Dr. Ellen Hillegass is a physical therapist with APTA board certification in the cardiovascular and pulmonary clinical specialty. She currently is a Professor on the Core Faculty at South College Knoxville and Atlanta and is an Adjunct Professor at Mercer University in Atlanta in the Department of Physical Therapy. Ellen is also the President and CEO of PT Cardiopulmonary Educators, a web based education company providing webinars for continuing education and residency education that also has a core curriculum in Cardiopulmonary for DPT programs . She is also the founder of a Clinical Residency in Cardiopulmonary through Mercer University in conjunction with Piedmont Hospital.
Ellen Hillegass has been the Chair of the Clinical Practice Guidelines Revision committee on Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) for the APTA that was published in April 2022 and the initial clinical practice guideline on VTE Dr. Hillegass is also the current Chair of the oxygen consensus guidelines Task force for the Academy of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary PT of the APTA. She is a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association, the highest honor given by the APTA. She is the Editor of Essentials in Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy, an entry- level text with the fifth edition just published in 2022 as well as the author of a clinical notes book entitled “PT CLINICAL NOTES” (formerly REHAB NOTES). She received her entry level training in Physical Therapy from the University of Pennsylvania, Masters of Medical Science in cardiopulmonary physiology from Emory University, and doctorate in Exercise Physiology from the University of Georgia. Her dissertation involved muscle morphology in the Spinal Cord Injured patient.