Name: Zach Taillie, Class of 2018
Undergrad: State University of New York at Cortland
Hometown: Phoenix, NY
Fun Fact: I put BBQ sauce on everything.
Hello! My name is Zach and I am a third year in the program. I am also the President of the Orthopedic Student Special Interest Group (sSIG) here at Regis. In the orthopedic section we focus on manual therapy and musculoskeletal-related ailments.
When I heard about the opportunity to run for president, I knew it was a perfect fit for me. Let’s back up a little bit to figure out why. At the age of 15, I got hooked on weightlifting and loved working out. In addition to that, I also grew up playing baseball, basketball, and football. I first found out about physical therapy during college after sustaining a serious dislocation of my left shoulder that resulted in a SLAP tear (if you don’t know what that is, you should apply to PT school!). Guess that’s what I get for wrestling bears. Fast forward to the rehab I underwent after the surgery: I instantly fell in love with the mix of rehabilitation and working out. That love has continued throughout PT school and drove me to run for the president position. The election was a dead heat but, when the dust settled, I received 100% of the votes. How, you might ask? Maybe I ran unopposed, maybe I ran an awesome campaign, we’ll never really know.
After taking over the group in the summer of 2016 I decided to adopt a new model. Every month I reached out to an expert in our field and asked them to do a presentation for the group. Some of the presentations from physical therapists we had this past year include:
- Tim Noteboom: How to filter social media to find information relevant to you and who to follow
- Chris Edmundson: Longevity as a manual therapist: How to save your hands and body
- Stephanie Pascoe: Residency vs. Fellowship: What’s the difference and is it for me?
- Lauren Hinrichs: Management of the wheelchair athlete: How do we keep the shoulders healthy in a wheelchair athlete?
- Steve Short: Denver Nuggets team PT: Management of the professional athlete population
Bringing these presenters in was a lot of fun and allowed me to meet experts in a variety of fields. Given the opportunity, I would do it all the again!
Moving forward, the group has been passed down to the Class of 2019 and I look forward to hearing what they do while we are out on our final clinical rotations. Stayed tuned on 2 more presentations coming from the Class of 2018, though! There are also some big things coming to you soon from me and another 3rd year. Be sure to check the Regis Facebook group for an exciting update around the middle of August. If you have any questions about orthopedic physical therapy, you can email me at ztaillie@regis.edu.
Regis University - School of Physical Therapy 