The UF College of Public Health and Health Professions announced the PHHP Outstanding Alumni for 2018, including two PT alumnae, Barbara H. Connolly, PT, DPT, EdD, C/NDT, FAPTA and Ali Parrish, PT, DPT. They will be honored at the ceremony during the college’s reunion on September 8.
Dr. Connolly, bachelor’s in physical therapy ’70, is a professor emeritus at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center where she served as chair of the physical therapy department for 24 years and interim dean of the College of Allied Health Sciences for two years. She is immediate past president of the Foundation for Physical Therapy and the International Organization of Physical Therapists in Pediatrics. She is a recipient of the American Physical Therapy Association’s Golden Pen Award, the Marilyn Moffat Leadership Award and the Lucy Blair Service Award. In 2002, she was named a Catherine Worthingham Fellow, one of the association’s highest honors
Dr. Parrish, doctorate in physical therapy ’15, is an outpatient pediatric physical therapist practicing at Orlando Health. The level 1 trauma system provides a gateway to a broad scope of specialty pediatric therapies that she practices, including orthopedic, cardiovascular, genetic and neurological conditions. She has been an active team member for program planning with NICU, pediatric ICU, and cardiac ICU graduates in the neonatal developmental clinic. She has also played an integral role with her practice’s wheelchair seating and positioning program.