Ellen Spake Lecture Series: June Edition

The Rockhurst University Physical Therapy Advisory Board invites you to our next Ellen Spake Lecture Series this summer!

5:30 p.m. Join the Rockhurst Physical Therapy Advisory Board for a reception and networking hour prior to the lecture. Drinks and light appetizers will be provided.

6:30 p.m. Lecture: “Nutrition, Gut Health, Pain & Healing:  Building Resilience Through Nourishment” by Megan Pribyl, PT, CMPT, CMTPT/DN, PCES

Event Price: $10/person for healthcare providers, alumni, and friends. All are welcome! Free for students. Please use the RSVP that is appropriate for you.

Healthcare Providers/Alumni/Friends: Register Here!

Students: Register Here!

Lecture topic: The food we eat impacts every system of the body and our nourishment status directly relates to our overall health picture.  In physical therapy, nourishment-related issues affect a multitude of individuals including those experiencing pain and insufficient healing. Nutrition, Gut Health, Pain & Healing:  Building Resilience Through Nourishment provides the physical therapist with a unique and timely opportunity to explore multi-dimensional connections between physical therapy, pain response, gut health and nutritional sciences.  This seminar is a cutting-edge experience designed for clinicians ready to access organized and clinically relevant nutrition information applicable to all experience levels and practice settings.

Megan Pribyl, PT, CMPT, CMTPT/DN, PCES

Megan Pribyl, PT, CMPT, CMTPT/DN is a mastery-level physical therapist in the University of Kansas Health System in Olathe, KS treating a diverse outpatient population in orthopedics including pelvic rehabilitation and post-partum care. She began her PT career in 2000 after graduating from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center with her Masters of Science Degree in Physical Therapy. Prior, she earned her Dual-Degree in Nutrition and Exercise Sciences (B.S. Foods & Nutrition, B.S. Kinesiology) in 1998 from Kansas State University.  Megan completed her manual therapy certification through North American Institute of Orthopedic Manual Therapy (NAIOMT) in 2016 and is also a pelvic rehabilitation specialist.  She earned her certification in Myofascial Trigger Point Dry Needling (2019) and has completed formal training as a Pregnancy and Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist (2021).  Since 2015, she has been a professional instructor with Herman & Wallace Pelvic Rehabilitation Institute.  She authored and teaches Nutrition Perspectives for the Pelvic Rehab Therapist and instructs Pelvic Floor Level 1 – reaching clinicians nationally and internationally. 

Megan’s longstanding passion for both nutritional sciences and manual therapy culminates in her continual creation of nutrition-related content for the rehabilitation professional designed to propel understanding of human physiology as it relates to pain, healing and therapeutic response.   Recently, she contributed nutrition-related content for an oncology and pelvic rehabilitation series and for Goodman and Fuller’s Pathology: 5th Edition textbook.

Megan enjoys her many fulfilling roles as instructor, clinician, wife and mom to two active teenagers and owner of two rambunctious golden retrievers.  She loves to read, cook, be in the great outdoors, travel, and spend time with her family and friends.  She has a passion for downhill skiing, exploring scientific literature, and learning all she can about the power of using nature, nurture, and nutrition to heal and sustain health.   

History of the Ellen Spake Lecture Series  

Ellen Spake, PT, Ph. D. was one of the co-founders of the Physical Therapy Education Department at Rockhurst in 1983. For 20 years, from 1983 until 2003, she served as the Chair of the Physical Therapy Education Program. Her vision and leadership skills led the department in the curricular evolution from a bachelor’s degree, through a master’s program and to the present Doctor of Physical Therapy degree. Subsequently, Dr. Spake served as the Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence and finally as Assistant to the President with the primary responsibility of directing the Office of Mission and Ministry.  She retired from Rockhurst in 2018. 

The first Ellen Spake Lecture Series was launched in 2015 in honor of Dr. Spake's legacy of leadership and excellence at Rockhurst.

The Rockhurst University Physical Therapy Advisory Board has begun fundraising for a new scholarship and looks forward to it supporting one or more DPT students in the future. Once the scholarship is fully endowed at $50,000, it will be awarded annually with the ability of renewal. All sponsorships and donations for this year’s Ellen Spake Lecture Series will benefit the Rockhurst University Physical Therapy Advisory Board Scholarship Fund. 

Questions? Please reach out to Marcie Swift, Director, Seelos Simulation Center and Associate Professor and Interim Chair of the Physical Therapy Program