Kathi combines her cerebral side with her practical side in problem solving with her patients. She is passionate about understanding the physiological aspects of a patient’s discomfort or dysfunction and pairing that knowledge with both traditional and non-traditional treatment plans. One of the questions she asks herself most often is “what if?”

At the start of her career with direct oversight of the burn department, Kathi participated in extensive research regarding tissue granulation and was responsible for sharp debridement of burns and wounds. Her experience as a burn therapist introduced her to the value of manual therapy in the restoration of function to injured tissue.  She is also a certified orthopedic manual therapist who has trained and practiced all over the world.

Education, Experience, and Certifications

• University of Tennessee, BS, Health Sciences
• Ursa Osteopathic Medicine Foundation, Rocabaddo Institute and Olaf Evjenth’s Physiotherapeutic Manual Institute, advanced training in the treatment of craniosacral, TMJ/TMD, spinal, extremity and sports medicine disorders
• West Portland Physical Therapy Clinic, founder and co-owner
• Metropolitan Nashville General/Vanderbilt University, director, Physical Therapy Clinic and Burn Department
• Canadian Academy of Manipulative Therapists, manual therapy certification
• Institute of Graduate Health Science, manual therapy certification
• International Federation of Manual Therapists, member
• Perry Institute, incontinence treatment certification
• LaMaze, certified instructor
• Oregon Ballet Theatre, Jefferson Dancers, BodyVox, and NW Professional Dance Project, PT
• Women in Workmen’s Compensation, past board member
• Friends of the Arboretum, past board member
• Women of Good Samaritan – Legacy Health, Board Member
• Providence St. Vincent Medical Foundation, Trustee
• Jesuit High School, Financial Aid Committee
• Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Endowment Board
• White Orchid Award Recipient, Portland Business Journal
• American Red Cross Certified First Responder
• Board Member of Portland Literary Arts Patrons Advisory Council

Pursuits, Passions, and Dreams

Favorite books of an avid reader: Mary Craig’s Tears of Blood: A Cry for Tibet, Bounsang Khamkeo’s I Little Slave, Jeffrey Sachs’ The End of Poverty, Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains, Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal, Paul Kalanithi”s When Breath Becomes Air, and Adam Hochschild’s King Leopold’s Ghost. Her favorite film is Wardance the Movie. Kathi is a great lover of the arts particularly literature, dance, music, film, and theater.

Weekends and vacations take Kathi running, rafting, cycling, skiing, gardening, letting hummingbirds land in her hand, swimming, windsurfing, practicing yoga, weight training, camping, mountain climbing, and trekking around the globe with her two children. She has summited many peaks including Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt. Whitney, and Grand Teton. She’s volunteered with Medical Teams International (formerly NW Medical Teams), Habitat for Humanity, Humedica and various other medical NGOs over the past 28 years, working from Portland to Central America, Oaxaca, Mexico, Haiti, Sub-Saharan Africa, including Tanzanian, Burundian, Ugandan, Congolese, and Syrian refugee camps, Ethiopia, Jamaica, Rwanda,  as well as stints in Asia. Kathi has traveled to Cambodia to deliver care in burn units, also assisting with sex trafficking victims through a companion NGO in Phnom Penh. She and her family have also built houses in several venues including Portland, Guatemala, Myanmar, Ethiopia, Bolivia, Jordan, and India with Habitat for Humanity. She is now participating in the creation of an integrative fistula program in sub-Saharan Africa refugee camps which has opened in multiple refugee settlement camps within Uganda serving Congolese, Tanzanian, and South Sudanese displaced citizens.

There is a strong ethos of helping others that pervades WPPTC. In addition to helping our patients regain mobility or achieve peak performance, we are active in the community. One focus of our efforts is Medical Teams International, a Portland based humanitarian relief organization sending volunteer disaster relief teams and medical aid to people in crisis in 32 countries.  She, along with WPPTC, has screened thousands of Portland youth athletes to determine ACL injury risk.  This screening has been accompanied by individualized training to prevent ACL injuries.  She also helped create the Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT) Wellness Program.  Our therapists at WPPTC treat all OBT dancers in the studio and at our clinic.    This Wellness Program has helped reduce their injury rate dramatically in the past 3 years since the inception of the dance screening and wellness program.  WPPTC serves the other greater Portland dance studios as well.

WPPTC is committed to improving the lives of Oregonians and people around the globe affected by disaster, conflict, and poverty working with Medical Teams International.

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40 Years of Love
For four decades, Medical Teams International has been on the frontlines of disease outbreaks, natural disasters and human-made crises, providing compassionate medical care to the sick and hurting. This is an organization that I am deeply committed to and actively support in multiple ways. In MTI’s 40 Years of Love video, I make a cameo. It was filmed while I was volunteering with MTI in Ethiopia. I’m at 1:11 in the film. Check it out. I’m very proud of the work.
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Habitat for Humanity Project in Myanmar

In March 2017 Kathi joined a team from Habitat for Humanity to build homes in Myanmar.  The team was led by Stacy Allison, the first American woman to summit Mt. Everest and a Portland resident. Allison, a motivational speaker, put together a diverse and driven group, including lawyers and physical therapists, all driven to make a difference.

Habitat for Humanity in Myanmar

Habitat for Humanity Project in India

Kathy McCoy and others were in India on the way to a Habitat for Humanity build for a community of rat and snake catchers whose villages were impacted by the last typhoon. Stacy Allison is with the group. Here’s a translated article about her climb on Mount Everest.

Habitat for Humanity in India

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Missions to Syria and Ethiopia

Kathi in Syrian Refugee Camp with MTI

Kathi in Ethiopia with Habitat for Humanity

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MTI in Haiti (2010)

Kathi in Haiti

Kathi McCoy featured in OPTA-Oregon-Log-2010Q4

Read the full story in the September 3, 2010 edition of the Scribe

On Wednesday, April 21, 2010, West Portland Physical Therapy Clinic’s Kathi McCoy emceed an all-star panel of aid representatives at the MAC.
Haiti Disaster Relief at the MAC

Kathi joined a team of medical professionals traveling to Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake. The story was widely reported in the media.  Here’s their story.

MTI in Haiti 2010 – KATU 5pm News

MTI in Haiti 2010 – KATU 6pm News

MTI in Haiti 2010 – KGW 11pm News

MTI in Haiti 2010 – KATU 4pm News

Haiti Earthquake 2010 – Relief Efforts – KGW News

MTI and 2010 Haitian Earthquake – KATU AM Northwest

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MTI in Guatemala (2009)

Kathi and her children, Michael and Madison, have volunteered with Medical Teams International in Guatemala, where they partnered with indigenous peoples to address their identified nutrition and health problems. MTI works with solutions devised by the villagers to tackle water source protection and crop diversification to alleviate malnutrition. Their process of building relationships with villagers to collaboratively use their skills and knowledge makes the work more satisfying and the solutions more sustainable. Kathi feels that it is a privilege to be a part of this process.

Kathi and children in Guatemala

MAC Faces of November 2009

MTI in Guatemala 2009

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MTI in Uganda (2008)

Kathi was part of the team on the Congolese border to provide medical relief to refugees. The Oregonian covered the work done in the face of this “human rights catastrophe”.

Read The Oregonian article

Kathi in Uganda

MTI – Congolese Refugees in Uganda 2008

Kathi in the DRC

MTI – Uganda 2008 – KATU AM Northwest

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Take a further look at Medical Team International’s important work:

MTI Auction 2010  – Change a Life

MTI Auction 2009 – Change a Life

MTI Auction 2008 – The Great Adventure

MTI – New York Times

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New Heights for MTI–Kathi and a group of friends have climbed Mt. Hood, Mt. Whitney, and Grand Teton commemorating Medical Teams International. Stacy Allison, renowned climber and MTI supporter, joined the group for their successful summit of Mt. Hood. Check out the youtube videos of their climbs. MTI truly rocks!

Summiting Grand Teton (video)

Grand Teton Montage (video)

At the top of Grand Teton

Summiting Mt Whitney (video)

At the summit of Mt. Whitney

Summiting Mt Hood (video)

Mt. Hood Summit

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WPPTC‘s work with dancers is featured in the February issue of Goodness Magazine. On the cover Kathi McCoy, founder and co-owner of WPPTC, is pictured with OBT principal dancer Gavin Larsen.

Read the Goodness Magazine article

The Oregonian featured Kathi, who shared some of her thoughts on places, things, beliefs and experiences with Oregonian writer Sara Perry. The complete text of Perry’s “Favorite Things” article may be viewed by clicking the links below.

Attitude of Gratitude News Article, The Oregonian

Full Text of Article

After graduating from the University of Washington School of Medicine in 1986, Christine focused on Sports Medicine in the early years of her Physical Therapy career. First in Seattle and then in the Bay Area, Christine participated in the athletic training of the Seattle Supersonics and San Francisco 49er’s, as well as treating other professional and collegiate baseball, volleyball, and soccer players. As a South Bay provider for SOAR/Spine Care, she participated in the beginnings of the stabilization movement. She is also an American Red Cross Certified First Responder.

Christine’s Portland career has revolved around West Portland Physical Therapy. Since 1990, she has worked with the Oregon Ballet Theatre and has undertaken additional coursework in spine care, joint mobilization, soft tissue techniques, osteoporosis, dance, exercise, and pregnancy.

As the mother of two athletically-involved children, Christine is well versed in the challenges of keeping kids fit and healthy while avoiding repetitive and strain injuries. A runner since high school, she still rarely misses a day.

Christine is dedicated to helping her patients determine what conditions are needed to promote healing, educating them in how to better care for their bodies, and assisting their return to an active lifestyle.

A Wisconsin native, Patti graduated with her degree in Physical Therapy from the University of San Francisco in 1986. She has lived and worked in Portland since 1991.

After a long and illustrious career, Patti retired in April 2019. We wish her the best in her retirement!

Patti specializes in manual therapy and has extensive continuing education training in a variety of soft tissue and joint mobilization techniques. These include, but are not limited to, PRRT, strain-counterstrain, and myofascial release.

A member of the American Physical Therapy Association’s section on Women’s Health, Patti has taken advanced coursework in women’s and men’s healthcare topics and pelvic pain issues and is a Board Certified Specialist in Women’s Health Physical Therapy (WCS). She is also an American Red Cross Certified First Responder.

Among her other accomplishments, Patti is a certified Pilates instructor (Stotts Institute 2002), and has provided PT services for the Oregon Ballet Theatre since 1992. She is a member of the International Association of Dance Medicine, and has treated dancers of all ages and skill levels. Patti is also a member of the support staff for NW Professional Dance Project.

A runner and biker for the past 30 years, Patti also enjoys gardening, camping, kayaking, and travel – all outdoor activities with her family and friends.

Patti was featured on KGW with some Warm Up Stretches for Winter Workouts.  See the link here!

Patti Koehler selected as Best Body Worker by Willamette Week.

Patti Koehler-WW Best of Portland-2010

Patti was named a “Top Doc” by Portland Monthly in 2015, 2017 and 2018.

Chris was born and raised in South Carolina, earning his undergraduate degree in Exercise Science from the University of South Carolina before earning his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Boston University in 2018. Chris moved to Portland shortly following graduation after falling in love with the area during a clinical rotation with the VA Portland Health Care System as a student. Chris seeks to develop an individual plan for every patient based on their unique needs to decrease pain, maximize function, and reach each patient’s individual goals while empowering them with the tools to self-manage their condition and prevent recurrence in the future. As a clinician Chris has practiced extensively in orthopaedics, sports medicine, vestibular, and concussion rehabilitation.

Education, Experience, and Certification

• B.S. Exercise Science, University of South Carolina
• Doctor of Physical Therapy, Boston University
• Board Certified Orthopaedic Clinical Specialist
• Vestibular Rehabilitation Certified
• American Heart Association BLS certified

Pursuits, Passions, and Dreams

Chris has a passion for LGBT+ activism and has worked with coworkers to develop a Transgender Health Program at WPPTC, through this project they have been able to connect with numerous health care providers across Portland to work towards better care and collaboration for this patient population. Chris has also been an avid rugby player since picking up the sport his freshman year of college and continues to compete with the Portland Lumberjacks RFC. In his spare time he is a Trail Blazers fanatic and enjoys exploring the great PNW outdoors.

Sam grew up in Portland, where he developed a passion for the outdoors and athletics.  After graduating from the University of Oregon with a degree in Psychology, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri.  In 2019, he earned his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Washington University in St. Louis, and shortly afterwards returned to practice orthopedics in his hometown.  Sam’s patient care experiences are centered around movement and returning the individual to the activities that matter to them most.  His clinical and work experiences have focused on management and care of sports injuries – including soccer, football, and running injuries – and general orthopedic conditions.

Education, Experience, and Certification

• Bachelor of Science in Psychology, University of Oregon
• Doctorate in Physical Therapy, Washington University in St. Louis

Pursuits, Passions, and Dreams

Sam enjoys getting outdoors to hike, camp, paddleboard, or just to walk around the city, often accompanied by his small but loud dog, Bodie. Otherwise, he is passionate about local sports, reading, trying new restaurants or breweries, and live music.

Rhi (she/her) was born and raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and graduated from Elon University in 2012 with a degree in Art History. After 15 years of martial arts and 7 years of rugby, Rhi often was asked for fitness advice, not how to interpret a painting or sculpture. After spending a short bout of time working retail at Athleta, she left retail in pursuit of a career working more directly with people and helping them accomplish their goals as a personal trainer. The majority of her clientele were age 50+ with goals of wanting to move better and with less pain; it didn’t take long for her to realize that if she knew more, she could help people more. So began her pursuit of a doctorate in physical therapy. Needing all of her science classes as art history required none, she patiently completed all prerequisite courses in Portland, OR over the course of two and a half years before starting the DPT program at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. A few short years later and she found herself back in the PNW as a physical therapist.

Education, Experience, and Certification

• Bachelors of Arts, Art History at Elon University
• Doctor of Physical Therapy, The George Washington University
• Certified LSVT BIG Provider for Parkinsons’ Disease
• Certified SFMA Level 1 Practitioner
• Completed coursework for Functional Nutrition for Chronic Pain
• Certified RockBlades IASTM
• Certified RockTape Kinesio taping
• Certified StrongFirst Kettlebell Instructor
• Trained in TRX Suspension Trainer and TRX RIP Trainer
• Pursuing training in the Mulligan Concept of Manual Therapy

Pursuits, Passions, and Dreams

Rhi enjoys connecting with patients through shared experiences; she definitely knows what it’s like to endure an injury as she has had three shoulder surgeries and a knee surgery from rugby and a hand surgery from tae kwon do, plus countless other bumps along the way. She also loves working with patients who have neurological diagnoses and deficits, such as Parkinsons’ Disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis, among others. When she has time you can find Rhi pursuing more knowledge on vestibular and concussion rehab, learning about running analyses, and looking for opportunities to volunteer with adaptive athletes. Rhi hopes to begin the pursuit of an Orthopedic Clinic Specialist certification in the next couple of years as well.

Rhi now calls the PNW home after moving to Portland in 2014 when her now wife, whom she met playing rugby in Washington, DC, moved back home to be closer to her family. Rhi now embraces much of the outdoors culture of the PNW, loves spending time on short and long river trips (she did a 2 week trip down the Colorado River in Sepetember of 2020!), hiking, camping, running with her two dogs Dexter and Opal, rock climbing when she can, being artistic when there is time, playing guitar and mandolin, teaching her 4month old baby how to baby, and looking for new adventures with her wife.

Sean is a lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest and loves the variety of adventures that are available in this part of the country.  Prior to going back to school to become a PTA, Sean was a fitness trainer in the Portland area for 10 years.  He joined West Portland Physical Therapy Clinic in 2013.

Patients appreciate Sean’s hands-on, detail-oriented approach to exercise.  He has had good success in helping patients correct faulty movement patterns thereby leading to the elimination of pain and successful return to work, sports, and recreational activities.  Sean accomplishes this using a combination of progressive strengthening, stretching, and self-myofascial release (foam rollers, tennis balls, etc).

Education, Experience, and Certifications
• Mount Hood Community College

Pursuits, Passions, and Dreams
When Sean is not in the clinic he enjoys exercising (Yes! He does many of the exercises that he has his patients do!), hiking, and nature photography.

Ann-Marie was born and raised in Portland.  She started working with OBT dancers immediately upon graduating from school and since that time has worked with dancers from BodyVox and the Northwest Dance Project as well.  Ann-Marie’s specialty is manual therapy.  She is active with sports injury screening in local high schools and has taken many courses in myofascial release and soft tissue work.

Education, Experience, and Certifications
• University of Portland, BA in Communication Studies
• Mt. Hood Community College, AS in Physical Therapist Assistant

Pursuits, Passions, and Dreams
Ann-Marie swam competitively from childhood throughout high school, raced Dragon Boats for thirteen years and Out Rigger Canoes and Voyager Canoes for several years. When not in the clinic she maintains her athletic inclination by continuing to boat, paddle, swim, hike and run with her family.

After 15 years working in the food service industry Megan (she/her) realized it was time to pursue her true passion of helping people feel better in their bodies. This path brought her to Green River College in Auburn, Washington where she earned her Physical Therapist Assistant, AAS. Her PT interests include manual therapy, pelvic floor health, and helping patients move more mindfully in their bodies.

Education, Experience, and Certification

• Green River College, AAS Physical Therapist Assistant
• Downeast School of Massage, Massage Therapy Certification
• American Physical Therapy Association Member

Pursuits, Passions, and Dreams

When not at work you can find Megan hiking in the rain, making delicious baked treats or road tripping with friends.

Hannah (She/Her) is an occupational therapist from Texas who moved here after falling in love with Portland on a summer visit. Hannah discovered occupational therapy (OT) while she was working in a parasitology lab as a research assistant.

She loves that OT combines science and creativity into the singular goal of improving the health and quality of life for her patients. Hannah has experience working with patients across several demographics, including services for both pediatric and geriatric patients. Her OT interests include pelvic floor therapy, fall prevention, and activity modification to improve patient safety and quality of life.

Education, Experience, Certification

• Bachelor of Science in Cell and Molecular Biology, Texas Tech University
• Doctor of Occupational Therapy, UT Health Science Center San Antonio

Pursuits, Passions, Dreams

Outside of work, Hannah enjoys running (slowly), hiking, reading, and walking with her dog, Fish.

Laura grew up in Portland, where she has enjoyed helping people heal, recover, and maximize their ability to more actively experience this amazing state.

She began her career as a massage therapist before obtaining her degree as a PT Assistant as a result of benefitting from the healing powers of PT herself after an injury.  She realized active participation in her own injury recovery process via PT intervention was where she wanted her life focus to be.

She has worked in hospital acute, inpatient rehab, and outpatient settings and is focused on helping patients improve their pelvic floor health. The mind/body nature of this work is integral to healing, and she appreciates the opportunity to promote mindfulness in her work.