Andrew Amari, JD, is a specialist within APTA's Health Policy and Payment Unit, advocating on regulatory policy issues affecting physical therapists in a variety of practice settings. Before joining the association in March 2022, Andrew was a regulatory analyst at the Association of American Medical Colleges, focusing on hospital payment and graduate medical education policy issues. Andrew received a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Wake Forest University and a JD from the University of Wisconsin School of Law. He is a member of the Wisconsin Bar.

Alice is on staff as senior payment specialist in the Payment and Practice Management Department of the APTA. She received a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from Northeastern University in Boston, MA and a doctor of physical therapy degree from the University of Montana. Her specialties include integrated care delivery models, post-acute care, and long-term care. A board-certified clinical specialist in geriatric physical therapy, she has lectured and written many articles on topics related to physical therapy and the older adult. She has spent the majority of her career in post-acute care and long-term care settings and has more than 36 years of experience as a physical therapist. Her professional activities include serving as a member of the National Quality Partnership Opioid Stewardship Steering Committee, co-leader of the NQF Opioid Stewardship Member Workgroup, APTA appointee to the NDHI Opioid Crisis Workgroup, APTA appointee to the National Quality Partnership Opioid Stewardship Action Team, Member of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Technical Expert Panel for Skilled Nursing Alternative Payment Systems, Appointee to the National Quality Forum (NQF) for Long Term Care Quality Measures, Member of the Steering Committee for NQF's National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Nursing Home Project, and representative of the Coalition of Rehab Therapy Organizations’ Joint Commission’s Long Term Care Professional and Technical Advisory Committee.

Wanda K. Evans, PT, DPT, MHS, is a senior payment specialist at APTA. Her responsibilities include communicating with members and insurers on inquiries regarding third-party, billing, CPT coding, and payment policies; providing resources in policy development; monitoring trends; and assisting in association efforts to advance payment policies. She remains a treating clinician in the outpatient setting. Before joining APTA, she was the clinical documentation and utilization review coordinator for Medstar National Rehabilitation Hospital Network. Prior to that she was the supervisor of physical therapist and occupational therapist services for Kaiser Permanente Mid Atlantic. She has been an APTA member since she was a student. She received her bachelor of physical therapy and doctor of physical therapy degrees from Howard University, and a master of health science degree in orthopedic and sports physical therapy from the University of Indianapolis. She also is a certified kinesio taping practitioner. 

Chase Kuhn, PT, DPT, is a specialist in APTA’s Health Policy and Payment unit, advocating for the profession of physical therapy as it relates to commercial insurers. He received both his bachelor’s degree in health science and his DPT with research specialization from the Ohio State University and subsequently participated in their Orthopaedic Physical Therapy Residency. He joined APTA staff with prior work experience in financial loss mitigation and hospital-based revenue cycle administration.

Rachel Miller, MPH, is a health policy and payment specialist within APTA's Health Policy and Payment Unit as of August 2022. Rachel advocates to federal regulators on policy issues that affect the physical therapy profession. Before joining the association, she was working towards her master's degree in health policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While continuing her education, Rachel showed community members how to obtain health insurance as Certified Application Counselor in a student-run clinic. Before that, she helped stop the spread of COVID-19 as a case investigator at a local health department. She obtained her bachelor's degree in public health from the University of South Florida.

Andrew Amari, JD, is a specialist within APTA's Health Policy and Payment Unit, advocating on regulatory policy issues affecting physical therapists in a variety of practice settings. Before joining the association in March 2022, Andrew was a regulatory analyst at the Association of American Medical Colleges, focusing on hospital payment and graduate medical education policy issues. Andrew received a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Wake Forest University and a JD from the University of Wisconsin School of Law. He is a member of the Wisconsin Bar.

Alice is on staff as senior payment specialist in the Payment and Practice Management Department of the APTA. She received a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from Northeastern University in Boston, MA and a doctor of physical therapy degree from the University of Montana. Her specialties include integrated care delivery models, post-acute care, and long-term care. A board-certified clinical specialist in geriatric physical therapy, she has lectured and written many articles on topics related to physical therapy and the older adult. She has spent the majority of her career in post-acute care and long-term care settings and has more than 36 years of experience as a physical therapist. Her professional activities include serving as a member of the National Quality Partnership Opioid Stewardship Steering Committee, co-leader of the NQF Opioid Stewardship Member Workgroup, APTA appointee to the NDHI Opioid Crisis Workgroup, APTA appointee to the National Quality Partnership Opioid Stewardship Action Team, Member of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Technical Expert Panel for Skilled Nursing Alternative Payment Systems, Appointee to the National Quality Forum (NQF) for Long Term Care Quality Measures, Member of the Steering Committee for NQF's National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Nursing Home Project, and representative of the Coalition of Rehab Therapy Organizations’ Joint Commission’s Long Term Care Professional and Technical Advisory Committee.

Wanda K. Evans, PT, DPT, MHS, is a senior payment specialist at APTA. Her responsibilities include communicating with members and insurers on inquiries regarding third-party, billing, CPT coding, and payment policies; providing resources in policy development; monitoring trends; and assisting in association efforts to advance payment policies. She remains a treating clinician in the outpatient setting. Before joining APTA, she was the clinical documentation and utilization review coordinator for Medstar National Rehabilitation Hospital Network. Prior to that she was the supervisor of physical therapist and occupational therapist services for Kaiser Permanente Mid Atlantic. She has been an APTA member since she was a student. She received her bachelor of physical therapy and doctor of physical therapy degrees from Howard University, and a master of health science degree in orthopedic and sports physical therapy from the University of Indianapolis. She also is a certified kinesio taping practitioner. 

Chase Kuhn, PT, DPT, is a specialist in APTA’s Health Policy and Payment unit, advocating for the profession of physical therapy as it relates to commercial insurers. He received both his bachelor’s degree in health science and his DPT with research specialization from the Ohio State University and subsequently participated in their Orthopaedic Physical Therapy Residency. He joined APTA staff with prior work experience in financial loss mitigation and hospital-based revenue cycle administration.

Rachel Miller, MPH, is a health policy and payment specialist within APTA's Health Policy and Payment Unit as of August 2022. Rachel advocates to federal regulators on policy issues that affect the physical therapy profession. Before joining the association, she was working towards her master's degree in health policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While continuing her education, Rachel showed community members how to obtain health insurance as Certified Application Counselor in a student-run clinic. Before that, she helped stop the spread of COVID-19 as a case investigator at a local health department. She obtained her bachelor's degree in public health from the University of South Florida.

Drew Contreras, PT, DPT, received his Master of Physical Therapy from Gannon University in 1998 and his Doctorate of Physical Therapy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2008.  He is board an APTA board certified Sports Clinical Specialist since 2003.  His professional interests are sports medicine; manual therapy; blood flow restriction; bio-technology; musculoskeletal injury prevention, diagnosis and rehabilitation as well as human performance optimization.  

Marc D. Chodos, MD is an assistant professor of surgery at the GW School of Medicine & Health Sciences. He was born and raised in Southern California. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1995 with a double major in history and immunology. While at Berkeley, he received multiple academic honors, including Phi Beta Kappa, junior year.

Dr. Chodos attended medical school at the University of California, Los Angeles as a Regents' Scholar. Following medical school, Dr. Chodos completed a residency in orthopaedic surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. After residency, he entered the prestigious Foot and Ankle Fellowship at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore with Drs. Lew Schon, Stuart Miller, Greg Guyton, and John Campbell. During fellowship, he won the Johnson and Johnson Orthopaedic Research Award and Travel Grant.

After completing his training, Dr. Chodos practiced in San Diego for 12 years, providing subspecialty foot and ankle orthopaedic care for the Southern California region and beyond. From 2006-2015 he was in private practice, affiliated with Grossmont Orthopaedic Medical Group. He also worked part time at University of California, San Diego training orthopaedic surgery residents and providing subspecialty care. From 2015-2018 he provided subspecialty foot and ankle orthopaedic care with Southern California Permanente Medical Group, and also assisted in training podiatric residents and students. In 2018 Dr. Chodos relocated east, and joined George Washington University.

Dr. Chodos specializes in foot and ankle orthopaedics, both nonoperative and surgical. He has strong interests in sports medicine (including arthroscopy, tendon and ligament repair, and treatment of osteochondral defects), and also foot and ankle reconstruction (including complex deformity and arthritis). He believes that our feet and ankles are the foundation of our body. In caring for them, his goals include restoring function and improving quality of life.

Erica is the National Director of the Comprehensive Degenerative Joint Disease program at Select Medical. She received her doctorate from the University of Southern California and is a board certified orthopedic specialist.  Erica has a strong interest in the rehabilitation of patients following total joint arthroplasty. She has authored and published several studies and articles on this topic, in addition to giving lectures both nationally and internationally on total knee, total hip arthroplasty, red flag screening and telemedicine. 

Chris earned his Master’s degree in Physical Therapy in 2008 from D’Youville College in Buffalo, NY.  Upon graduation in his continued pursuit of improving clinical skills, he completed a two year residency and one year fellowship in Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy through the Ola Grimsby Institute.  While completing his residency and fellowship he also completed course work to receive a Doctorate in Manual Therapy.  He is a board-certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist through the American Physical Therapy Association. Since completion Chris has been part of the education department with involvement in the COMT program as well as numerous weekend and online offerings.

Andreas attended Concordia University Wisconsin and received his bachelor’s degree in Sports Medicine in January 1999 and a Master’s in Physical Therapy in May 2001. Andreas joined Select Medical in May of 2001. He currently works in Austin, TX, and is a center manager of the Angus Road facility.  Andreas completed a 3-year manual therapy residency program through The Institute of Physical Art (IPA). In April of 2006, he completed residency training with Honors and became a Certified Functional Manual Therapist (CFMT). The IPA curriculum focused extensively on manual therapy with an emphasis on soft tissue and joint mobilization and manipulation, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF), motor control, and exercise training.  Andreas became a faculty member for Select Medical’s continuing education department in 2003. Since this time, he has developed and taught numerous courses on a variety of orthopedic physical therapy topics including Exercise Prescription, Soft Tissue Mobilization, Orthopedic post-surgical care, Spinal Therapy, PNF for the Orthopedic Therapist and Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization. In 2015 Andreas joined a team of in-patient and out-patient therapists and physicians to co-develop Select Medical’s Revital Cancer Rehabilitation program.   He specifically focused on courses incorporating manual therapy for oncology patients. In addition to his Select Medical faculty position, Andreas treats full time in an orthopedic setting focusing on complex and chronic patients. He developed and led a local mentorship program and frequently guest lectures at Texas State University. In 2007 he received The Dorn Long Outstanding Clinical Educator Award by the Texas Consortium due to his support and education of physical therapy students. In 2022 Andreas was nominated as “Instructor of The Year” for Select Medical Education Department.

Anil Nandkumar is an Advanced Clinician and board-certified physical therapist at HSS. Anil has experience treating a wide variety of orthopedic and sports clinical cases, including surgical cases, non-surgical cases, and patients coming in as direct access (without a physician referral). Further, Anil has a special interest in working with tennis players and weight lifters due to his many years of experience with playing competitive tennis and various certifications in weight training. He also covers many of the New York Road Runners and TCS Marathon events throughout the year. Anil enjoys working with patients of all ages and he treats a broad spectrum of body regions, and diagnoses.

Matthew Pugliese is a physical therapist working at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. He graduated with a doctorate in physical therapy from Ithaca College, completed a fellowship in orthopedic manual physical therapy through Regis University, and a doctorate of science in physical therapy at Texas Tech University. He holds a Board Certification in Orthopedics, teaches in an APTA credentialed orthopedic residency program and is a guest lecturer at Hunter College and Marist College.

Dr. Jonas R. Rudzki is a board-certified, fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeon who specializes in sports medicine, with a concentration on conditions and injuries of the shoulder, knee, and elbow. A native Washingtonian, Dr. Rudzki completed his fellowship on the Sports Medicine & Shoulder Service at the world-renowned Hospital for Special Surgery in New York in 2006 after his residency at the Barnes-Jewish Hospital of Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.

Dr. Rudzki’s research interests include rotator cuff injuries and surgical repairs, shoulder injury in overhead athletes, clavicle fractures, cartilage biology and transplantation, and trauma outcomes research. His research efforts have resulted in more than 20 publications and led to presentations and lectures at national and international conferences. Dr. Rudzki has served on the Evaluation Committee and the Board of Councilors of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Active in the evaluation of current research, he serves as a Consultant Reviewer for the American Journal of Sports Medicine, the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, and the Journal of Knee Surgery. His research experience, academic interests, and commitment to clinical excellence shape his approach to care with a focus on individualizing treatment for patients to fit their unique lifestyles and injury patterns.

Dr. Zachary Zimmer is a board certified orthopaedic surgeon and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. His surgical specialty focuses on conditions affecting the shoulder and elbow.

After graduating with a degree in molecular biology from Colgate University, Dr. Zimmer earned his medical degree at Stony Brook University School of Medicine where he was inducted into the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. He completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was chosen to be an academic chief resident. He was also awarded the DeForest P. Willard Award for outstanding performance by a senior resident and the Joseph P. Iannotti Award for excellent performance by a senior resident in shoulder surgery.

To further his training, Dr. Zimmer completed a shoulder and elbow surgery fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School under the mentorship of Dr. Jon JP Warner and Dr. Andrew Jawa, where he learned to treat complex conditions of the shoulder and elbow. During his fellowship year, Dr. Zimmer had the opportunity to travel to Europe and learn from world-renowned surgeons Dr. Pascal Boileau and Dr. Laurant Lafosse.

Dr. Zimmer treats a multitude of shoulder conditions, including rotator cuff injuries, osteoarthritis, shoulder instability, and biceps tendon conditions and performs procedures ranging from arthroscopic procedures to shoulder replacements to complex tendon transfers.

Andrew Amari, JD, is a specialist within APTA's Health Policy and Payment Unit, advocating on regulatory policy issues affecting physical therapists in a variety of practice settings. Before joining the association in March 2022, Andrew was a regulatory analyst at the Association of American Medical Colleges, focusing on hospital payment and graduate medical education policy issues. Andrew received a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Wake Forest University and a JD from the University of Wisconsin School of Law. He is a member of the Wisconsin Bar.

Alice is on staff as senior payment specialist in the Payment and Practice Management Department of the APTA. She received a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from Northeastern University in Boston, MA and a doctor of physical therapy degree from the University of Montana. Her specialties include integrated care delivery models, post-acute care, and long-term care. A board-certified clinical specialist in geriatric physical therapy, she has lectured and written many articles on topics related to physical therapy and the older adult. She has spent the majority of her career in post-acute care and long-term care settings and has more than 36 years of experience as a physical therapist. Her professional activities include serving as a member of the National Quality Partnership Opioid Stewardship Steering Committee, co-leader of the NQF Opioid Stewardship Member Workgroup, APTA appointee to the NDHI Opioid Crisis Workgroup, APTA appointee to the National Quality Partnership Opioid Stewardship Action Team, Member of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Technical Expert Panel for Skilled Nursing Alternative Payment Systems, Appointee to the National Quality Forum (NQF) for Long Term Care Quality Measures, Member of the Steering Committee for NQF's National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Nursing Home Project, and representative of the Coalition of Rehab Therapy Organizations’ Joint Commission’s Long Term Care Professional and Technical Advisory Committee.

Wanda K. Evans, PT, DPT, MHS, is a senior payment specialist at APTA. Her responsibilities include communicating with members and insurers on inquiries regarding third-party, billing, CPT coding, and payment policies; providing resources in policy development; monitoring trends; and assisting in association efforts to advance payment policies. She remains a treating clinician in the outpatient setting. Before joining APTA, she was the clinical documentation and utilization review coordinator for Medstar National Rehabilitation Hospital Network. Prior to that she was the supervisor of physical therapist and occupational therapist services for Kaiser Permanente Mid Atlantic. She has been an APTA member since she was a student. She received her bachelor of physical therapy and doctor of physical therapy degrees from Howard University, and a master of health science degree in orthopedic and sports physical therapy from the University of Indianapolis. She also is a certified kinesio taping practitioner. 

Rachel Miller, MPH, is a health policy and payment specialist within APTA's Health Policy and Payment Unit as of August 2022. Rachel advocates to federal regulators on policy issues that affect the physical therapy profession. Before joining the association, she was working towards her master's degree in health policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While continuing her education, Rachel showed community members how to obtain health insurance as Certified Application Counselor in a student-run clinic. Before that, she helped stop the spread of COVID-19 as a case investigator at a local health department. She obtained her bachelor's degree in public health from the University of South Florida.