Joshua Miller’s journey into physical therapy began when he shadowed at a clinic in Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital while studying for his bachelor’s degree.
“Coming into undergrad I was pre-med, so I was planning to be a doctor. In my sophomore year I thought, ‘do I actually want to be a doctor, or have I just been told this would be a good career?’ So, I took a step back and my mom encouraged me to shadow at physical therapy clinics. My brother did PT for a while. I shadowed around a few places and wasn’t sold, and then I shadowed at Le Bonheur. Le Bonheur sold me because I was there for half a day, but it flew by because from my perspective as a 19- or 20-year-old, it was having fun with kids all day,” Dr. Miller said. “Now I look back and I know they were doing very skilled things, but at that point I thought ‘this is fun.’ That’s what sold me and got me to apply.”
Dr. Miller, who is from Memphis, earned his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. He joined UT Health Science Center for its affordability and to return to his hometown and family. He graduated in May from the Doctor of Physical Therapy program in the College of Health Professions.
While studying in the Department of Physical Therapy, Dr. Miller has been dedicated to leadership and service. He was recently recognized as an outstanding student leader at the 32nd annual Black Student Association awards. The annual event honors the achievements of seven student leaders from across the colleges at UT Health Science Center.
“I was grateful to not only be honored, but to be a good representative of all my classmates, and some of them came to the awards ceremony. Many of the things I did, I had others doing it with me, so it was really cool. I felt grateful to be honored as a representative of everybody’s hard work,” Dr. Miller said. “Also, I was grateful to be there amongst all the other candidates. They were doing great things for themselves, for the school, and for the community. It was a humbling experience to be there and hear what everybody else was doing and realize that they count me among them as an honoree.”
Read more at our UTHSC news site.