The premier pelvic health conference from Herman & Wallace
All pelvic rehabilitation practitioners are invited!
Keynote Speakers
Friday
Topic: Development of Continence Through The Lens of The Diaphragm, Ribcage, and Pelvic Floor
Saturday
Nancy Norton, RN
Topic: The Power of Humor for Pelvic Healers
Sunday
Topic: Trauma Responsive Care for Those We Work With and for Us
www.ptspecialist.com #ptspecialist
Dawn is a national and international speaker in the field, and she has gained so much from sharing experiences with her colleagues around the globe. In addition to lecturing internationally on pediatric bowel and bladder disorders, Dawn is also a faculty instructor at the Herman & Wallace Pelvic Rehab Institute. Additionally, she runs an online teaching and mentoring platform for parents and professionals.
www.kidsbowelbladder.com #kidsbowelbladder
In 2017, Dawn was invited to speak at the World Physical Therapy Conference in South Africa about pediatric pelvic floor dysfunction and incontinence. Dawn is also Board-Certified Biofeedback in Pelvic Muscle Dysfunction (BCB-PMD). She has also been published in the Journals of Urologic Nursing and Section of Women’s Health.
In 2018, Dawn was awarded the Elizabeth Noble Award by the American Physical Therapy Association Section on Women's Health for providing Extraordinary and Exemplary Service to the Field of Physical Therapy for Children.
Nancy Norton, RN is a Registered Nurse, comedian, and keynote speaker who brings hilarious storytelling mixed with standup punchlines rooted in real-life experiences like growing up in a dysfunctional Ozark family, working in Healthcare, spending months in Nepal adopting her son and then being a single “Stay AWAY from home mom,” along with incorporating insights gained from pre-event interviews and intuitively reading the room make the Power of Humor presentations a customized, empowering and energizing experience.
Norton has been featured on A&E, Netflix, and Amazon Prime, and tours nationally: headlining clubs, festivals, conferences, and events - performing both standup comedy and delivering keynote presentations. Nancy has also toured internationally on several USO tours entertaining the troops in Europe, Asia, Iceland, and the Pacific.
Nancy lives in Boulder Valley, Colorado balancing being a single mom to a teenager, with "Speaking, producing Nurses Off the Charts!" comedy shows, and recording a weekly Podcast called "Tromedy", aimed at helping to transmute trauma responses with comedy. Tromedy is not a replacement for trauma therapy, but it may help get you by between sessions.
Leticia Nieto, PsyD, LMFT, TEP is a leadership coach, psychotherapist, and educator specializing in liberation and equity, cultural responsiveness, motivational patterning, and evolutionary creativity. Her 2010 book, Beyond Inclusion, Beyond Empowerment: A Developmental Strategy to Liberate Everyone, is an accessible analysis of the dynamics of oppression and supremacy that offers readers ways to develop skills to promote social justice.
Dr. Nieto is internationally recognized for her expertise addressing social justice concerns from a developmental ecological perspective including orienting to systemic transformation, survivance, song and poetry, relational repair, joy, radical rest, intersectional coalition, and reparative and restorative justice. Dr. Nieto brings an enlivening approach to coaching, training and facilitation, drawing on expressive techniques and embodied practices to involve participants deeply and create opportunities for insight and change. Since 1980 she has successfully brought her skills to higher education and other learning communities (including three decades teaching in a graduate program in counseling), to service providers in helping agencies, to workplace teams, and to many community groups.
Dr. Nieto’s activism, scholarship, and consulting work are informed by living at the borders of intersectional experience. In addition to degrees in clinical psychology and human development, she is certified in Action Methods, including Psychodrama, Playback Theater, and Theater of the Oppressed. Leticia is a Senior Faculty at the International Tele'Drama Institute (ITI). She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (WA) and an AAMFT Approved Supervisor.
Ken McGee, PT, DPT is a queer transmasculine pelvic health physical therapist based in Seattle. Their mission is to bring greater awareness to the pelvic health needs of the LGBTQIA2S community. They enjoy mentoring other rehabilitation professionals to better care for people of all genders.
Ken received their Doctor of Physical Therapy from the University of Washington in 2014 and their board certification as a Women’s Health Clinic Specialist (WCS) in 2018. Ken has lectured nationally and internationally on birth tears. Their practice, B3 Physical Therapy, centers on transgender and perinatal rehabilitation. Ken also provides peer bodyfeeding support and doula care.
Speaker BIO
After obtaining her Bachelor’s degree at North Park College in Chicago, she completed her medical degree at Northwestern University Medical School, also in Chicago. Residency training ensued in OB/GYN at Oakland Naval Hospital and was completed at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. Military service was performed in Guam and Pensacola, FL. After separating from the Navy, Dr. Mosbrucker moved to Hawaii where she worked at a private practice doing some OB, but mostly GYN and UroGyn surgery. After 8 years there, she felt a calling to do more with her career and embarked on the path that led her to internationally renowned endometriosis expert Dr. David Redwine. Since then, Dr. Mosbrucker has dedicated her life to caring for individuals with endometriosis.
Dr. Mosbrucker currently runs a private practice in Gig Harbor, WA dedicated to serving the needs of women with pain and incontinence. She is a sought-after resource for women with pelvic pain from all causes, including those lesser known such as pudendal neuralgia, levator spasm, hip impingement and labral tears, and interstitial cystitis. In 2015, Dr. Mosbrucker passed the subspecialty board exam in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery (FPMRS), also known as Urogynecology.
Dr. Mosbrucker feels strongly that both pelvic pain and urogynecologic issues need to be addressed with a multidisciplinary approach that embraces the “bio-psycho-social model”. She has developed an informal consortium of various specialists, all with an interest in caring for patients with pelvic pain or incontinence. This allows for multiple providers to support the patient’s needs with an approach based on each one’s background and experiences.
Her research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Academy of Orthopedic Physical Therapy. Meryl is a Clinical Research Scientist and member of the Brooks Rehabilitation/UF-Public Health and Health Professions Research Collaboration. Last, she serves on the Board of Directors for the International Pelvic Pain Society and is a content expert and contributor to Girls Gone Strong.
Speaker Bio
Carole High Gross, PT, MS, DPT, PRPC earned her Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Arcadia University in 2015, and her Master of Science in Physical Therapy in 1992 from Thomas Jefferson University. Carole earned her Pelvic Rehabilitation Practitioner Certification and enjoys working as a Pelvic Clinical Rehabilitation Specialist for Lehigh Valley Health Network.
Carole is on faculty at Herman & Wallace, where she instructs her own course "Eating Disorders and Pelvic Health Rehabilitation: The Role of a Rehab Professional" and is also a Lead Teaching Assistant.
Carole serves on the Pelvic Workgroup of the Ehlers-Danlos International Consortium. She has a special interest in working with individuals living with eating disorders and hypermobility. In addition, Carole enjoys working with all genders with pelvic, bowel, bladder, and abdominal issues. She serves as a mentor for growing pelvic professionals and focuses on team building and program development. Carole is passionate about lifelong learning.
She resides in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and enjoys spending time with her family, friends and grandpup.
Holly served as adjunct faculty at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA, and at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN, for whom she continues to teach in the transitional DPT program. She is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association and the American Massage Therapy Association. Her physical therapy and massage practice, Flow Rehab, is located in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle.
Speaker Bio
Ramona C. Horton MPT, DPT completed her graduate training in the US Army–Baylor University Program in Physical Therapy in San Antonio, TX. She exited the army at the rank of Captain and applied her experience with the military orthopedic population in the civilian sector as she developed a growing interest in the field of pelvic dysfunction.
A desire to expand her knowledge of evidence-based practice and research was the impetus to further her academic pursuits, receiving a post-professional Doctorate in Physical Therapy from A.T. Still University in Mesa, AZ. In 2020, Ramona received the prestigious Academy of Pelvic Health Elizabeth Noble Award for her contributions to the field of pelvic health.
Ramona serves as the lead therapist for her clinic's pelvic dysfunction program in Medford, OR. Her practice focuses on the treatment of men, women, and children with urological, gynecological, and colorectal issues. Ramona has completed advanced studies in manual therapy with an emphasis on spinal manipulation, and visceral and fascial mobilization. She developed and instructs the visceral and fascial mobilization courses for the Herman & Wallace Pelvic Rehabilitation Institute, presenting frequently at local, national, and international venues on topics relating to women’s health, pelvic floor dysfunction, and manual therapy.
Nari’s passions include teaching students how to use their hands more receptively and precisely for advanced manual therapy skills while keeping it simple enough to feel successful. She also is an advocate for therapists learning how to feel well and thrive as they care for others, which is a skill that can be developed. “Basically, I love helping therapists learn to help themselves and others more while having a lot of fun doing it”. Nari lives in Portland Oregon, where she runs a local study/mentoring group and has a private practice, Portland Pelvic Therapy. Her interests include meditation, working out, nature, and being constantly humbled by raising her three amazing teenagers!
She started her clinical practice, Flourish Physical Therapy, in Santa Rosa CA, and moved to downtown Boston. She is a board-certified women's health clinical specialist recognized by the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. Dustienne weaves yoga postures and breathing into her clinical practice, having received her yoga teacher certification through the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.
Dustienne's love of movement is apparent not only in her physical therapy and yoga practice but also in her career as a professional dancer. She danced professionally in New York City for several years, most notably with the national tour of Fosse. She bridged her dance and physical therapy backgrounds working for Physioarts, who contracted her to work backstage at various Broadway shows and for Radio City Christmas Spectacular. She is currently an assistant professor of jazz dance for the musical theatre department at Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
Dustienne passionately believes in the integration of physical therapy and yoga in a holistic model of care, helping individuals navigate through pelvic pain and incontinence to live a healthy and pain-free life.
Emily McElrath PT, DPT, MTC, CIDN, is a native of New Orleans and received her undergraduate degree in Athletic Training at the University of Southern Mississippi and went on to receive her Doctorate of Physical Therapy from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences. She is highly trained in Sports and Orthopedics and has a passion for helping women achieve optimal sports performance. Emily is certified in manual therapy and dry needling, which allows her to provide a wide range of treatment skills including joint and soft tissue mobilization. She is an avid runner and Cross-fitter and has personal experience modifying these activities during pregnancy and postpartum. While not working, Emily enjoys time with her husband and two kids.
Brianna owns and operates Empower Physiotherapy, a private practice in Seattle. As a competitive powerlifter, Brianna enjoys working with strength athletes who experience pelvic floor dysfunction, especially stress incontinence. She is passionate about providing care to individuals in the LGBTQ+ community, including those undergoing hormonal/surgical transition. Her additional clinical interests include prenatal/postpartum care for trans and gender non-conforming folx and pelvic floor care for patients who are intersex.
In her spare time, Brianna enjoys playing board games, lifting heavy, and watching stand-up comedy.
In 2009, Allison collaborated with the Primal Pictures team for the release of the Pelvic Floor Disorders program. Allison's publications include: “The Use of Transabdominal Ultrasound Imaging in Retraining the Pelvic-Floor Muscles of a Woman Postpartum.” Physical Therapy. Vol. 88, No. 10, October 2008, pp 1208-1217. (PMID: 18772276), “Beyond the Abstract” for Urotoday.com in October 2008, “Posters to Go” from APTA combined section meeting poster presentation in February 2009 and 2013. In 2016, Allison co-authored a chapter in “Healing in Urology: Clinical Guidebook to Herbal and Alternative Therapies.”
Allison works in the Denver metro area in her practice, Inspire Physical Therapy and Wellness, where she works in a more holistic setting than traditional therapy clinics. In addition to instructing Herman and Wallace on pelvic floor-related topics, Allison lectures nationally on lymphedema, cancer-related changes to the pelvic floor, and the sacroiliac joint. Allison serves as a consultant to medical companies, and physicians.
Outside of work, Allison enjoys spending time with her family, caring for her animals, reading, traveling, and most importantly of all, being a mom! She lives in the Denver metro area with her family.
Stephanie Nguyen 
Cydney Dashkoff 
Stephanie Rutherford