Why clinical demands, life milestones and even building businesses don’t stand in the way of local alums supporting their alma mater

It’s easy for life to get in the way. Yet three graduates of VCU’s College of Health Professions Physical Therapy program — all in demanding, full-time practice — continue to find ways to give back to the program that helped mold their careers.

Take Ben Klingelhofer, DPT, who said yes to a student panel at VCU scheduled for the same week he, his wife and three dogs would be moving across Richmond. “I definitely may not have agreed to do the panel, in hindsight, had I known it would be the same week,” he said with a laugh. 

Still, he showed up. Between unboxing moving boxes and managing his growing physical therapy and performance training business, Bend Movement, Klingelhofer carved out time to talk to students about life after graduation and the business side of PT. “If I can impart some valuable knowledge to students who are eventually going to be treating patients,” he said, “that can be a way for me to impart that benefit to even more people – exponentially more people.”

That ripple effect runs through each of their stories: alums who learned from mentors at VCU and now feel compelled to pay it forward.

For Hayden Smith, DPT, who graduated in 2019 and then completed the VCU-Sheltering Arms Neurological Residency Program, giving back means stepping to the front of the classroom and lab. Now a neuro PT at VCU Health Short Pump Pavilion, Smith mentors residents in that program, and supports students during their neuro rehab labs. “I get to bring some of my own patients into the labs,” he said. “It’s among the first patient exposure labs where the students are hands on with patients.”

He hopes those early experiences help future clinicians connect compassion to practice. To that end, Smith seeks to weave a message about the disease into his lectures. “The main thing I try to convey is my passion for treating people with Parkinson's disease,” Smith said. “If it's not Parkinson's, I want students to find something else that they're passionate about – to find something that they enjoy about their work and pursue it.”

And while he enjoys helping others, teaching sharpens his own clinical edge. That’s part of the reason why Smith recommends that colleagues support their alma maters. “How well you can teach someone something is a really good indicator of how well you understand it,” he said. “PT is a teaching profession. We teach people how to exercise. We teach people how to move better.”

Gabrielle Griffin, DPT, who graduated in 2017, sees mentorship as a natural extension of practice – even if her classroom, like Klingelhofer’s, looks more like a gym. After years in traditional outpatient settings, she founded GRIT Physical Therapy + Performance, a sports and orthopedic clinic built on one-on-one care. “I left work every day feeling like I left something on the table,” she said of her earlier roles. “I worked so hard at VCU to hone my craft. I wanted to create an environment where I could treat individuals one-on-one and be super focused.”

Now a new mother and small-business owner, Griffin welcomes VCU students eager to shadow her at GRIT – with most of them finding her via social media. “They’ll jump in and shadow with me, say for half days, whenever they can,” she said. “It’s pretty informal as they are building their network.”

She’s hired fellow VCU DPT grads and hopes to return as a guest lecturer. “I just had such an awesome experience at VCU myself,” she said. “It’s exciting to give back.”

These alums might not stop there. Even with full plates, all three say they’re eager to do more. Klingelhofer has considered teaching a course part-time. Smith plans to deepen his mentoring in VCU’s Neurological Residency program. And Griffin would like to speak to students about performance training and dry needling.

“I’ve always been interested in the academic side,” Klingelhofer said. “I think educating future physical therapists of the world would be another way for me to have an influence on more patients in the future.”

By Dan Carrigan