ASHT past president Bill Walsh's career was recently highlighted in an alumni piece by Pfeiffer University, from which he earned a master of health administration/master of business administration in 2003.
Devoted to Hand Therapy
by Ken Keuffel Apr 11, 2024
In 1977, Bill Walsh of Concord, N.C. received a B.S. degree in occupational therapy (OT) from the State University of New York at Buffalo. In 2003, he earned a Master of Health Administration/Master of Business Administration degree (MHA/MBA) from Pfeiffer University.
This academic background has proven particularly potent for Walsh, 71, who is still working as a Senior Therapist for BenchMark Physical Therapy. And so has hand therapy, his OT specialty, for which Doris Ann Slack, one of his instructors at the State University of New York at Buffalo, sparked an interest.
“Hands just called to me,” Walsh said. “A lot of what gives you a sense of value is accomplished through your hands, whether it’s touching another life, whether it’s bowling, throwing a ball with somebody, or tying your shoes. I’ve derived a lot of satisfaction from helping my patients recapture that value through therapy and other services I’ve provided them.”
Walsh’s journey in the hand therapy space began with a clinical internship at the Philadelphia Hand Rehabilitation Center. It has included OT stints at such places as the Hand Rehabilitation Center at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Medicine and the Duke University Medical Center.
It has gone way beyond helping individuals with hand injuries or with conditions that adversely affect the hands, such as arthritis or Parkinson’s disease. At BenchMark, for example, he is responsible for launching the clinical operations of hand therapy services within two established clinics in Concord and Salisbury, N.C. He has worked tirelessly to advance the hand therapy specialty, primarily as a researcher and as a lecturer/instructor at several universities. He has put in years of committee and board work for the American Society of Hand Therapists.