Kyle Covington, PT, DPT, PhD, has a long history with APTA. His journey began as a PT student at Duke University, where he first joined the association. After graduation, he became an active leader, starting as a federal affairs liaison and later serving as an alternate delegate to the APTA House of Delegates. He soon transitioned to a full delegate role and, in 2016, was elected president of APTA North Carolina, serving a three-year term. Following his presidency, Covington was elected to the APTA Board of Directors as vice speaker, a position he held for five years before being elected president of APTA.
Despite his extensive APTA involvement — enough to rival the length of a CVS receipt — physical therapy wasn't always Covington's career plan. As a child, he dreamed of becoming an architect. However, a high school accident that required extensive physical therapy introduced him to the profession and changed his path.
After earning a bachelor's degree from Wake Forest University in health and exercise science, he went on to earn his DPT from Duke University's Doctor of Physical Therapy program. After working in inpatient rehab and outpatient physical therapy for several years, he returned to Duke, this time as both a clinician and instructor. A North Carolina native, Covington still resides in the state with his wife, Suzanne, and their children, Claire and Graham, who are both in middle school.
Last December, APTA Magazine had the opportunity to sit down with Covington. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
APTA: When did you first decide that you wanted to be involved in physical therapy?
Covington: I was in high school. Up until that point in my life, I thought I wanted to be an architect. The short story is I grew up on a fairly large dairy farm here in North Carolina, and I was in a significant farming accident, breaking both legs and my arm the summer before my sophomore year in high school.
I spent lots of time in casts, lots of time in physicians' offices, and lots of time in rehab. And that's the short story of how I pivoted from design and engineering and architecture to physical therapy.
APTA: So, you were exposed to physical therapy when you were in high school, you got your undergrad degree in exercise science, and then you went straight on to DPT school. What happened between PT school and when you earned your PhD?
Covington: I knew when I was in PT school that I wanted a role in teaching and mentoring down the road. I went to work in a hospital system in Winston-Salem, North Carolina — Novant — and I worked in a lot of different areas but primarily with neurologically impaired patients.
I got my [board certification in neurologic physical therapy] several years out of PT school, but at the same time, I was also really involved in clinical education. I was a clinical instructor, and I was the site coordinator of all the clinical instructors. Actually, my first role on faculty was as a director of clinical education, which lined up well with my interest and passion in how we teach and how we practice. That's how I got my start in academics.
But then later on, I was already on faculty at Duke when I got my PhD. I earned an educational research and policy analysis degree simultaneously while teaching. I have a big passion for how we educate, but I also have a passion for policy. By that time, I was already involved in APTA and policy and advocacy, so my PhD combined program evaluation, assessment, and policy. It was a cool combination that fed my teaching interests and a lot of my advocacy interests as well.
APTA: When you were in PT school, you knew that you probably wanted to continue in academia and leadership. How did you know that?
Covington: I always really enjoyed teaching. And even as a student at different points, I got to teach. Even going all the way back to middle school, I was always into student government. Ironically, I lost president every time I ran for it in student council.
And then when I was in PT school, there was an APTA annual conference in Washington, D.C., in 2003. I went to the annual conference and that year I had an option to do Capitol Hill for a day. So I took that option and I went to the Hill with some long-standing leaders in North Carolina, to my congressman, Rep. Howard Coble's office.
We walked into the office, and they introduced me as the student. And Rep. Coble looked at the other two I came with and said, 'I'm not interested in talking to you. I only want to talk to him.' And so I sat there with them, and I got grilled by the congressman for what seemed like a long, long time. And then at the end, he said, 'Yeah, I'll sign on to that bill.'
That moment got me hooked on APTA and policy and advocacy. Immediately after graduation, I became a key contact. I got involved in the federal and state advocacy kind of things. And that's how I got started with APTA.
And then because I was interested in policy, mentors in North Carolina told me to think about professional advocacy in the House of Delegates. So I ran for the House of Delegates a couple of years out of PT school and became an alternate delegate. I think my first trip to the House was just three years after graduating PT school.
APTA: How would you describe your leadership style?
Covington: I think the real answer is good leaders adapt their leadership style. And, so, I try to adapt based on what the situation is, who I'm serving with, and what we need to get done.
It's important to understand what our goals are and then capitalize on the talents and skills of the people you're working with to move there. I'm a big believer that my job as a leader is just to facilitate everybody else to be effective, not to do things my way. That adaptability and collaboration are things that are important in leadership.
I think the other thing people say about me is that I'm candid. So, I try to lead with honesty and candor. I want to be clear about what we're doing and how we can do that better together.
APTA: You mentioned that you have been involved with APTA and specifically the House of Delegates for quite some time, but why did you decide to run for the office?
Covington: There are a lot of reasons. As far as the office of president, I'm excited about the opportunities that the profession has. We have a lot of challenges, but we have even more opportunities.
Coming out of the centennial [in 2021], that's a turning point for our profession. And now we have an opportunity to look out at the next 100 years. It's hard to recognize the potential we have 100 years from now. But going back to my interest in engineering and architecture, I love the idea of building — laying foundations and then building on top of that. The next strategic plan and the work we're doing right now is what situates us for our future. Being mindful and thoughtful about what we're doing in the here and now is going to set the profession and the organization up long term. And that's exciting to me. So that was a major factor.
Another major factor is that I spend my day job with PT students, and I'm motivated by them. I love the mentorship role. I love helping connect their passion. They come in so excited about the profession, and then they see a lot of the realities of the challenges we have. I see the work we do at APTA as an opportunity to support them and to help them so they will continue to be excited about our profession throughout their careers. APTA can be that place that continues to advocate and excite and make the profession meaningful for everybody.
My daughter thinks she might want to be a physical therapist. That was one of the things that convinced me, too. I want the organization and the profession to be just as good for her as it is for me. We have a real opportunity right now to be an inflection point in our history. And the opportunity to help lead that, it's really exciting.
And none of that is meant to downplay all the challenges. Payment, cost of education, burnout, and administrative burden — all of those things are real issues that we have to address. I want to help figure out how to address those issues in different ways. I think of those things as part of that foundation that will set us up for our future.
Because until we can address those issues, students coming out of PT school, and potentially my daughter, they're going to have some challenges. We need to fix that.
APTA: Since you brought that up, what do you think is the biggest challenge that PTs and PTAs face? And what can you do as APTA president to address those challenges?
Covington: I think our biggest challenge as a profession right now is how fast the environment is changing, and that impacts all those other challenges I mentioned a minute ago. The health care system, society, and our workplaces; everything is changing so fast and that compounds all of the issues like payment, cost of education, and burnout.
As an organization and as a profession that has a lot of history, we have to figure out how we can be most effective in a world that's rapidly changing. We've been around a long time. We have a lot of history and a lot of great ways of doing things. But how can we build on those to be adaptable in an environment that tomorrow might be different?
Our clinicians are on the front lines and are very used to having to adapt. And that's why they feel more burned out and why they feel underpaid, because tomorrow the insurance regulations are going to change. And the day after that, decisions at the federal and state-level governments might change. And so where do they go to find support? APTA should be the place that they come to for that.
That means that we must adapt and evolve the way we do our work and the way we support our members. It was Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who once said, “The pace of change has never been this fast, yet it will never be this slow again.”
And that's the pressure that I think we all feel in APTA and in the profession — I don't think any of us are keeping up with how fast the world is changing. I think that's our biggest challenge as an organization. Being relevant to all facets of our membership when their expectations are changing in different ways at different rates is a challenge. Addressing all of the challenges that the outside world is imposing on us as professionals, as physical therapists and physical therapist assistants, is a challenge. It's all related to that pace of change that we've got to figure out as an organization.
APTA: With that in mind, what are some of your short-term goals as president, and then what are some of your longer-term goals?
Covington: We've changed the timing of when the strategic plan comes out to be intentional about it syncing with a new presidency or a continuation of a second term. So I'm really excited about the opportunity for this new Board that starts in 2025 to really make some bold strides on what the strategy for the next three to five to seven years looks like.
That really circles back to what I was saying earlier. This is the first brick in the foundation of the next 100 years of this organization. And so how can we be really intentional? We've gathered huge amounts of data from focus group participants and over 5,000 survey respondents, both from members and nonmembers. So this plan is going to be data-driven.
I just want to listen a lot in this first year as a short-term goal. I've been in APTA leadership a long time. I've been on the Board for five years. But in this role, I will have a lot that I need to listen to and digest, and I think that that's also going to help inform all of these other things.
Then, the longer-term goal after formulating the strategic plan is to get everybody in APTA galvanized around that plan. It's not the APTA Board's plan, it's not APTA staff's plan, it's the APTA strategic plan.
And that means everybody has a role in it, whether that's component leaders, clinical managers, educators, researchers, or full-time clinicians — everybody will have a role in how we can fulfill that strategic plan.
I think that's been a disconnect in the past, that sometimes it's seen as the APTA Board strategic plan. And while they have a large hand in crafting it, the whole enterprise has a role to play in it. So as president, I hope I can help find the ways that the components can contribute and engage in that plan, the ways that students can contribute and engage in that plan, and the ways our APTA members can contribute and engage in that plan. And I think that's what will make us successful.
APTA: Thank you for your time today. Is there anything else that you want APTA members to know?
Covington: I'm a big believer in this organization. But I get the sense that not everyone feels like they belong. And when we talk about “Why isn't everybody a member?” my personal belief is, at the heart of it, that nonmembers don't feel like they belong here. And I think that that cuts across a wide range of all demographics.
We have a lot of work to do there. A long-range goal of mine would be that everybody feels welcome and that their voice is heard and that they have a way of contributing to the greater work of APTA.
At a Glance: Kyle Covington, PT, DPT, PhD
Titles
- President, American Physical Therapy Association
- Director of Assessment and Evaluation, Duke Doctor of Physical Therapy Program
- Director of Faculty Development Residency, Duke Doctor of Physical Therapy Program
Education
- BS in health and exercise science, Wake Forest University
- DPT, Duke University
- PhD in educational research and policy analysis, North Carolina State University
Certification
Board-Certified Specialist in Neurologic Physical Therapy: 2007-2017
Recognitions
- Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy Best Article Award, 2022
APTA Geriatrics - Founders' Lectureship Award, 2021
APTA North Carolina - Adopt-a-Doc Awardee, 2014
APTA Academy of Education - Emerging Leader Award, 2011
American Physical Therapy Association - Student Scholarship Recipient, 2003
North Carolina Physical Therapy Association
Other Activities and Interests
Golfing, running, and kayaking. Music performance, specifically trumpet. Spending time at the beach and watching my kids do their favorite activities.
Memberships
American Physical Therapy Association
National, member since 2002
- Board of Directors, President, elected 2024; Vice Speaker, 2019-24
- Delegate, House of Delegates, 2007-10; 2012-14; 2016-19
North Carolina Physical Therapy Association
Member since 2002
- President, 2016-2019
- Government Affairs Committee, 2004-10
APTA Academy of Education
Member since 2008
- Programming Chair, 2016-19
- Board member, 2016-19
National Association of Parliamentarians
Member since 2018