Episode Details

Carl DeRosa lives in Flagstaff Arizona with his wife Marlene, where he is currently serving as a Program Director for a developing physical therapy educational program at Rasmussen University.  The have 3 wonderful children and are blessed with 4 grandchildren.  Although he has been in physical therapy education for nearly 40 years, he has also been fortunate to  serve in other professional roles and business ventures including building a physical therapy private practice, serving as chief executive officer for an orthopedic surgeon practice, owning and managing a health club and wellness center, serving as a member of the Northern Arizona Business Alliance - an influential group of 40 community focused business leaders, and collaborative  research successes with colleagues resulting in findings and observations being shared in journals and numerous national and international conference. 

Marlene and Carl started their company, DeRosa Physical Therapy in the early 1980’s.  While it originally began as an orthopedic and sports practice, it soon grew in several innovative areas, namely cardiac conditioning, wellness, cancer rehab, lifestyle management and physical therapy care  across the lifespan.  One of Marlene and Carl’s most proud accomplishments was contributing to the building of the Summit Center, an innovative collaborative effort between orthopedic surgeons and physical therapists which housed the first ambulatory surgery center in Arizona.

Carl was a founding faculty for the Northern Arizona University Physical Therapy Program and served as its Program Director for 18 years.  Upon retiring from Northern Arizona University he assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer of the Summit Center managing the largest group of orthopedic physicians in northern Arizona including two surgery centers.  Most recently, Carl’s interest in true competency based education has taken him to Rasmussen University where he is currently working with faculty colleagues to develop one of the first competency based education programs in physical therapy education.  Carl has been honored to receive several professional recognitions, most notably Maley Lecturer, the Lucy Blair Service Award, the Robert Dicus Award, and being selected as a Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association.