By: Natalia Sanchez
Kirsten Moisio, PT, PhD literally sees dead people, every day. As the course coordinator and only instructor of human anatomy in the department of Physical Therapy (PT) and Human Movement Sciences, Dr. Moisio spends most of her time in the dark basements of Northwestern University’s medical school campus dissecting cadavers. However, she is quite the opposite from what one would expect a typical anatomist to be. In fact, if you ask her students for an adjective to describe her, the unanimous response would be: “awesome”. Despite the fact that anatomy may be one of the hardest classes students take as part of their PT training, Dr. Moisio makes sure they enjoy every second of it.
Kirsten was born in Waukegan, IL. Her first introduction to science was with her father, a chemical engineer. When Kirsten was in high school, she had jaw surgery followed by physical therapy, which shaped her future career. Kirsten majored in Kinesiology at the University of Illinois and had her first exposure to human anatomy while there. Early in the semester Kirsten found out that her lab partner would be absent for a month due to illness. She took it to heart to learn the material well so she could teach him when he returned. Kirsten was so evidently talented at teaching anatomy that she was invited to be a teaching assistant for the following year. This experience left a considerable impression on Kirsten and she considers this the major influence for her career as an anatomist.
Kirsten went on to earn a master’s degree in physical therapy at Washington University in St. Louis. After graduating, Kirsten came back to Chicago to work at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. She really missed teaching, however, and contacted Dr. Randy Perkins, an anatomy professor at Northwestern, but at that time there were no openings for a teaching assistant. Wishing to go back to her beloved anatomy, Kirsten decided to pursue a PhD in anatomy at Rush University. After completing her PhD, she did a postdoc at Rush in the tribology lab investigating gait and wear of total joint replacements. During this time, Kirsten got married and became a mom.
One day in 2005, Dr. Randy Perkins contacted Kirsten. He was planning to retire and she had come to mind when thinking about a replacement for one of Northwestern Universities most recognized professors. After nine years at Northwestern University, Kirsten is now an associate professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences. She loves her job because she is able to combine her interests of teaching human gross anatomy with her research interests in the area of osteoarthritis. She is a co-investigator on projects aimed at defining targets for therapy to delay cartilage loss and poor outcomes in individuals with knee osteoarthritis.
Kirsten is now a mom of 3 kids ranging in age from 10 to 4. She is very thankful for her husband who is her main support for keeping “everything together in the sanity of a very busy household with two working parents”. She also credits her boss for his flexibility and understanding when it comes to responsibilities of working moms.
She absolutely loves teaching and enjoys interacting with hundreds of students every day. She attributes her success to her assertiveness, her energy, and her overall passion for anatomy. Kirsten would love for her kids to find their passion and be able to combine it with a career as she has done. Because if you love what you do, then you no longer have a job but a passion you get paid for.