Student Accepts VA Geriatric Residency

Joshua Cox, a current third-year DPT student recently accepted the geriatric residency with James A. Haley Veterans Affairs Hospital in Tampa, Florida. He will start this residency program upon completing his DPT degree later this summer.

Josh became interested in pursuing a Geriatrics Residency at James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital due to wanting to specializing and furthering his education in geriatrics, especially serving our veterans. The main reason is that he feels it is our duty, as physical therapists, to provide patients with the utmost quality of care; furthering our education to provide the most advanced, evidence-based treatments possible, and becoming an advocate for our patients.

He hopes to learn how to effectively provide physical therapy care to various types of patients within the geriatric community, whether it is a patient who suffered from gait and balance disorders to individuals who have severe cardiac implications. He wants to learn how evidence-based treatments can improve geriatric patient’s quality of life as well as seeking out and utilizing the best research in order to continue to grow as a clinician.

Veterans have a special place in his heart, as he did his second clinical rotation at James A. Haley and saw how much respect the providers have for the veterans. In addition, his Papa served twenty years in the Army and he utilizes the VA for his healthcare needs. Seeing how the VA takes great care of his Papa, as well as all of our veterans, in Josh’s experiences elicit excitement in being part of the system that provides them with great healthcare. He also wants to serve them with respect and thankfulness as they have served us in commitment to providing safety and security to our Nation.

What Josh loves about the geriatric’s field of study is the variety! Not only will he be providing care to his favorite age demographic, but he will be specializing in a little bit of every physical therapy settings and body system, including ortho, neuro, and cardio. He can learn in both an inpatient and outpatient setting.  He was a student that enjoyed all facets of physical therapy so having variety in his career is something he thinks is beneficial. After residency, Josh will hope to take his boards and be certified as a Geriatrics Clinical Specialist and he will hopefully apply to work for the VA system in providing continued care to the veterans. He also want to be an educator to his patients, students, and colleagues as a specialist in his field to share knowledge and collaborative engagement in furthering knowledge in commitment to quality in the physical therapy profession.

Lastly, he would like to acknowledge and thank USF Physical Therapy Faculty and Staff for providing him with the opportunity to pursue a career that he is passionate about and for believing in him as a student. Thank you for all the knowledge, guidance, and support that you have given him and he is honored to be a part of the USF family.