Gretchen R. Prather Profile

For years I have enjoyed clinical education from the standpoint of a patient/family educator, clinical instructor as well as playing a key role in staff development. Transitioning to academics provides me with the opportunity to inject these practical clinical scenarios and necessary skills into the classroom environment. Emphasis must be placed on where the students are in their education and learning and being able to meet them there while facilitating their growth to independent, entry-level practice. Physical therapy education must produce independent, critical thinkers who can function in autonomous professional practice while meeting the ever changing needs of the patients and families they serve in today’s healthcare environment. My role as a professor is to engage the students in active learning, foster development of their professional character and attitudes, challenge their critical appraisal skills using their fundamental knowledge base, and instill in them the ideal of lifelong learning. It is my goal to approach academic education with the same degree of passion, focus and tenacity with which I approach patient care and advocacy. I look forward to supporting and working with the students during their journey through the DPT program at Marshall University.