Mentors
Our orthopedic physical therapy residency mentors are committed to supporting residents throughout their time in the program. Click the tabs below to meet our program leaders and mentors in both Chapel Hill and Wilmington.
Jeff O’Laughlin, PT, DPT, Program Director
Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
Assistant Professor, Division of Physical Therapy
Undergraduate School: University of Delaware
Graduate School: University of Delaware
Kristel Maes, PT, DPT, Program Coordinator
Undergraduate School: KULeuven Belgium
Graduate School: KULeuven Belgium and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Professional Interest: My clinical interest is spine. In my current position as Administrator of our post-graduate programs I have a passion for education and preparing the future generation of therapists.
Why I Serve as a Mentor: Research has shown that having a professional mentor is beneficial to advancing your career. From personal experience, I value the benefit of surrounding myself with others who can give me a different perspective on a patient case, problem or project. By serving as a mentor I hope to pass on my knowledge and support a resident’s professional growth.
Jennifer Cooke, PT, DPT
Assistant Director for Clinical Practice
Associate Professor, Division of Physical Therapy
Undergraduate School: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Graduate School: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Bria Dunn, PT, DPT
Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
Assistant Professor, Division of Physical Therapy
Undergraduate School: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Graduate School: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Professional Interest: I enjoy working with patients across the lifespan helping individuals recover from injury and/or surgery to regain mobility and function and ultimately enhance their quality of life. Clinical interests include lower extremity rehabilitation, postoperative rehabilitation, and injury prevention/wellness; however, I enjoy getting to know my patients one-on-one more than anything and regardless of their specific injury. I am passionate about health equity, ensuring that underserved and historically marginalized populations have access to competent and compassionate care. I strive to reduce disparities in healthcare outcomes by offering accessible, inclusive services for all patients.
Why I Serve as a Mentor: As a graduate of this residency program, I can attest to the value of high-quality mentorship early in one’s career. Mentoring affords me the opportunity to foster a collaborative learning environment where residents can develop confidence and expertise in their clinical practice. Serving as a mentor also allows me to give back to a program that shaped my own professional growth.
Jon Geralds, PT DPT 
Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
Assistant Professor, Division of Physical Therapy
Undergraduate School: San Francisco State University
Graduate School: Samuel Merritt University
Professional Interest: As a physical therapy faculty member, my interests focus on integrating health promotion into education and clinical practice. I am passionate about preventive care, exercise prescription, and community wellness programs to address lifestyle-related health conditions. My research explores evidence-based strategies to enhance long-term health and prevent chronic disease through physical activity, patient education, and interdisciplinary collaboration. I am also dedicated to mentoring students, equipping them to incorporate health promotion into their clinical practice, advocate for public health, and contribute to a more proactive, wellness-focused approach to physical therapy.
Why I Serve as a Mentor: I serve as a mentor to help shape the next generation of physical therapists who are not only skilled clinicians but also advocates for health promotion and preventive care. Mentorship allows me to guide students in developing a comprehensive approach to patient care that goes beyond rehabilitation, focusing on long-term wellness and community health. By sharing my knowledge and experiences, I aim to inspire future practitioners to think critically, engage in evidence-based practice, and become leaders in promoting healthier lifestyles. Through mentorship, I seek to empower students to grow both professionally and personally, ensuring they are well-prepared to make meaningful contributions to the evolving field of physical therapy.
Sarah McAuliffe, PT, DPT 
Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
Assistant Professor, Division of Physical Therapy
Undergraduate School: University of Florida
Graduate School: University of Illinois at Chicago
Professional Interest: My professional interests are varied. Clinically, I enjoy treating the complex musculoskeletal patient, emphasizing a pain-mechanisms based approach to care. I have special interests in hypermobility spectrum disorders and performing artists. I emphasize a systematic and thorough approach to assessing a patient in a holistic manner, taking into consideration psychologic and sociologic factors to a patient’s presentation.
Why I Serve as a Mentor: Mentorship has served a pivotal role in my career development and I hope to pay that forward. I’ve had the fortune of learning from outstanding mentors who challenged me to grow clinically, professionally, and personally. I’m passionate about being involved in post-professional mentorship to facilitate new clinicians’ development and foster excellence in clinical practice. I also view all mentorship relationships as bidirectional and enjoy learning from my mentees.
Evan Adler, PT, DPT
Undergraduate School: University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Graduate School: Elon University
Professional Interest: General Orthopedics, Endurance Athletes, Runners, TMJ
Why I Serve as a Mentor: I have always enjoyed teaching and helping students and newer clinicians improve their clinical skills and critical thinking skills. Not only does it give the residents a deeper dive on specific topics, but we clinicians also get the benefit of hearing the newer research and trends coming out of the profession.
Kyle Cooper, PT, DPT
Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
Undergraduate School: Elon University
Graduate School: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Professional Interest: My professional interests are eclectic and span the orthopedic physical therapy continuum. I love treating a varied patient population and the challenge of meeting the needs of patients regardless of their age, orthopedic dysfunction, life experience, or goals. Throughout my career, I have taken a special interest in postsurgical and nonsurgical rehabilitation of the shoulder, knee, and hip. Additionally, I enjoy problem-solving difficult clinical problems with patients in underserved areas of practice, including persistent pain disorders, headaches, and temporomandibular joint dysfunction.
Why I Serve as a Mentor: Mentorship has been an essential part of my personal and professional growth throughout my career. My mentors helped lay a foundation of skills and reflective practice that fueled my hard and soft skill development. I consider it my professional responsibility to mentor others, share my experiences, and foster my colleagues’ growth. My ongoing participation in the residency also helps me continue to challenge myself professionally. Each new resident brings unique knowledge and skills that push the boundaries of my practice.
J. Quinlon Curtis, PT, DPT
Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
Undergraduate School: Towson University
Graduate School: Elon University
Professional Interest: My area of interest is in manual therapy as well as shoulder and spine rehabilitation. I am a current Fellow in Training in Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy at Regis University.
Why I Serve as a Mentor:I enjoy serving as a mentor to help residents expand their clinical reasoning as well as to help each individual reach their goals of becoming a leading practitioner.
Nicole Dickson, PT, DPT
Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Sports Physical Therapy
Undergraduate School: Lebanon Valley College
Graduate School: Lebanon Valley College
Professional Interest: Shoulders/upper quarter, return to sport, trauma/emergency response
Why I Serve as a Mentor: Though challenging and humbling at the time, I became an exponentially better PT during my year of residency and with mentoring. I enjoy pushing others to their highest potential while it also encourages me to stay the most up to date with research and techniques.
Corey Drvol, PT, DPT
Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
Undergraduate School: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Graduate School: Duke University
Professional Interest: Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, with work in the residency on the hip and knee
Why I Serve as a Mentor: I enjoy working in the Orthopedic PT Residency because I enjoy giving back and helping to develop the next generation of Physical Therapists. It also keeps me on my toes as I have to be up-to-date with the latest developments and research!
Catherine Duncan, PT, DPT
Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Sports Physical Therapy
Undergraduate School: University of Virginia, Georgia State University
Graduate School: University ofNorth Carolina at Chapel Hill
Professional Interest: Sports rehab; pediatric/adolescent ortho/sports rehab; injury prevention; biomechanics; knee, hip, foot/ankle, shoulder in particular.
Why I Serve as a Mentor: I really love teaching and learning from students and residents. I enjoy bantering ideas and different approaches toward achieving common goals with/for our patients. I also like being challenged by constantly asking myself why I do what I do or take the approaches I take, and if I am teaching, I have to be able to articulate why clearly. I think I prefer residents because they probably benefit more from the learning opportunities that much of my specialty/niche case load provides. When I work with entry level students, they are generally not as prepared for that in-depth, beyond entry level of observation, assessment, and intervention that much of my caseload is expecting or needing.
Eric Hartmann, PT, DPT
Undergraduate School: Penn State
Graduate School: Rutgers University
Professional Interest: Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy of the spine, Functional Restoration for chronic pain problems, interdisciplinary pathway development.
Why I Serve as a Mentor: To help residents develop and commit to their own framework for problem solving so that episodes of care can be as efficient as possible.
Joeline K. Hernandez, PT, DPT 
Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
Undergraduate School: Wake Forest University
Graduate School: Duke University School of Medicine
Professional Interest: General Orthopedics, Post-operative Care, Geriatrics, Aquatic Therapy
Why I Serve as a Mentor: I was fortunate to train under excellent mentors myself and am excited to now have the opportunity give back to the next generations of clinicians. I strive to empower our residents to develop their clinical skills and foster their professional growth.
Mike McMorris, PT, DPT
Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
Undergraduate School: Ambassador University (BA in Theology), California State University Los Angeles (BS in Biology)
Graduate School: University of the Pacific (MS in PT), UNC Chapel Hill (Doctor of PT), Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Doctor of Education, in process, class of 2026)
Professional Interest: Orthopedics, manual therapy, clinical reasoning, education; past experience with golfers and OH athletes
Why I Serve as a Mentor: Many teachers and mentors have invested in me over the years, it is my pleasure to do the same for the next generation of PTs. Having meaningful dialogue about clinical cases and associated clinical reasoning is critical to professional learning and development.
Brian Trabulsi, PT, MPT, COMT
Undergraduate School: Marietta College
Graduate School: Chatham University
Professional Interest:I enjoy working with complex patients and utilizing a combination of dry needling, manual therapy and exercise to systematically help with their musculoskeletal issues.
Why I Serve as a Mentor:I enjoy watching the residents grow as clinicians from the beginning to the end of the residency. I enjoy helping them figure out what to focus on versus what is less important.
Sarah van der Horst, PT, DPT
Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
Undergraduate School: Oberlin College
Graduate School: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Professional Interest: Orthopedic physical therapy for individuals of all ages and activity levels with a focus on underserved communities. Treating Spanish speakers in their native language.
Why I Serve as a Mentor: To ensure we have critically thinking providers in our profession that will focus on improving the lives of our patients with evidence based practice. For the joy of teaching and seeing a person apply what they have learned in real time.
Marcus Bair, PT, DPT 
Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
Undergraduate School: University of North Carolina Wilmington, BA in Parks and Recreation Management
Graduate School: University of North Florida, Doctorate in Physical Therapy
Professional Interest: Orthopedic physical therapy, lower extremity biomechanics, dry needling, manual therapy
Why I Serve as a Mentor: I mentor to provide students and residents a solid foundation of clinical reasoning and a framework for delivering exceptional patient care in the field of orthopedic physical therapy.
Martha Gephart, PT, DPT 
Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
Undergraduate School: University of North Carolina Wilmington
Graduate School: George Washington University
Professional Interest: During my career I have seen primarily an outpatient orthopedic population of patients from elementary age through geriatric populations. I have completed the Institute of Physical Art’s functional manual therapy residency program, completed certification through the IPA as a certified functional manual therapist, and earned my orthopedic certified specialist through the APTA. I am completing recertification for both certifications this year and next. I served as student coordinator in my current place of employment for 4 years, and have served on the student coordination council for 6 years here. I have also mentored students in my current role.
Why I Serve as a Mentor: I was SO fortunate to have an excellent mentor take me under his wing right out of PT school, and that experience showed me the value of mentorship. PT school teaches graduates to be generalists, but there is so much more to learn to develop expertise in your specialty area of practice. Knowing that you have someone to answer questions and model technical patient care, workflow organization, and effective communication to help you grow as a professional really helps build confidence. I do my best to equip mentees with what they need to problem solve at a higher level and stay engaged in a fast paced clinical environment for lifelong learning. My job is to extend to my fellow professionals what my mentor extended (and continues to extend) to me!
Colleen Karr, PT, DPT 
Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
Undergraduate School: Old Dominion
Graduate School: College of St. Scholastica
Professional Interest: Orthopedics, spine, Maitland, COMT
Why I Serve as a Mentor: I love newly professionals’ enthusiasm and sharing my experience in manual therapy and diagnostic skills and motor control/ sport’s performance in order to help them excel in the orthopedic field as skilled PTs.
Gregory Kelley, PT 
Undergraduate School: Northeastern University
Professional Interest: Promote the health and wellness of my patients by using a biopsychosocial model to address all of their needs through education and the use of activities like selective functional movement assessment, breathing, pain neuroscience education, and Graston Technique.
Why I Serve as a Mentor: I am interested in what others are interested in. I am naturally curious and continually evolving as a clinician. This allows me to comfortably develop professional relationships in the clinic.
Rebecca McGhee, PT, DPT, MHA
Regional Manager Outpatient Rehab – Novant Health Coastal Market
Novant Health Residency Program Site Work Manager
Undergraduate School: West Virginia University
Graduate School: Old Dominion University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Professional Interest: Clinical interests include Orthopedic and Oncology Rehab. As a manager, I am honored to lead a team of phenomenal therapists and I enjoy breaking down barriers they encounter in the care of their patients. I also enjoy program development and discovering new ways to bring continued learning and growth opportunities to our team.