Milwaukee VA Medical Center Neurologic Residency Program in affiliation with Marquette University

Mission statement

Our mission is to prepare physical therapy residents for advanced specialty practice. The program cultivates high level neurologic physical therapists who integrate the teacher-scholar model into their clinical practice. Through neurologic clinical experiences under the mentorship of master clinicians, along with didactic learning experiences in neurology including both teaching and research, the program develops advanced physical therapy practitioners who care for the whole patient, embodying the spirit of cura personalis.

Program Summary

Residents typically start the year-long program the last Monday of June.  They are employed by the Zablocki VA Hospital, and therefore need to be a US citizen.  Residents treat their neurologic patient caseload ~30 hrs/wk, rotating through acute inpatient rehab, spinal cord rehab, and outpatient neurology, as well as some outside experiences in pediatrics and traumatic brain injury.  Residents are also involved in mentoring sessions with expert clinicians 2-4 hrs/wk, didactic coursework 2 hrs a week, monthly and bimonthly specialty clinics, as well as research involvement and a variety of teaching opportunities at Marquette University throughout the year.  Our program became an APTA accredited Neurologic Residency Program in July 2010 and is now accredited through November 30, 2025.  Residents who successfully complete the program are eligible to apply to sit for the NCS exam.

Application

We participate in the RF-PTCAS universal application service for residency and fellowship programs, which starts each new year’s residency application cycle in October.  For details and timely updates go to APTA’s website https://www.apta.org 

Contact Christina Kowalski, PT with any questions.

Timeline for the application process:

• Application deadline is in early January. Consult PTCAS website for specific date.
• Interviews will take place on the second week of March.
• Selections and notifications will be made later that week.
• Accepted candidates will need to give notification of acceptance by the end of the week.

The residency will typically begin the last Monday of June.