Celebrating UF Health Physical Therapists
October is Physical Therapy Awareness Month.
Physical therapists are integral parts of our care teams and play an important role in helping people improve their mobility, decrease pain and create or return to healthy lifestyles. Be sure to thank your PT this month!
Vicki Lukert, PT, PRPC
Vicki has been a physical therapist for 38 years, with her training beginning in New Zealand and is now a member of the UF Health Pelvic Health team at Magnolia Parke and Med Plaza. Vicki truly loves the work she does. She treats women, men and children with a variety of different pelvic health issues and loves seeing the difference in her patients’ lives after working together.
“I became a Physiotherapist when I graduated from high school because three people in a row said ‘you would make a great Physiotherapist,’ so I looked into it and thought, ‘that looks like something I would like to do,’ and I have been a PT ever since. “
Lauren Pacho, PT, DPT, CSCS
Lauren has been a physical therapist for a year and a half, working as the lead physical therapist at UF Health Shands Rehab Hospital on the Spinal Cord Injury Team. She was inspired to become a PT because she is fascinated by the way people move. She considers herself a thinker and a problem solver at heart and being a PT allows her to use her background in anatomy, neurology, physiology, biomechanics, and everything else we learn in our Doctoral-level training to piece together the puzzle of control of human movement. Lauren considers it a privilege to spend each day with her patients and help them work to get back to where they want to be.
“I still get goosebumps when I get to help a patient take their first step. Rehab is hard, but together we cry, we laugh, and we become family. “
Giorgio Zeppieri, MPT, SCS, CSCS
Giorgio graduated from the University Of Florida with a Master of Physical Therapy in 2005 and completed an Orthopedic Residency in 2006 and has been working as a PT since then. Giorgio has a natural, innate desire to intervene on physical, mental, and psychosocial constructs on behalf of patients to help them achieve their individualized quality of life targets.
Giorgio’s favorite aspect of his job is “the ability to intercede, give hope and make a positive impact at a time when patients are sometimes at their worst.”