Kate W. Gilliard, JD is director of Health Policy & Payment within APTA's Public Affairs Unit. Kate advocates to federal regulators and private insurers on policy issues affecting PT, and communicates important policy updates to members. Before joining APTA in 2018, she was a regulatory analyst with Centene Corporation, focusing on Affordable Care Act-compliant health care products. Prior to that, she was the ACA officer at the Illinois Department of Insurance, where she assisted the director in creating and implementing policies. She received her bachelor’s degree in English from Oklahoma State University and her law degree from DePaul University College of Law. She is a member of the Illinois Bar.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

Jamey is a best-selling author, speaker, and CEO of Practice Freedom U, a business coaching and training company designed for physical therapists. Jamey is a former private practice owner, andAuthor of the book The Practice Freedom Method. After selling his practice, Jamey began teaching other owners and their teams his business methodology to create a successful private practice. Jamey says he has assisted hundreds of owners in achieving financial prosperity and freedom and is on a mission to help hundreds, if not thousands, more.

Kallie Slette earned her DPT at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY, and has focused her dedication to patient care and the profession at Movement for Life Physical Therapy since 2013. Over her decade of experience in patient care, Kallie completed a residency to become board-certified in orthopedics and has since acquired certifications in digital health care delivery with a strong commitment to providing excellent care that goes beyond the clinic walls. With a deep-seated passion for patients' well-being, Kallie places their needs and aspirations at the very core of her practice. She firmly believes in the transformative potential of conservative musculoskeletal care as a solution to the complex challenges within our current healthcare system.

Kallie's role in Clinical Operations takes an approach that emphasizes collaborative efforts among various healthcare providers, striving to ensure that patients receive comprehensive and timely access to the MSK care they deserve.

Beyond her professional pursuits, Kallie treasures her family life. In 2011, she married her high school sweetheart, and together, they are raising two young boys. During her leisure time, you'll often find her and her family skiing, hiking, boating, or enjoying the magic of Disney.

Anang Chokshi is a double board-certified physical therapist in sports and orthopedics by ABPTS. He is a digital healthcare expert and entrepreneur focused on supporting innovative technologies and evidence-based clinical pathways to digitally enhance the healthcare industry and improve access to care while focusing on both the patient and clinical experience. He has developed, validated, and identified effective reimbursement strategies for digital rehabilitation.

He was formerly the Chief Clinical Officer of Reflexion Health (acquired by Smith & Nephew) and IncludeHealth. He is currently the founder and managing partner of Digital Healthcare Consulting, focusing on assisting digital healthcare solutions, medical devices, and healthcare service companies in the essential areas of go-to-market and reimbursement strategy, product development, and positioning for clinical approval.

Dr. Mark Milligan, PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT is a board certified, fellowship trained, orthopedic physical therapist who specializes in the intelligent prevention and treatment of all human conditions. He is a passionate change-agent, founding Revolution Human Education, a micro-education company based in Austin, Texas. With the vision to end the physical barrier to access all types of healthcare education, he also created Anywhere Healthcare, an all-inclusive telehealth platform in 2017. He is currently changing healthcare in his newest venture, Vori Health where is director of clinical operations and director of physical therapy. Vori is the world’s first true interdisciplinary fully digital care offering addressing
musculoskeletal issues. With great interest and expertise in digital care delivery, population health, and governmental affairs, he is an active member of the APTA, AAOMPT, the TPTA, and he educates and engages on those topics internationally.

RICK GAWENDA, PT, is a licensed physical therapist with over 30 years of experience and currently serves as the founder and President of Gawenda Seminars & Consulting, Inc. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Therapy from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, in 1991.

He has provided valuable education and consulting to hospitals, private practices, skilled nursing facilities, and rehabilitation agencies in the areas of CPT coding, ICD-10 coding, billing, documentation compliance, revenue enhancement, practice management, and denial management as they relate to outpatient therapy services. Mr. Gawenda has presented nationally since 2004 and has provided over 1000 on-site seminars and webinars.

In addition, Mr. Gawenda is retained by attorneys to serve as an expert in regard to legal or physical therapy state board issues regarding documentation, billing, supervision and utilization of support personnel and compliance with insurance rules and regulations as well as physical therapy state board requirements.

Mr. Gawenda is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and Michigan Physical Therapy Association (MPTA). Mr. Gawenda is a Past President of the Section on Health Policy & Administration of the APTA. Mr.Gawenda is also Chair of the APTA Private Practice Payment Policy Committee of the Private.

Mr. Gawenda is also the author of “The How-To Manual for Rehab Documentation: A Complete Guide to Increasing Reimbursement and Reducing Denials” and “Coding and Billing for Outpatient Rehab Made Easy: Proper Use of CPT Codes, ICD-9 Codes, and Modifiers”.

Tim Richardson has been in the physical therapist private practice since 1995. Tim received his start owning and operating clinics in Florida under his name. Tim is still involved in clinic ownership under the FYZICAL brand as well as directly serving clinic owners as a Franchise Regional Consultant for FYZICAL. In addition to his contributions to clinics, Tim has served the APTA, the Private Practice Section and the Florida Physical Therapist Association in a multitude of volunteer roles over the years. Tim is the married father of two grown boys and he currently resides in West Palm Beach Florida. 

Kate W. Gilliard, JD is director of Health Policy & Payment within APTA's Public Affairs Unit. Kate advocates to federal regulators and private insurers on policy issues affecting PT, and communicates important policy updates to members. Before joining APTA in 2018, she was a regulatory analyst with Centene Corporation, focusing on Affordable Care Act-compliant health care products. Prior to that, she was the ACA officer at the Illinois Department of Insurance, where she assisted the director in creating and implementing policies. She received her bachelor’s degree in English from Oklahoma State University and her law degree from DePaul University College of Law. She is a member of the Illinois 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.

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.

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.

Dr. Rebekah Griffith PT, DPT, NCS, FiT is a physical therapist who specializes in care in the
Emergency Department and ICU settings. She believes that physical therapy should not be a
luxury and should be accessible to everyone, particularly in life’s most critical moments. Dr.
Griffith is the founder of the ED DPT, a business focused on making Emergency Physical
Therapist practice well-known and well-practiced. She also serves her profession as APTA
Colorado Chief Delegate. A believer in life-work flow, she is a dedicated mother of 3, wife of
22 years, an avid reader, writer, and photographer, and also holds a Black Belt in Taekwondo.
Dr. Griffith firmly believes that we rise by lifting others, which is at the core of being a
physical therapist and human.

Kat Nasseri PT, DPT,  Board-Certified Clinical Specialist in Women’s Health Physical Therapy, (she/her) is a ReVital cancer rehabilitation specialist, certified lymphedema therapist, and certified doula. She graduated with her doctorate in Physical Therapy from the University of Kentucky in 2015, and later graduated from Baylor’s nationally accredited Women’s Health Residency Program in 2018. She is experienced in treating gender diverse patients both pre- and post-operatively and is passionate about treating these patients for a variety of diagnoses. Since 2022, she has worked as the pelvic health physical therapist for the gender affirmation surgery program at Rush University Medical Center. She also treats both adult and pediatric pelvic and abdominal health patients for a variety of diagnoses at Rush Physical Therapy in downtown Chicago. 

Di Wu (Woody) trained as a medical doctor and completed his residency in Beijing. He practiced as an Orthopedic Surgeon for several years, before establishing himself in Montreal, Canada. In Montreal, he attended physical therapy school at McGill University where he was the first man to enroll in the pelvic floor course. He adapted his learning from that course, which solely focused on women, to be able to effectively treat men. Over the past decade, drawing inspiration from his background as a doctor and as a PT, he has built a framework to help him get repeatable and reliable treatment results for treating male pelvic pain. After almost a decade of refinement and conducting studies to corroborate the findings, Di has solidified the framework. He now shares his knowledge and passion about male pelvic pain nationally and internationally with PTs who are interested in treating male pelvic pain.