Representation Matters: Creating Space for Future Black Physical Therapists

Black physical therapists make up less than 5% (approximately 3.7%) of all physical therapists in the United States. Increasing this representation is vital to improving patient trust, reducing healthcare biases, and creating equitable pathways in sports medicine, clinical practice, and rehabilitation sciences. In this episode of Black Scholars Speak, Dr. Tiana Humphrey, Doctor of Physical Therapy and founder of Function to the T, shares her journey from student-athlete to board-certified orthopedic physical therapist. We talk about her transition from Owasso, Oklahoma to the culture shift of Texas Southern University, discovering physical therapy through a high school shadowing experience, and learning to build a college path around her actual goals instead of an unnecessarily hard one. Tiana opens up about what it means to be one of the only Black physical therapists in her clinic, why representation in healthcare changes how patients show up for care, and how she's now training for HYROX while running a business built on making movement education accessible to everyone. This one is for the student-athletes thinking about life after sports, and anyone who's ever had to build the version of a career they didn't see modeled for them. Connect with Dr. Humphrey: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiana-h Instagram: @functionwith_t https://www.instagram.com/functionwith_t/ Website: https://www.functiontothet.com/ Phone: 918-809-9323 Email: [email protected]