The Way Podcast

As a touring musician in a rock band, Kevin Schuer had experienced the life of traveling on the road, performing and feeling the adoration of fans. But after starting a family, he knew he needed a backup plan, too. That led him down his academic path, where he became a professor in the department of Physician Assistant Studies.   As it turns out, there’s more than one similarity between the two pr...

Originally from Santiago, Chile, physical therapist Felipe Gonzalez Seguel began playing sports at a young age, focusing primarily on soccer and basketball. Table tennis was initially just a recreational activity — the kind of “ping-pong” many kids play casually. That changed when a former Chilean national team player began leading a table tennis workshop at his school. And in 2003, Santiago hoste...

As a sophomore, Katie Neglia is already an award-winning researcher here in the College of Health Sciences. An HHS major on the pre-med track, with a Pharmacology minor, she also serves as a CHS Ambassador. And the Carmel, Ind., native was most recently honored by UK with a Gaines Fellowship, a distinctive, two-year program designed to enrich undergraduate education through interdisciplinary cours...

When CHS alumnus Jason Waddles, D.P.T., became a physical therapist, little did he know he would someday be working on the PGA Tour, helping professional golfers in their most important tournaments of the year. Now, he’s doing just that, and it all comes back to one thing, he says.  Saying yes. When an opportunity comes — even if it’s something you don’t necessarily think will result in the perfec...

Years ago, love blossomed in the wintry wonderland of Toledo, Ohio, when Danielle Torp met fellow student Kyle Kosik.   From there, the pair started hanging out, and it led to dating, then to becoming a couple and getting married.  The couple now have a 2-year-old son, and they work alongside one another here in the College of Health Sciences. For our third annual Valentine’s Day special episode,...

When Michael Kidd-Gilchrist first met Meg Shake in 2011, he asked her if she would be going to the Final Four. “Probably not,” Shake responded. “Why? Are you going to the Final Four?”  “Yeah,” Kidd-Gilchrist replied. And the freshman basketball player was correct. He would, in fact, help his Kentucky team get to the 2012 Final Four in New Orleans. And while his coaches and teammates provided guida...

First, she thought she wanted to be pre-med, but she ended up falling in love with research and data. Then, there was another question: What should she study? That was answered when a dangerous bout of sepsis wrecked her body, giving her a new interest to investigate. Now, she’s looking at similar instances in burn victims.  For Allison Owen, PhD, her work is about finding new passions, and follow...

He’s taught students here in America. He’s helped create academic programs in foreign countries. He’s set up not one, but two separate stores at the Peddler’s Mall in Richmond, Ky. And last spring, he became the newest member of the College of Health Sciences Hall of Fame. This month, we’re talking to Emeritus Faculty David Fahringer. Throughout his life, he’s found countless ways to help others....

This month, as College of Health Sciences students arrive back on campus for the fall semester, we get to step into the classroom with Dr. Leslie Woltenberg. And it is here that we learn about many things … like, how we figure out what we want in our lives, and the importance of mentorship, and the legends that are Pat and Agnes. We also learn a new word — sonder.  But in the end, we learn about w...

There are at least two reasons why Dr. Nick Heebner loves what he’s doing as Director of the Sports Medicine Research Institute here in the College of Health Sciences at the University of Kentucky. One, he’s naturally curious about the world; two, he wants to help others. His role, then, is perfect, as he gets to investigate problems and help those people — doctors, nurses, soldiers, firefighters...

Don’t exercise because you have to. Exercise because you want to. That’s the message Dr. Dee Dlugonski wants to share with people — especially young women. As director of the Active Girls Healthy Women Program in the Sports Medicine Research Institute, and an Associate Professor in the College of Health Sciences, Dlugonski is trying to help young women move. Why? Because, as she has studied, there...

Last summer, Avery Skinner became the first University of Kentucky volleyball player to play in the Olympic Games — and she also happens to be an alumna of the College of Health Sciences . A 2021 graduate of the Communications Sciences and Disorders program , Avery first helped UK win a national championship in her senior volleyball season. Then she helped lead the United States to a silver medal...

Emily Goodman’s inspiration comes from her mother. That’s why the 23-year-old, who is now a third-year PA student from Grayson, Ky., wants to fight for others, to make sure they receive the care they deserve. Soon she’ll be a PA serving in a rural area — and even before that, she’ll have an award to help her along the way. Emily was the first winner of the UKPA Commitment to Rural Health Award, an...

Laura Duncan graduated college, moved to a new town, got a job and thought that was going to be her career. Then, life took a turn — her children needed a place to feel comfortable and compete in athletics — which caused her to come up with an idea. Quickly, that idea became a completely new cause, one that she found herself leading. After all, about 15 percent of the world’s population has a disa...

For the second year in a row, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we are pleased to feature two amazing faculty in the College of Health Sciences — who also just happen to be married. CHS assistant professor Dr. Jean Fry and CHS CMB associate director Dr. Chris Fry live together and work together — in fact, their offices are right next to each other. And they’re also parents to a 5-year-old son. Sti...

When Dr. Uhl was in middle school he tried out for the football team. But because of his short stature (due to an absence of stimulation of the growth hormone in his pituitary gland) the coach wouldn’t allow it. He actually said Uhl would “get killed.” So instead, the coach taught Uhl to be an athletic trainer, and it sent him down the road to becoming a University professor, a member of some pret...

After wrapping up a long career, Martha Thomas, PT, looked out into the literature world to find books about her profession. What she found were numerous volumes from a medical perspective. She did not see a straightforward book about what it’s like to be a Physical Therapist. She wanted a volume that explained things like: What is the first day like? What is that first patient experience like? Wh...

Try to plan for the unpredictable. Learn about your professors. Expand your network. Never turn down an opportunity. Thomas Corbett, MHA, lives by a lot of these mantras — they are things he’s learned from his own professors and mentors here in the College of Health Sciences. Now, the Louisville native, who graduated in 2018 with a degree in Clinical Leadership and Management , is playing a pivota...

Richie Wells seems born for this. As a kid, he grew up four miles away from Yankee Stadium. He played college baseball. And after an injury led him into the world of healthcare, he took a chance and came to the University of Kentucky, where he became the athletic trainer for the Wildcat baseball squad. That was four years ago. This summer, he and the Wildcats achieved something they never had befo...

Clara Bond has always had a passion for making sure those with disabilities aren’t ignored … and it’s now become a large part of her college life, too . Bond started UK’s undergraduate student club for KARRN, the Kentucky Appalachian Rural Rehabilitation Network , a collaborative team that advocates to empower communities impacted by disability. Their focus is improving the quality of life for all...

This spring, Cori Simpson graduated with a degree in Human Health Sciences — and along the way she learned she had an amazing connection to one of the great scandals in our country’s history. During her undergraduate classes, she took a course on Ethics and Healthcare. It was then she learned about the Tuskegee Syphilis study — an inhumane study conducted from 1932 to 1972 that was intended to see...

Throughout thousands of years of organized competition, one question has always baffled humanity: Is speed puzzling a sport? We get to the bottom of that by asking the College of Health Sciences’ own internationally recognized competitive speed puzzler, RHB student and SMRI staffer Michaela Keener, who last year traveled to Spain to compete in the World Speed Puzzling Championships. But this topic...

It’s not a secret that juggling athletics and a CHS course load can be a challenge. But what is it really like? How can someone play a sport as demanding as SEC basketball and also graduate with a degree in the College of Health Sciences? Emma King lets us know. As a fifth-grader, she told her father she would play basketball at UK. And with a family full of healthcare workers, it also made sense...

It’s the season of love, and The Way Podcast is celebrating by talking to two rock stars in the Department of Athletic Training and Clinical Nutrition — Johanna Hoch, PhD, ATC and Matt Hoch, PhD, ATC.  They’re professors. They’re researchers. And they’re married.   We talk to them and we learn about how they met, how they chose to become athletic trainers and professors, and how they keep their re...

She always loved going beyond the lecture, applying her knowledge in experiential situations outside the classroom. Then, her life became a lesson in itself.  Meet Katelyn McNamara, PT, DPT. A native of Lexington, McNamara is a Pediatric Physical Therapist at Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville.  A 2016 graduate from the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program , she also earned her undergraduate d...