New Appointments Announced in School of Behavioral and Health Sciences
Walsh University is proud to announce several new appointments of faculty members in the School of Behavioral and Health Sciences, Physical Therapy Program.
Christine McCallum, PT, Ph.D., has been appointed Chair of Physical Therapy; replacing former Chair Leigh Murray, Ph.D. Dr. McCallum is an inaugural faculty member in the Physical Therapy program, beginning her tenure at Walsh University in 1999, serving as the Director of Clinical Education. During this timeframe, she built sustaining relationships with clinical education sites throughout the State of Ohio as well as across the country. Dr. McCallum is professionally driven and committed to advancing professional PT education especially in the development of an innovative curriculum and sound clinical education practices..
Her interests include curriculum and leadership development, whereby physical therapist students are provided opportunities to cultivate the knowledge, skills and behaviors needed to lead and impact change within their communities of practice.
Dr. McCallum has been actively involved in professional advancement over the span of her career, including serving on various national, regional and local organizations. She currently serves as the Vice President of the APTA’s Academy of Education and a voting member of the physical therapy profession’s Educational Leadership Partnership. She served as the Chair for the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy (ACAPT) Integrated Clinical Education Work-panel, co-chair for the national Clinical Education Placement Process Taskforce, was the inaugural Vice-Chair of ACAPTs National Consortium of Clinical Educators (NCCE), past chairperson for both the Ohio-Kentucky Consortium for Physical Therapy Education and the APTA’s Health Policy and Administration Section’s Research Committee. Dr. McCallum has a history of peer-reviewed publication stemming from grant-supported research pertaining to clinical education initiatives, direct access practice and access to physical therapy services for medically underserved adults. She teaches in the areas of clinical education, professional issues and community health, serving as the co-coordinator of the annual student led physical therapy check-up within the community. Dr. McCallum is a graduate of the APTA’s Educational Leadership Institute and holds graduate degrees in higher education administration and curriculum and instructional studies from the University of Akron as well as her professional physical therapy degree from Ohio University.
Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Alexia Lairson, PT, DPT, has been named the new Director of Clinical Education, replacing Dr. McCallum. Dr. Lairson joined the Walsh University DPT faculty in 2019 as an assistant professor with teaching responsibilities in our clinical education program, our practice management course sequence and lifespan and development content. She earned a doctorate degree in physical therapy from Walsh University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Youngstown State University. Dr. Lairson is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Health Sciences at Youngstown State University.
She is a board-certified geriatric clinical specialist with a background in skilled nursing and home-based primary care, student clinical education and practice management. Dr. Lairson serves on the Ohio Physical Therapy Association’s Ethics and Membership committees and as a consultant peer reviewer for quality-of-care concerns and adherence to professional standards of practice. Dr. Lairson’s passion is student education and mentoring of new professionals, for which she was awarded the OPTA Outstanding Clinical Educator Award for 2016.
