Beth Whitehead, PT, MPH
For more than five decades, Beth Whitehead, PT, MPH, has practiced a kind of physical therapy that looked beyond injury or rehabilitation alone; one rooted in access, prevention, continuity, and whole-person care. Long before primary care physical therapy had a formal definition, Beth was living that model in rural Alabama communities where physicians and specialists were often hard to reach. In their absence, but collaborating closely with them, she made broader patient assessments and helped patients navigate the healthcare system. Today, as the profession gives new language and structure to primary care PT, Beth sees a familiar concept gaining the recognition it needs, and she is dedicated to helping build the evidence base behind it. “I’ve been waiting patiently for this day,” Beth says. “We’ve always done primary care. We just never named it, measured it, or communicated it in a way the healthcare system understood.”
To help advance this model of care, she recently made an initial gift of $250,000 to the Foundation for Physical Therapy Research to establish the Primary Care Physical Therapy Fund. The fund will support promising early-stage studies that explore new approaches to integrating physical therapy in primary care delivery, further develop conceptual and analytical frameworks for integrated delivery models, and test implementation approaches. These studies are expected to fill evidence and data gaps for primary care in non-federal healthcare systems and be the basis for larger studies. Also, by advancing knowledge and evidence in areas such as team-based primary care, population health, and chronic disease management, this investment will help strengthen the primary care PT evidence base and improve access to high-quality care for all who need it.
From Personal Connection to a Lifelong Career
Beth’s understanding of what physical therapy could be began long before she ever entered PT school. She grew up in a small town in Alabama where access to healthcare was limited. When her father suffered severe back pain, a chiropractor would come to their home to treat him. This experience fascinated her and introduced her early to the power of hands-on care. “I knew I wanted to help people move and function again,” she recalls. That desire led her to physical therapy. But it was her mother’s experience that gave her career its purpose.
Her mother had mid-back pain and was told it was not cardiac in origin. She received treatment for months for what was presumed to be a musculoskeletal issue. It wasn’t. She ultimately suffered a massive heart attack and later died of heart failure.
“That experience never left me,” Beth shares. “It instilled in me a deep belief that physical therapists must understand the whole patient and recognize when something is not musculoskeletal and be part of a broader system of care that gets patients where they need to go.”
Beth has now been a physical therapist for 54 years. Forty-five years ago, she and her business partner, Debbie Powell, PT, opened a private practice with a strong emphasis on public health, prevention, and continuity of care. In rural Alabama, physician shortages were common, and specialists were far away. When patients needed care, Beth simply “did what needed to be done.”
“We assessed, we collaborated, we followed patients across settings,” she explains. “Hospitals. Home health. Nursing facilities. Outpatient care. We saw the whole trajectory.” That continuity allowed them to identify problems early, prevent complications, and navigate patients through a fragmented rural healthcare system.
For Beth, those experiences offered a glimpse of what physical therapy could become: a more integrated part of primary care, helping patients access the right care earlier and more quickly and easily. What has been missing, however, is the evidence needed to demonstrate the value of that approach. “We didn’t yet have the structure, the recognition, or the evidence to support that broader role,” she says. Beth’s decision to create the Primary Care Physical Therapy Fund reflects this personal and professional history.
Marilyn R. Gossman, PT, PhD, FAPTA
The Mentors Behind the Vision
The fund was established in honor of Marilyn R. Gossman, PT, PhD, FAPTA, and Geneva R. Johnson, PT, PhD, FAPTA, two influential leaders whose work helped advance physical therapy education and research at critical moments in the profession’s development. Marilyn, one of Beth’s earliest mentors, introduced her to Geneva at a professional conference in 1975, forging connections among the three women that would leave a lasting impact on the profession.
Geneva R. Johnson, PT, PhD, FAPTA and Marilyn Moffat, PT, DPT, PhD, FAPTA
“That conversation never ended,” Beth recalls. “They introduced me to leaders like Marilyn Moffatt, PT, DPT, PhD, FAPTA, and Helen Hislop, PT, PhD, ScD, FAPTA, who believed physical therapy could, and should, be more.”
Beth remembers learning from pioneers who pushed education beyond entry-level training, advocated for evidence-based practice, and challenged physical therapists to advance alongside the rest of the healthcare system. She still remembers hearing Helen’s 1975 McMillan Lecture, “The Not So Impossible Dream,” and realizing the profession’s potential extended far beyond its current boundaries. Today, Beth is working to fulfill that potential by building and supporting primary care PT.
“I didn’t want this fund to represent just me,” she says. “It represents every visionary, educator, researcher, and clinician, along with every patient who didn’t get the care they needed.”
Building the Evidence for Primary Care Physical Therapy
Today, Beth believes PT stands at an inflection point. The healthcare system is strained by rising costs, workforce shortages, fragmented care, and growing barriers to access. This is especially true in rural and underserved communities. Physical therapists are uniquely positioned to address many of these challenges, but evidence is essential.
“If we’re going to be accepted as first-contact providers in primary care,” she states, “we have to demonstrate safety, effectiveness, and value.” This fund is designed specifically to support that purpose. Beth acknowledges that primary care PT represents a higher level of responsibility: determining who can be treated, who must be referred, and how quickly action must be taken.
“I don’t want to miss the heart problem,” she says. “That’s real responsibility.”
She believes that specialization, research, and clearer educational pathways will help prepare physical therapists for that role, just as other specialties have done across the profession.
“This isn’t something new we’re inventing,” Beth says. “It’s what we’ve always done. Now we’re giving it structure, preparation, and evidence so it can happen everywhere.”
“We won’t know what primary care physical therapy can become until we measure it,” she concludes. “Now we can finally have a way to start doing that.” By making this investment now and establishing the Primary Care Physical Therapy Fund at the Foundation, Beth is helping ensure that the model she spent a lifetime practicing can be studied, strengthened, and expanded for future generations of clinicians, researchers, and patients.