About

Every person facing a life-threatening or serious illness will experience changes to their ability to participate in important life activities.  Some will be big and some will be small but they will all be meaningful to the person and their loved ones.  Healthcare providers with a background in rehabilitation can help each person to live their best life but only when patients have access to high quality, interdisciplinary care that includes rehabilitation services.

Chris Wilson PT, DScPT, DPT is an Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Education in the Physical Therapy Program at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan and was the founding Residency Program Director for the Beaumont Health Oncology Residency, the first accredited residency program for physical therapists in the United States. His clinical focus is Acute Care Oncology and Palliative Care. He has published the book entitled Physical Activity and Rehabilitation in Life Threatening Illness by Routledge in 2021 and is the co-editor of the forthcoming textbook entitled Oncology Rehabilitation: A Comprehensive Guidebook for Clinicians to be released by Elsevier in Fall 2022.  He has published over 35 full-length peer reviewed articles and many invited publications. Chris is the President-Elect of the Academy of Oncologic Physical Therapy and he was previously the Academy’s Vice President and as the global coordinator of the Hospice/Palliative Care subgroup for World Physiotherapy’s International HIV, Oncology, Palliative care (IPT-HOPE) subgroup.  Chris was the primary author and sponsor of the APTA’s positions on hospice/palliative care, diet and nutrition, and medical necessity in the presence of declining conditions. 

Ann M. Henshaw, OTD, MPH, MBA, OTR/L is an occupational therapy practitioner and an experienced collaborator who seeks to integrate rehabilitation services to enhance quality of care and quality of life for seriously ill people and their families.  Her experience in public health and health care consulting allow her a broad view of the barriers and facilitators to collaborative practice. As part of her doctoral work, she developed the PalRehab Toolkit to share evidence based strategies to promote interprofessional collaborative practice in palliative rehabilitation. Ann works to enhance role clarity, teamwork and communication and ultimately improve care delivery