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We are pleased to announce the establishment of the Joanne Posner-Mayer Endowed Chair in Physical Therapy at the University of Colorado School of Medicine at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. This chair is made possible with generous commitments from alumna, philanthropist and physical therapy entrepreneur Joanne Posner-Mayer (Class of ’73) and the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. This endowed chair is the first in the CU PT Program and one of only a few in the country; it was created specifically to recognize and support the CU PT Program’s continued growth and development.

Through this philanthropic support, talented faculty leaders will have the valuable resources they need to keep CU PT at the forefront of innovation and to support future generations of physical therapists.

More about Joanne 

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After earning her degree at CU in 1973, Posner-Mayer worked for more than six years in Switzerland where she became acquainted with the use of “Swiss Balls” in physical therapy. Ten years after returning to the United States, she left clinical practice to lecture and train others on the orthopedic and sports uses of the ball. Joanne Posner-Mayer then embarked upon an entrepreneurial journey in the private sector, founding Ball Dynamics International, Inc. in 1991 – meeting the growing market demand she created through her teaching. She subsequently pioneered the use of the Swiss Balls in the fitness market through her second company, Fitball, Inc.

As a first-generation college graduate and the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, Joanne Posner-Mayer has a profound appreciation for the University of Colorado and the Physical Therapy Program. The Joanne Posner-Mayer Endowed Chair will honor all that she has accomplished and the lives she has touched through education, clinical practice, entrepreneurship and her personal philanthropy. 

The establishment of the Joanne Posner-Mayer Endowed Chair in Physical Therapy would not have been possible without the generosity and vision of Joanne Posner-Mayer, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Chair Venu Akuthota, MD, and Dean John J. Reilly, Jr., MD, and in close partnership with Travis Leiker and Karen Aarestad in the CU Anschutz Office of Advancement.