Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are advanced healthcare practitioners with similar responsibilities, such as diagnosing illnesses and prescribing medications. However, their training and paths toward certification differ in significant ways. This blog post unpacks the key differences between NPs and PAs to help you determine which career path best aligns with your goals. What Is a Nurse Practitioner? A nurse practitioner (NP) is a licensed clinician who provides comprehensive healthcare to patients of all ages. An NP can work in virtually any healthcare setting, diagnosing patient conditions and prescribing medications. As of October 2022, nurse practitioners have full practice authority in 27 states, meaning that they can practice Read more
Dr. Elise Bjork received her Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from The University of Texas at Austin in 2011. She then completed her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Texas Woman’s University in Houston in 2015 and returned in 2021 to begin the PhD program in Physical Therapy. She is also working on a Master of Arts in Religion at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, in which she focuses on Liberation Theologies with the hope of connecting those methodologies to the battle of systemic oppression within the healthcare system.
After completing a Sports Residency through Evidence in Motion in 2016, Dr. Bjork became an American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties (ABPTS) Board-Certified Sports Clinical Specialist and has worked in outpatient sports and orthopedics for adults and pediatrics. She was also the Head Physical Therapy for the Austin Sol and the Austin Torch professional ultimate frisbee teams from 2016-2019.
Dr. Bjork was a Faculty Lab Instructor for four years in the Flexible Doctor of Physical Therapy program at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences before being promoted to Core Faculty in the Residential DPT program in 2021. Dr. Bjork’s research interests include trauma-informed physical therapy practice, culturally responsive teaching, best practices in sports physical therapy for athletes who are sexual and gender minorities, and upper extremity return-to-sports testing.
