Arthur Wayne Baker, Jr.

“I was injured in college,” said former student-athlete and collegiate baseball coach and scout Arthur Wayne Baker, Jr. “Something that I love to do was almost taken away, and having the support of the physical therapists and what they were able to do to get me back — I want to do that for others.” 

Arthur is now a candidate for a clinical doctorate in Physical Therapy at Russell Sage College. 

He’ll complete his DPT degree in 2024 and then 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. 

Opportunities within Sage’s Physical Therapy program and as a student member of the American Academy of Sports Physical Therapy are helping him ensure he is a competitive candidate when it is time to apply for the residency and fellowship — and bringing him a lot of personal fulfillment in the meantime.   

He mentions his first fieldwork experiences at Sports Physical Therapy of New York and the Center for Disability Services and an upcoming opportunity to screen Special Olympics athletes (all under the supervision of licensed physical therapists).

Sage’s program does a great job of emphasizing a patient-first approach rather than a condition-first approach, he said, so it’s been meaningful to finally apply his classroom learning to real people while “getting their feedback, hearing their stories.”

He’s also on a research team that is examining the effect of aquatic therapy on glycemic control in type II diabetes. 

“Can I take the principles I learn from research and aquatic therapy and apply them to the athletes I work with in the future? A hundred percent.” 

Arthur expressed specific appreciation for Physical Therapy Department Chair Erin Elkins and Professors Sarah Salvatore and Jennifer Aiossa, who’ve been resources as he pursues opportunities in sports physical therapy. 

For example, Arthur was recently one of just nine students from the top DPT programs in the country selected to serve as an intern for the American Academy of Sports Physical Therapy Annual Meeting and Scientific Conference in Indianapolis.

“I was super proud to represent Sage at that level,” he 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.”

“I’ve been able to find my niche,” added Arthur of opportunities through Sage and the AASPT, “and it’s been such a positive experience.”