Hamilton Resident Barbara Behrens holds her award from the American Physical Therapy Association.
Hamilton resident, Barbara Behrens, received a national recognition in the Physical Therapist Assistant field in June.
She recently fulfilled the requirements for the American Physical Therapy Association’s Physical Therapist Assistant Recognition of Advanced Proficiency. Behrens was recognized during APTA’s Honors and Awards Ceremony at the organization’s conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, in June.
She is a professor and coordinator of the PTA program at Mercer County Community College.
Behrens is the first New Jersey professor to earn this honor in the newly created Education category. Other categories include musculoskeletal, acute care, geriatric and aquatic.
According to the APTA website, the designation signifies that the recipient has “gone above and beyond entry-level education in their selected area of work and sets the recipient apart from other providers…through education, experience, and leadership.”
Behrens developed MCCC’s PTA program in 1996, representing the first PTA to serve as the coordinator of a PTA program in New Jersey.
Her books, Physical Agents: Theory & Practice and Laboratory Manual for Physical Agents, both published in 2006, have been used by the majority of PTA programs across the United States and have been translated into several languages. The third edition of the text is due out at the end of this year, with Holly Beinert, the academic coordinator of clinical education for MCCC’s PTA program as co-author.
Behrens adds the APTA recognition to her list of other firsts. She was the first to represent PTAs on the N.J. State Board of Physical Therapy Examiners and to serve as the organization’s elected vice chair.
In 2000, she was awarded the FA Davis Award for Outstanding Physical Therapist Assistant Educator from the APTA, the highest national award recognizing a PTA educator.
More information is online at mccc.edu.
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