Principles of Therapeutic Exercise for the Physical Therapist Assistant

Jacki Klaczak Kopack, PT, DPT, has served as a professor and physical therapist assistant program director at Harcum College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, for 23 years. Her teaching responsibilities have included pathophysiology, kinesiology, functional anatomy, therapeutic exercise, rehabilitation, and evidence-based practice. She completed her bachelor's degree and master's degree in physical therapy from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (now St. Joseph's University), and her doctorate in physical therapy from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is currently working toward a doctorate of education degree (executive leadership) from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences in St. Augustine, Florida. She is a 2013 recipient of the Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching and a 2005 recipient of the Philip Klein Memorial Award for outstanding service to Harcum College. Dr. Kopack's clinical practice spans 30 years across the inpatient continuum of care, including intensive care unit, acute care, acute rehabilitation, and subacute rehabilitation settings. Dr. Kopack served as a clinical instructor, a center coordinator of clinical education, and a director of rehabilitation in the clinical setting before transitioning to academia. Dr. Kopack strives to support the physical therapy profession and has done so in a variety of ways throughout her career. She served as an item writer for the Federation of the State Board of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) and the Practice Exam and Assessment Tool from 2011 to 2018. She was inducted into the FSBPT Academy of Advanced Item Writers in 2015. Dr. Kopack completed an extended term as a board-appointed member of the FSBPT Physical Therapist Assistant Exam Development Committee (2019-2022), and is currently serving as a co-chair for the FSBPT Physical Therapist Assistant Exam Development Committee. Dr. Kopack has served as an American Physical Therapy Association reviewer for physical therapist assistant recognition of advanced proficiency applicants and as a Combined Sections Meeting and Educational Leadership Conference proposal and abstract reviewer. She is a Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education-appointed physical therapy education on-site reviewer and team leader. Dr. Kopack served as an elected Pennsylvania delegate to the American Physical Therapy Association House of Delegates from 2020 to 2022 and currently serves as an alternate delegate. Dr. Kopack is a frequent reviewer for physical therapist assistant textbook publishers, providing content analysis specific to physical therapist assistant curriculum content. She has presented regionally and nationally on topics related to evidence-based practice, physical therapist assistant education, and the development of the faculty team.

Karen A. Cascardi, PhD, MS, ATC, PTA, was the director of clinical education and an assistant professor at South University Physical Therapist Assistant Program in West Palm Beach, Florida, for 20 years. In addition to her clinical education responsibilities, her teaching responsibilities in the physical therapist assistant program included therapeutic exercise, kinesiology, habilitation/rehabilitation, and current issues. She completed her bachelor's degree at Ashland College in Ashland, Ohio; her master's of science degree at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana; her associate's degree in physical therapist assistant at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida; and her PhD in health sciences education and research from Touro University International in Cypress, California. She published her dissertation in 2008 (The Relationship of Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex [VOR] Function to Falling in the Past Year Among Physically Active Community-Dwelling Adults 75 Years and Older). Dr. Cascardi's clinical experience spans more than 40 years as a certified athletic trainer and physical therapist assistant mostly in the outpatient setting with specialties in sports medicine, orthopedics, and vestibular rehabilitation. She continues to lecture on balance and vestibular rehabilitation.
During her career and now in retirement, she continues to give back to the physical therapy profession by volunteering as an advanced item writer and item writer coordinator for the FSBPT. She was inducted into the Academy of Advanced Item Writers and received the Outstanding Service Award twice. Dr. Cascardi served 6 years on both the Item Bank Review Committee and the Exam Development Committee. She also works with the Area Agency on Aging Healthy Living in West Palm Beach, Florida, and is on the Advisory Council and Strategic Planning Committee.