DPT Candidate Represents Russell Sage College at American Academy of Sports Physical Therapy Conference

Arthur Baker with fellow AASPT conference interns — Arthur Wayne Baker, Jr., second from left, and fellow interns at the American Academy of Sports Physical Therapy Annual Meeting and Scientific Conference.

Arthur Wayne Baker, Jr., a student in Russell Sage College’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program, was selected to serve as a conference intern for the American Academy of Sports Physical Therapy Annual Meeting and Scientific Conference, held in Indianapolis Sept. 21-24, 2022.

He was one of just nine interns from the top DPT programs across the country accepted to the conference’s competitive internship program.

“I was super proud to represent Russell Sage at that level,” Baker said. “We might be a smaller college, but we have the same high quality of education and produce great clinicians out of our DPT program.”

His responsibilities ranged from staffing the registration table to acting as a speaker liaison and introducing panelists at breakout sessions — and the experience offered numerous opportunities to network with physical therapists from professional sports and directors of sports medicine residency programs.

Back in a lab class on campus, Professor Katrin Ramsey asked Baker to present on an arm care screening technique that was part of the conference curriculum.

“That was very cool,” said Baker. “To be empowered to share from a professor who I have a lot of respect for was amazing.”

Baker, a native of Port Washington, New York, is a former student-athlete, collegiate baseball coach and regional scout.

He is a student member of AASPT and the American Baseball Biomechanics Society, and the social media coordinator of Sage’s DPT student association.

He will complete his doctoral degree in Physical Therapy in 2024 and plans to pursue a sports residency to become board certified as a sports clinical specialist. He aspires to go on to an upper extremity athlete sports fellowship following residency training.

DPT student Arthur Wayne Baker, Jr., and Mike Reinold, DPT, SCS, ATC, CSCS, C-PS, AASPT president

Baker expressed appreciation to Reinold, who has worked with MLB teams including the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox; to Research Physical Therapist and AASPT Vice President Michael Mullaney; University of Florida Sports Physical Therapy Residency Director Scott Greenberg; and Rehab 2 Perform Founder Josh Funk for their mentoring throughout the AASPT conference: “Getting to spend some time with them was unbelievable and I am extremely grateful for the advice they gave me throughout the conference,” he said.