Dr. Lonnie Stewart's PhD Journey
We had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Lonnie Stewart, who recently completed his PhD. In our conversation, he shared insights into his academic journey and what lies ahead. Read the full interview below.
What inspired you to pursue a PhD? Sometimes when you put an idea in writing it is more likely to happen. In my application for the 2008 APTA Mary McMillan Scholarship Award I mentioned I was planning on pursuing a PhD in pathokinesiology, which I have to
admit was a bit of a stretch for my mind at the time. A year or two after that, I was the subject of an extortionate Debbie Krasinski and Susan Klepper who cornered me at an APTA Combined Sections Meeting and asked me when I was getting my PhD. I just needed that little bit of bullying from my friends and found a program at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions (Provo, UT) that fit my values and work schedule to study Health Promotion & Wellness.
Can you share a moment in your journey where you knew this was the right career path? During data collection for my study, I met many older adults in the community who felt research on aging-in-community was so necessary. They shared their rich stories with me, and it reinforced my passion for gerontology/geriatrics, and the puzzle that is successful aging in one’s own home and community vs. institutionalized living. I have also worked privately with a number of older adults in the community who have taught me so much about life and death such that I am passionate about having discussions about preparing not just to live in one’s home for as long as possible but to also die with dignity in one’s own home. Dying in your own home can be achieved, but so many factors must fall into place. Death is messy, but with the right plan it can be extraordinarily meaningful and moving (but still messy).
What challenges did you face working on your PhD, and how did you overcome them? I interviewed 13 study subjects in-person before COVID-19 put a stop to everything for a year. I refused to re-work the whole study – for better or for worse – so I modified the methods of my study to allow for remote interviews over Zoom or phone, and then stopped the study at 51 participants which was a bare minimum to say anything of value for what I was trying to do. There were many moments where I wanted to pull the plug and stop. My family and my co-workers kept me going. Pursuing a PhD challenges one in so many ways, including challenging your self-worth and your own sense of intelligence. I would have withdrawn without the right support.
What was the focus of your research, and why is it important? My focus is maintaining quality of life while aging-in-community. What are the components that older adults think is essential for aging-in-community and how can we measure them best? The grey tsunami is happening now: you can’t run away from it, you can’t build enough housing in time, you can’t afford the medical costs that are going to hit, so how can you make your own nest, feel secure, feel happy, feel a part of a community that cares? As a society we’re barely even putting on our lifejackets, but the water is rising very quickly, powerfully. This is a time for solutions that are deployable not sometime in the distant future, but right now.
How do you see your research impacting PT? Physical therapists help us live our best lives. Our best lives are being lived where we want to live. Physical therapists will have to look more broadly when treating older adults to ensure those older adults can remain.
living where they want to live. If so, then the best physical therapists must consider more than just muscle, bone, tendon, aerobic capacity, balance and coordination, gait; they’ll have to consider the activities that engage us, the family and friends around us, the financial resources (or lack thereof) older adults have, the ability for a client to take care of themselves, and recognize when other providers need to be consulted so a client can remain living where they want to live and avoid unwanted relocation that can have overall detrimental effects on physiology an psychology.
How will earning your PhD influence your teaching and mentorship at Columbia? Earning my PhD has given me perspective on how to approach answering a question, and implementing a plan to hopefully reach an answer. I will readily admit I was not a great fit to pursue a PhD. I made a lot of mistakes, I felt outside of my comfort zone much of the time. I feel I can impart a humanistic, imperfect – sometimes humorous approach to research that might allow them the room to attempt to do research in the future just as my graduate PT education a Columbia did for me.
What advice do you have for alumni and students considering a path like this? If you want to pursue a terminal degree, gear everything in your graduate studies toward your research interest. If you are interested in tendons, read as much as you can about tendons, gear your graduate assignments around something that has to do with tendons, add something about tendons in your group projects (if appropriate) so that you are laser focused on your topic such that your research question may come early in your PhD/EdD/DSc didactic studies. This will lead to your first dissertation prospectus or published article, which will lead to your dissertation proposal, which will lead you to completing your dissertation. Think of whether or not your terminal degree program has a dissertation committee built-in to the process or whether you have to hustle to find your own committee members. Each program is different, so ask about how your dissertation committee is chosen – or if you are responsible for gathering the experts yourself – and think hard about which would be most helpful with your own personality in mind. There are so many programs available today, take time to make a list of pros and cons to figure out what program fits your style, needs, and interests.
What’s next for your research and career? Past research suggests that men and women have different life-space characteristics (range of mobility: bedroom, home, outside home, neighborhood, town, beyond) because of physiological traits – I don’t buy that. No one has attempted to answer why we keep seeing differences in men and women life-space scores. My Research Practicum group wants to investigate that. That’s all I’m going to say. Oh, and I have to publish my original study results still. Like I said, I’m not perfect.
How did you celebrate earning your PhD? I reclaimed my weekends and guard them like a grumpy rottweiler.