2018 Global Health SIG Dr. Ronnie Leavitt Award

Denise English, PT

Denise English, PT, is a University of Pittsburgh graduate who believes she spent her early career preparing for the mid-career opportunities that would change the focus of her work.

In 1996, while enjoying clinical practice as a generalist, she presented on Lamaze childbirth education techniques, as part of a women’s health exchange, in Moscow, Russia, and volunteered in a clinic for the underserved in Pittsburgh. In 1998 she traveled to rural Haiti and became convinced of the benefits that training of basic rehabilitation workers would bring - while facilitating and awaiting the eventual presence of young Haitian physical therapists to guide the development of the rehabilitation system in their own country.

Since 2001 Denise has been volunteering with Health Volunteers Overseas in Haiti as a project director for rehabilitation related educational projects at the national and provincial level. The most recent is a collaboration with the Société Haïtienne de Physiothérapie.