Professor Kelley Fitzgerald retires after 25 years at Pitt Physical Therapy
There is a Lot More Than Meets the Eye!
Professor Kelley Fitzgerald recently retired after spending 25 years as a faculty member in the University of Pittsburgh Department of Physical Therapy. Kelley was a professor within the Clinical and Translational Research Institute, founder and inaugural director of the University of Pittsburgh Physical Therapy Clinical and Translational Research Center (PT-CTRC) and associate dean of Graduate Studies in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS).
He was a lot more than titles to many of us on the faculty. Not only was he an outstanding faculty member, clinician, colleague and teacher but he showed many of us that there is life beyond the walls of SHRS. Kelley was always the consummate professional, but he had a “fun” side that some of you may not have seen.
Memories from Faculty and Former Students
Pictured left to right: Fitzgerald, Department of Community Health Services and Rehabilitation Science Chair and Professor Tom Platt, and Chris Bise on the ice having fun together. It is not very often that one sees three SHRS faculty members “on the ice” at the same time!
Assistant Professor Chris Bise knew him as an ice hockey player! He made time to play hockey and do something that he loved. His time in the rink often created great banter the morning after a game with Bise and the rest of the faculty.
“Kelley was a great competitor! I played with him as a defensive pair and against him as a forward. Kelley was unlike many players his age who see a decrease in skill and speed. He got better over time because of a dedication and love for the game that returned later in life. His dedication to PT research was matched only by his fervor for digging the puck out of the corner.”
-- Christopher Bise PT, DPT, PhD, OCS
Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor Allyn Bove was Kelley’s last PhD student. Her comments are directed to how he focused on the “so what” of any research study. He cared about how research projects that he participated in affected the patients that we serve.
“Kelley’s background as a clinician, whose goal was to improve people’s lives, was always apparent in everything he did. When designing a research study, he always thought about things from the perspective of how the information learned would help patients. When reading and discussing a journal article, he always made sure to ask, ‘How will this affect patients?’ When teaching in the classroom, he always pointed out how and why each piece of information was important for clinicians to know to help patients.”
Professor Sara Regina Piva is also a former student of Kelley and fondly remembers his influence as a teacher:
“Kelley has been an inspiring teacher and a terrific mentor. As a teacher, he was top-notch in every aspect. He was challenging, fair and considerate to the needs of his students. His classes were attractive, illustrated by relevant clinical examples and frequently stimulated by heated discussions. Few people are as gifted to stimulate passionate discussions as he can! Kelley’s enthusiasm for teaching was contagious and inspired several young physical therapists to pursue an academic career. As a mentor, he had a rare combination of being demanding and nurturing. He was laser-focused on promoting independent thinking and fostering creativity. He had the unique talent to create coachable moments and learning opportunities from the most ordinary and casual interactions with his mentees. He was also caring, a good listener, promoter of peer collaboration and a great advocate for striving work-life balance. What an admirable role model and life-long colleague and friend!”
Claire Jackson (formerly Claire Laverne) and Steph “Goose” Austin from the DPT class of 2015 shared a very funny memory of a shared experience with Kelley.
“It all started with my classmate Steph “Goose” Austin and myself. The band Butterfly Boucher had just released some new music and issued a ’20 Seconds of Pure Dance Challenge.’ The challenge was to use her song, video tape 20 seconds of pure dance and submit your video. She was going to use clips of her favorites in her music video for the song.
Steph and I thought our class could easily meet this challenge in our classroom, but how? We decided we wanted to set it up like we were in the middle of a lecture when the entire class broke out into 20 seconds of pure dance and then returned to normal.
During that semester, we had kinesiology with Dr. Fitzgerald so we thought we might be able to highjack his class for a short bit to make this video. At the time, we were very much still intimidated by Dr. Fitzgerald, but we saw something in him that made him the perfect candidate for our silly plan.
Steph and I nervously walked into his office one day to ask him, unsure of what to expect. He was on board right away and immediately started planning with us. It was absolutely hilarious, and we did indeed make it into Butterfly Boucher’s music video. A few of us even went to see Butterfly Boucher in concert, got to meet them and she remembered our video right away!”
It is well worth your time to see him enjoying life in the middle of biomechanics lecture and setting a great example for the rest of us of having fun while working hard:
Leaving His Stamp on Clinical Research
Fitzgerald and Chair Jay Irrgang being honored as Fellows at the APTA
Fellows of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) are physical therapists or lifetime physical therapist members of the association whose contributions to the profession through leadership, influence and achievements demonstrate frequent and sustained efforts to advance the profession for a period of not less than 15 years preceding the nomination for election.
Fitzgerald was writing about practice guidelines 23 years ago, well before the rest of the world caught on to practice based on evidence.
“To facilitate the conduct of physical therapy clinical research, with support of the University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Research Institute, Kelley founded the Physical Therapy Clinical and Translational Research Center (PTCTRC) in 2009 and served as its director until 2020. “
--Chair James J. Irrgang
The PTCTRC is now used by many departments within the medical center to assess physical performance and as a site for conducting exercise trials. With great care and intention, Kelley developed and led this innovative center that promotes physical therapy research. He was a prolific scholar with high quality work that has been recognized nationally and internationally. His work was meaningful to patient care. Kelley was one of the first in the PT community to write a clinical practice guideline, which is commonplace now but virtually unknown to most of us in 2000. He was a leader and innovator in the research community throughout his career.
Happy Retirement, Kelley!
Fitzgerald with his young family as he received the Dorothy Briggs Memorial Scientific Inquiry Award at the national physical therapy association meeting
In addition to spending time with his wife Lynn and his grandchildren, you will most likely find him fishing for walleye, painting, cooking or making wine. Please join our physical therapy community at Pitt in congratulating and thanking Kelley for his dedicated service to the department, SHRS, the university and the profession of physical therapy.
Best wishes for a long, healthy and happy retirement with lots of great fishing. He has both the truck and the boat to make his fishing dreams come true. To many of us, “Fishing is a sport of drowning worms,” (unknown source) but to Kelley, “A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work” (unknown source). All the best to both Kelley and Lynn as they journey together in this next phase of their lives together.
Fitzgerald showing his fun side. Did you know that he has a great tenor voice and that he sang once at graduation at Soldiers and Sailors?
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Written and compiled by Sue Whitney
Professor, Department of Physical Therapy
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Published September 21, 2023