Christi Williams

Biography

Dr. Christi Williams received her bachelor of science degree in psychology from Clemson University in 2002 and obtained her doctorate in physical therapy from Belmont University in 2005.  Following several years of clinical practice in a local outpatient orthopedic clinic, Dr. Williams returned to Belmont providing her the unique role of being the only full-time faculty member in the School of Physical Therapy who is also an alumnus of the program. 

Dr. Williams is an APTA Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics and has also received her certification from the McKenzie Institute as a specialist in Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy of the Spine. In addition, Dr. Williams has specialized training in the use of motion analysis equipment for the evaluation and treatment of lower extremity orthopedic conditions, running analysis and ACL prevention / return to sports assessments.  Dr. Williams maintains a clinical practice with a focus on full-circle care including prevention, rehabilitation and return to sports activities in clinic and wellness settings. 

At Belmont University, Dr. Williams co-teaches human anatomy for first-year students in the Fall semester, which includes full cadaveric dissections.   In the Spring semester, she teaches Clinical Pathophysiology II and Kinesiology labs which help link the students’ basic understanding of anatomy & physiology to understanding the disease process and developing basic clinical examination skills.   In the second year she co-teaches Clinical Experience I and II courses which focus on integrating classroom knowledge into clinical application.   Dr. Williams also instructs students in Clinical Inquiry III, IV and V courses in which she serves as a research mentor for student research projects in the areas of injury prevention and return to sports, inter-professional teaching and learning in the cadaver laboratory and animal assisted therapy.

In addition to her teaching responsibilities at Belmont, Dr. Williams provides continuing education courses with the use of human anatomy dissections for clinical application of various nerve injuries and musculoskeletal pathology for practicing Physical Therapists.  She also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesiology in their Acute Surgical Pain Management Fellowship program.  

Dr. Williams is very involved in organizing and coordinating various annual community service activities involving the physical therapy students at Belmont University.  She serves as a board member for the Sara Walker Foundation which is a Foundation that was created in honor of a former 2003 Belmont DPT alumna, Sara Pigg Walker who passed away from colon cancer.  Williams believes that Sara’s story is the perfect representation of Belmont University’s mission and what it is that makes the physical therapy program here at Belmont so special.   Each year, Williams organizes student groups to volunteer at the annual Sara Walker Run and Kids For Kids Fun Run which raises money to support several mission trips to Africa, the Sara Pigg Walker Scholarship Fund which was established for Belmont PT students, and future mission trip opportunities for Belmont students.  Another community service activity in which Belmont PT students are involved in annually under the direction of Dr. Williams, is Garrett’s Hero Run.  This event is organized by a fellow 2005 alumna in support of her son, Garrett who has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.  Belmont students volunteer at this event and help raise money and awareness for the organization Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy. 

Outside of teaching and clinical work, Dr. Williams is passionate about serving as a volunteer Certified Pet Therapy Team with her yellow Labrador Retriever, Layla.  Together they volunteer at Vanderbilt 100 Oaks to assist physical therapists and occupational therapists in the Pediatric Rehabilitation Clinic utilizing Layla in therapy sessions for various gross motor and fine motor activities.  They also visit children in the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Clinic at Monroe Carell, Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in which they have participated in a research study assessing the effects of a therapy dog on stress and anxiety of children undergoing chemotherapy treatment at this clinic.    

Dr. Williams’ scholarly activity and research activities revolve around her passions as a clinician, teacher and volunteer.  Her clinical line of research focuses on the biomechanical analysis of lower extremity movement and the relationship between injury prevention programs and improvement in sports performance.  Her interests in the scholarship of teaching and learning focus around developing interdisciplinary and inter-professional teaching and learning opportunities related to cadaver-based education.  Her research related to volunteer work with Animal Assisted Therapy is her third line of research and focuses on assessing the impact of a certified therapy dog on stress and anxiety levels of students prior to taking an exam.  Williams has received several grants for her research on animal assisted therapy and has presented at both the state and national levels.