Melinda J. Hoover ’11D.P.T. was awarded the Jill Sisenwine Berger Physical Therapy Award on Saturday, Feb. 19, at the Doctor of Physical Therapy Commencement ceremony. Hoover is the third recipient of this annual award, presented to a physical therapy student who best exemplifies the core values of the physical therapy profession—accountability, altruism, compassion and caring, excellence, integrity, profession duty and social responsibility. The award is named after the late Jill Sisenwine Berger, an Adjunct Professor of Physical Therapy from 1998 to 2008 who died after a battle with cancer.

“Jill was the embodiment of these core values. During her short life, she touched many people’s lives. Her students noted that she demanded professionalism and taught them to remember that they were treating the whole person. She was a gifted clinician whose healing energy will remain with her patients always,” says Dr. Becky Craik, Professor and Chair of Physical Therapy. Berger’s family and friends wanted to ensure that her legacy of excellence and professionalism would be remembered, and they have endowed this award in her memory.

Jill’s parents Sam and Phyllis Sisenwine, her husband Scott, and her two children, Justin and Lindsey, attended the ceremony to congratulate Hoover and the other D.P.T. graduates.

Photo by Josh Blustein