
Sarah Menhennett, PT, DPT
Sarah, PT, DPT, SCS is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science as well as the Orthopedic Physical Therapy Residency Director for the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ Physical Therapy Clinic. Dr. Menhennett completed her undergraduate work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a BS in Psychology and minor in Spanish. She received her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2015. After gaining experience in a variety of clinical settings, she shifted her focus to specialize in orthopedics and sports medicine. She has undergone extensive post-doctoral training including the completion of the Gundersen Health System Sports Physical Therapy Residency Program and the Roland Lucas Yearlong Manual Therapy Course. As a part of the Gundersen residency program, she served as adjunct faculty for the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Doctor of Physical Therapy Program and presented her research on hip strength and running biomechanics at a national physical therapy conference (Combined Sections Meeting). She currently teaches the elbow and shoulder content within the Musculoskeletal Management series as well as courses within the Clinical Medicine series. In addition to providing mentorship within the residency program, she also serves as a clinical preceptor to DPT Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ in the Integrated Clinical Experience at the UMPT Clinic.

Dawn Christian, PT, DPT
Dawn M. Christian, PT, DPT, CHT is a Certified Hand Therapist and owner of Big Sky Physical Therapy, an outpatient orthopedic clinic in Missoula. Dr. Christian received her Bachelor of Science in Occupational Health from Montana Tech of the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ in 1992. She became a Certified Exercise Test Technologist through the American College of Sports Medicine in 1993 at UC Davis and received her Bachelors of Science in Physical Therapy from the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ in 1995. Following graduation, Dawn worked in outpatient orthopedics and opened Big Sky Physical Therapy in 2009. She received her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ in 2011. Dawn is a current member of the American Society of Hand Therapists and a member of the APTA. Dr. Christian was appointed by Governor Bullock to serve as a member of the Montana Board of PT examiners from 2016-2019. For the past 13 years she has taught the wrist and hand evaluation and UE splinting modules to the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ DPT Ñý¼§Ö±²¥.

Steve Ferdig, PT, DPT
Steve Ferdig, PT, DPT, OCS is the Clinic Director of the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ Physical Therapy Clinic and an Instructor in the musculoskeletal curriculum in the DPT program. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in 1991 from California State University at Long Beach and went on to earn a Master's of Physical Therapy Degree from the University of Southern California in 1993. Steve completed his Doctor of Physical Therapy degree at Chapman University in 2011. Prior to his move to Montana in 2018, Steve owned and directed Specialized Physical Therapy in Tustin, CA and was Adjunct Clinical Faculty at Chapman University in Orange, CA. Steve has a great-deal of experience teaching the shoulder and cervical spine to physical therapy Ñý¼§Ö±²¥, physical therapists, and orthopedic sports medicine fellows. He is a member of the APTA and has been a board-certified clinical specialist in orthopaedics since 2000.

Caitlin Miller Zondlo, DPT, PhD, MSCI
Caitlin Miller Zondlo, DPT, PhD, MSCI is an Assistant Professor at the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ in the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science. Dr. Zondlo graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology (Movement Science emphasis) in 2008 and a Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree from the University of Utah in 2011. Her clinical work experience over the past decade has focused on outpatient orthopedic care in large hospital settings that routinely collect patient reported outcome scores. It was through her clinical work experience that she was inspired to pursue her Masters of Science in Clinical Investigation and Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Science from the University of Utah (2021). Her research focuses on healthcare utilization and cost of common musculoskeletal conditions such as anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction and knee osteoarthritis. She was the Orthopedic Resident Research coordinator for 4 years at the University of Utah mentoring 14 Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ and helped to co-author 9 abstracts for presentation at the APTA Combined Sections Meeting. She has published on the relationship of clinical outcomes and physical therapy visits in patients following ACL reconstruction, total joint arthroplasty, and hip arthroscopy. She also has presented nationally and is currently PI on a pilot study grant examining healthcare utilization for knee osteoarthritis in Medicare beneficiaries.

Ryan Mizner, PT, PhD
Ryan L. Mizner, PT, PhD is a Professor at the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ in the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science. Dr. Mizner is a Montana Native who completed his undergraduate training at Montana State University with a degree in Exercise Science – Biomechanics. He finished his MPT and PhD in Biomechanics and Movement Science at the University of Delaware. Dr. Mizner’s current teaching responsibilities are biomechanics, physical therapy management of knee, and electrotherapeutics. General outpatient orthopaedics is his area of clinical practice and he continues to treat patients and mentor in residency programs. Dr. Mizner is an APTA credentialed clinical instructor who has helped train over a dozen Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ in his career. He has 30 peer-reviewed publications in journals such as Physical Therapy, JOSPT, Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, and the Journal of Rheumatology. These publications have been cited by other scientists over 2000 times in the past 10 years. He has been an author on 70 research presentations with published abstracts at national or international meetings and has co-authored a book chapter on treatment of knee disorders. More recently, he gave featured invited presentations at both the Combined Sections Meeting of the APTA and the Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine that were focused on the clinical utility of biomechanics in clinical reasoning in patients with ACL reconstruction. His research has been financially supported by the Foundation for Physical Therapy, the Orthopaedic Section of the APTA, and the National Institutes of Health. His past honors include the Margaret L. Moore Outstanding New Academic Faculty Award from the APTA, Outstanding Faculty Merit Awards from both the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ and Eastern Washington University, and as a Finalist for the New Investigator Award from the Orthopaedic Research Society.