Neurologic Physical Therapy Residency
Program Overview
The program provides an ABPTRFE accredited post-professional clinical residency experience in the specialty area of neurologic physical therapy. The experience includes clinical practice, clinical mentoring, teaching in the area of neurology, and opportunities for scholarly productivity. The resident will graduate with advanced clinical practice and teaching skills and will be eligible for the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties (ABPTS) Neurologic Clinical Specialist (NCS) exam.
Application Timeline: October 1 - January 31
Learning Experience
Inside the Program
The Neurologic Physical Therapy Residency is a structured, full time, post professional training experience designed to integrate advanced clinical practice, mentorship, and academic learning across a twelve month residency year.
The residency runs from September 1 through August 1, during which residents are full time employees of one of the program’s clinical partner sites. Residents complete 40 hours per week of neurologic physical therapy clinical practice, supported by a layered didactic curriculum that includes two hours per week of synchronous virtual learning and eight to ten hours per week of independent, out of classroom learning activities.
Teaching and professional development are integral components of the program. Residents contribute three to five hours of didactic instruction within the residency and Doctor of Physical Therapy programs, reinforcing clinical expertise while developing academic and professional communication skills.
The program includes four immersive onsite “blast weekends”, totaling 72 hours of in person instruction. These experiences combine advanced didactic content, hands on laboratory learning, and group based patient interactions designed to deepen clinical reasoning and skill application.
Residents also engage directly with residency faculty through three onsite visits, providing 24 hours of individualized, one on one mentoring. In addition, each resident receives a minimum of 150 hours of one on one mentorship at their clinical site from an onsite mentor who has been trained through the MUSC Neurologic Physical Therapy Residency.
Together, these components create a comprehensive, supportive training environment that balances clinical immersion, structured learning, mentorship, and teaching to prepare residents for advanced neurologic practice and specialty certification.
Curriculum
The curriculum for the residency program includes training in the management of patients with a wide variety of neurologic conditions as guided by the APTA’s Description of Specialty Practice. However, the MUSC program also includes topics designed to improve all aspects of being a therapist, including neuroplasticity and motor learning, movement analysis, statistical interpretation, business management, professionalism, cultural competency, and teaching and learning theory. As educating peers is paramount to being a leader in the profession, all residents produce several written analysis projects and also teach at least one content module.
Focused weekends occur in Charleston four times per year to address the following topics:
- Spinal Cord Injury
- Stroke
- Movement Disorders
- Traumatic Brain Injury / Vestibular Disorders
The curriculum totals approximately 300 hours of didactic training including live classroom experiences in Charleston, virtual classroom experiences, and recorded lectures in addition to a minimum of 150 1:1 hours of mentoring.
Mentoring
Each resident is mentored by an employee of the clinical partner, and involves at least 150 hours of 1:1 time together, 100 of which must be in patient care. Mentoring a resident is different than mentoring an entry level student, as many residents will enter the program with some degree of clinical experience. The resident-mentor relationship:
- Is a partnership in which the mentor actively supports the professional growth and development of a resident
- Is a reciprocal and evolutionary process
- Challenges AND supports
- Promotes knowledge translation (how does that gained knowledge relate to this patient situation today)?
- Helps the resident integrate the knowledge – not the mentor’s responsibility to provide the knowledge
- Teaches the resident how to learn so they can approach any future situation
- Opens discussions of intention versus impact
- Guides clinician to finding their own professional identity
- Strives to provide just the right amount of challenge, just the right amount of support at the right time to obtain learning and professional growth
- Promotes rapid transformation of research into clinical practice
Facilities
Current Participating Facilities
- FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital
- MUSC Health - Orangeburg Medical Center
- MUSC Health Neurologic Rehabilitation Institute
- Roper Rehabilitation Hospital
Past Participating Facilities
- Tidelands Health Rehabilitation Hospital, affl. of Encompass Health
- Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Florence
- MUSC Health Rehabilitation Hospital, affl. of Encompass Health
- Prisma Health Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation Hospital
For inquiries, please contact Victoria Wilson via email at wilsotar@musc.edu.
Your path to admission
Discover key information about application steps and required documentation to help you move forward with confidence.
Eligibility Requirements
All applicants must:
- Have graduated from a CAPTE-accredited physical therapy program
- Have an unencumbered physical therapy license in the state where they will be practicing
- Be employed full-time at a partnering clinical institution
- Have completed their employer's pre-application residency paperwork
- Demonstrate membership to the APTA
- Be able to start the first Thursday of September when the program begins
Application Process
The following process outlines how and when your materials will be reviewed.
- Submit an application through the Residency and Fellowship Physical Therapy Centralized Application Service (RF-PTCAS).
- Complete an employment application for the participating residency facility of your choice.
- Once all materials have been received and verified, your application will be reviewed.
Admissions Policy
The holistic admissions process aims to build a Neurological Residency class that reflects a wide range of individual characteristics and backgrounds, preparing students for the variety of experiences they will encounter in their practice. For the admissions process, we intend to foster a rich learning environment for students in the program and create a class of graduates who will, as a group, achieve excellence across the many domains of physical therapy. Our consideration will include background and several other factors contributing to a class with a broad range of life experiences.
The goals of the admission process for the Neurologic Residency at the Medical University of South Carolina are to:
- Identify the most qualified applicants through a fair and impartial admissions process
- Enroll highly qualified individuals with the most significant potential to become Certified Neurologic Therapists
Why MUSC?
MUSC has a rich 40+ year history of educating physical therapists at the entry- and post-professional levels. Our academic and clinical faculty have many years of clinical and educational experience in various specialties, holding board certifications in orthopedic, neurological, and pediatric physical therapy.
Program Outcomes
Residents who successfully complete the Neurologic Physical Therapy Residency receive a certificate of completion from MUSC and documentation to apply residency hours towards continuing education certification with the state of South Carolina. Graduates are eligible to take the Neurologic Clinical Specialist (NCS) exam administered by the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties (ABPTS) and should apply for the examination while they are participating in the residency.
The program has a 98% graduation rate and an ABPTS Neurologic Clinical Specialist (NCS) exam first-time pass rate of 97.5%.
Program Faculty
Victoria Harris, PT, DPT
Instructor
wilsotar@musc.edu , 843-792-2272
Dana Meadows, PT, DPT, COMT, OCS
Dana Meadows, PT, DPT, COMT, OCS, graduated with a B.S. in Kinesiology form Temple University in 2012, received her Doctorate of Physical Therapy from the University of Miami in 2015, and completed her Orthopaedic residency at MUSC in 2018. Her passion for outpatient orthopaedics only continues to grow and she enjoys treating patients with a combination of both manual therapy and functional rehabilitation. She has an advanced certification as an Orthopaedic Manual Therapist, and is also a Board Certified Orthopaedic Specialist.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. This is a full-time, one-year residency that runs from September 1 through August 1. Residents are full-time employees of a clinical partner site and complete 40 hours per week of neurologic physical therapy clinical practice, along with structured didactic and mentoring experiences throughout the year.
Residents receive extensive one-on-one mentoring throughout the program. This includes a minimum of 150 hours of on-site mentoring with a trained clinical mentor at their practice site, as well as three on-site visits that provide 24 hours of individualized mentoring with residency faculty.
Guided by Purpose & Principles
Behind the program is a clear purpose and set of principles that drive excellence in neurologic physical therapy.
Objectives
The Neurologic Physical Therapy Residency program aims to prepare trainees to:
- Deliver advanced, evidence informed neurologic physical therapy across the continuum of care for individuals with complex neurologic conditions
- Integrate clinical reasoning, neuroplasticity principles, and movement science to optimize functional outcomes
- Apply current research and best available evidence to guide evaluation, intervention selection, and progression of care
- Demonstrate professional accountability, ethical practice, and effective interprofessional collaboration within diverse health care environments
- Engage in reflective practice and lifelong learning to support continued clinical growth and board certification readiness
- Prepare for successful completion of the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties (ABPTS) Neurologic Clinical Specialist (NCS) examination
Competencies
Upon completion of the Neurologic Physical Therapy Residency program, graduates will be able to:
- Perform comprehensive neurologic examinations and synthesize findings to develop accurate diagnoses and prognosis
- Design, implement, and modify individualized intervention plans grounded in evidence, clinical expertise, and patient goals
- Demonstrate advanced clinical reasoning when managing patients with stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, movement disorders, vestibular disorders, and other neurologic conditions
- Utilize outcome measures, movement analysis, and data interpretation to assess effectiveness of care and guide clinical decision making
- Translate research and emerging evidence into clinical practice while contributing to scholarly and educational activities
- Communicate effectively with patients, caregivers, and interprofessional teams to support coordinated, patient centered care
- Model professionalism, cultural humility, and leadership consistent with advanced neurologic physical therapy practice
- Meet the knowledge, skills, and professional behaviors expected of entry level neurologic clinical specialists
Vision
To be a nationally recognized model for neurologic physical therapy residency education, advancing neurorehabilitation through clinicians whose impact extends across practice, research, and communities.
Values
At the core of our program, we are guided by a commitment to the following values that drive our mission:
- Compassion: We act with kindness, empathy and dignity.
- Collaboration: We achieve common goals through teamwork and partnerships.
- Innovation: We drive transformation by embracing new ideas, discoveries and practices.
- Integrity: We do the right thing and commit to accountability in words, actions and use of resources.
- Respect: We value everyone and their many perspectives to build trust and a sense of belonging.
Mission
To develop reflective practitioners who constantly seek evidence to promote excellence in patient care, optimize functional outcomes, and utilize financial and physical resources efficiently and pursue a lifetime of learning.
Accreditation & Recognition
The Neurologic Physical Therapy Residency at the Medical University of South Carolina is accredited by the American Board of Physical Therapy Residency & Fellowship Education (ABPTRFE), which is recognized by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) as the agency for the accreditation of physical therapy residency and fellowship education programs. ABPTRFE accreditation means that our program meets or exceeds nationally recognized quality standards for post-professional physical therapist education.