Early Career Researchers SIG

Executive Board:

We thank our outgoing Chair – Kara Boynewicz, PT, DPT, PCS, ATC for her service and contributions to the SIG. She, along with our previous leadership, have been integral to the advances we have made since our inception in 2010.

Our Mission:

Our mission is to provide support, education, and resources for early career investigators and aspiring researchers in both clinical and academic settings related to physical therapy research. The SIG provides opportunities to meet, connect, and promote the interests of early career researchers.

Who we are:

The Early Career Researchers Special Interest Group (SIG) developed following a conversation that two of the founding members had regarding the need for a support mechanism for early career physical therapy researchers. The two recruited other early career researchers with similar interests and developed a course for CSM 2008. The room at CSM was full of early career researchers including faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and clinicians who were interested in getting involved more formally in research. The response to this first course was so amazing that the group was invited back for a similar course in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Through these courses, it became clear that there was a need for a more formal group and ongoing interactions for those early in their research career. To fulfill this need, a formal proposal for the SIG was submitted to the Academy of Physical Therapy Research and accepted during CSM 2010. The Early Career Researchers SIG was born!

The current SIG officers and founding members are researchers who are early in their careers. We envision that this SIG will attract early career researchers in various settings and backgrounds with the common interest of advancing research in our careers and our profession. 

We are students, clinicians, postdocs, teachers, and researchers from diverse institutions driven to improve our research and connect with others in the early stages of their PT research careers. 

How To Join

To join the ECR SIG, you should be Academy of Physical Therapy Research member.  

Feel free to contact any of our leadership with any questions, ideas or concerns.

You can also follow the Early Career Researcher SIG on Facebook and Twitter