all 3 years of PT school. Similarly, I led projects and analyzed data that resulted in national presentations and publications.
I had planned to use these experiences to enhance my clinical practice, utilizing the most evidence-based treatment strategies. However, I quickly became frustrated at the lack of research in the field of pediatric physical therapy. At this point, I was at a crossroads. I loved my job, and I was seeing positive patient outcomes. However, there were so many conditions we knew very little about. I felt like I needed to do more for my profession. At last year’s combined sections meeting for the American Physical Therapy Association while presenting a poster, Dr. Barrios connected me with a University of Dayton DPT alumnus, Dr. Patrick Corrigan, PT, DPT, PhD, who then offered me a fully funded PhD position. Needless to say, I was a little overwhelmed, but very excited at the opportunity. So, this leads me full circle to my grant writing why. I want to write grants to change the field of pediatric physical therapy through evidence-based practice so that all children can maximize their abilities.
Grants and funding are essential to accomplish this dream. I plan to use my previous research experience, clinical practice, and PhD training to formulate research that makes an impact not only in my community, but around the world. Therefore, this class is a critical first step to learn how to write effective grants. My goal is to learn to communicate my dreams into tangible research proposals with interprofessional audiences to make a difference in the lives of patients. I also want to use my training to become faculty within a DPT program to train the next generation of evidence based physical therapists. Grant writing will protect my time so I can still conduct the research I am passionate about while teaching. This is a lot to accomplish in a short amount of time, but this class and writing grants is a way to fast track my dream.
