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PTAs tend to have a lot in common. They want to help patients regain mobility. To reduce pain. To regain independence.

But when Rachel Shaheen '20 began working at Powerback Rehab a few months ago, she discovered she had even more in common with colleague Ryan Hohman '02: a Physical Therapist Assistant associate degree from ΢��Ȧ University. And, despite the fact that they’d graduated nearly 20 years apart, she said, they’d had “the same wonderful professor, Jan Haas!”

“When I started a few months ago as the director of rehabilitation at a personal care facility in the Pittsburgh region, Ryan was one of the three people who trained and mentored me,” Shaheen explained.

Shaheen says her studies at ΢��Ȧ gave her “a solid knowledge base and diverse repertoire” to help patients reach their clinical goals.

΢��Ȧ’s alumni office offers a successful and welcoming community of alumni that can stretch meaningful connections, she added.

Her advice for recent graduates: “Maintain former connections while actively establishing new ones. …Seek ways to serve and express gratitude throughout the journey. You never know when an alumni might become an ally.”

PHOTO: Hohman, left, and Shaheen.