Donna Smith serves as adjunct clinical faculty in the University of Vermont Doctor of Physical Therapy program. Before her move to Vermont, she was an assistant professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, Division of Physical Therapy. She has both neurologic and geriatric specialty certifications through the American Board of Physical Therapy. In clinical practice, she primarily served people with neurological conditions such as stroke, brain injury, MS, and vestibular disorders. Currently, her primary teaching areas include mindfulness-based health and wellness, professionalism and leadership, neuromuscular assessment and treatment, psychosocial aspects of health and well-being, and an introduction to integrative health in the physical therapy curriculum.
She is a qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher through the UMASS Medical Center, Center for Mindfulness and continues advanced training in the Brown University Mindfulness Center teacher-training program, with specific interests in applications for under-served populations, chronic illness, aging, and graduate student mental health and resilience.
