Dr. Karen Westervelt is a physical therapist, a certified athletic trainer, and board-certified Health & Wellness Coach. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy and a national board-certified orthopedic clinical specialist. She received advanced training in manual and manipulative therapy from the Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand and completed her Ph.D. in Physiotherapy from Bond University, Australia. Her Ph.D. research focused on the area of post-professional education for health care providers. Most recently Dr. Westervelt completed her integrative health and wellness coaching training at Vanderbilt University and is a board-certified health and wellness coach.
Dr. Westervelt is the Education Director for the Osher Center for Integrative Health at UVM, and is excited to be introducing students from many different disciplines to an integrative health approach to the delivery of health care. She is an advocate for salutogenesis.
Dr. Westervelt teaches interprofessionally within the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. She teaches integrative health and health and wellness coaching classes for undergraduate and continuing education students. She also teaches foundational skills and musculoskeletal evaluation & treatment for students in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program, where she has been teaching since 1996.
Dr. Westervelt supervises graduate and undergraduate students involved in research in the areas of clinical mentoring, integrative health, health and wellness coaching, employee wellbeing, and the scholarship of teaching. Dr. Westervelt is a strong advocate for travel study. In 2013, she established UVM's first faculty-led physical therapy program abroad to New Zealand and Australia (PT 352 - International Collaborative in Manual Physical Therapy) in collaboration with the physiotherapy schools at Auckland University of Technology and Bond University. She also designed RMS 191 - Exploring the Therapeutic Effects of Icelandic Thermal Springs, a faculty-led travel study course for students interested in Integrative Healthcare.
Dr. Westervelt has been a practicing physical therapist and athletic trainer for over 30 years. She has focused her career on the care and prevention of musculoskeletal injuries. She is a United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee Sport Medicine volunteer, and supports the United States Biathlon Association Team.
