Physical Therapy Residency Program

Accelerate your professional development by participating in the Stanford Health Care Acute Care Physical Therapy Residency Program. Be part of our innovative and dynamic team in an outstanding multi-site medical center with state-of-the-art equipment and world-class medical care. We are looking for passionate, hardworking physical therapists with the desire for superior clinical knowledge and advanced clinical expertise.

The Acute Care Physical Residency Program at Stanford Health Care is accrediated by the American Board of Physical Therapy Residency and Fellowship Education.

Residency Program Facts

The Stanford Health Care Acute Care Residency Program's curriculum is designed around world renowned clinical practice, using the resources of our academic medical institution. Each clinical rotation is designed to seamlessly progress through each specialty area of practice within the continuum of Acute Care supplemented with advanced theoretical and didactic coursework.

During the week, residents will receive mentorship from faculty content experts, will facilitate monthly journal clubs and case study presentations, will complete self-guided learning and observation activities, and will engage in clinical teaching opportunities. The residency year will culminate in a comprehensive, evidenced-based capstone project.

Program Outcomes:
Graduation Rate: 100%
Retention Rate: 100%

Program Resources:

Financial Planning Document

Sample Residency Schedule

Residency Lecture Topics
Residency Instructional Hours

Acute Care PT Resident Spotlight

Richard Ou, PT, DPT

Hometown: Sydney, Australia. There is nothing like living in a coastal metropolitan, blending innovation and opportunity with great food, great people, and beachy vibes. In many ways, Sydney heavily resembles the Bay Area, which is probably exactly why I feel so at home here.

Where did you earn your DPT degree?
The UCSF/SFSU DPT Program. 2026 Cohort

What are your interests and hobbies outside of PT?
I love staying active through being mediocre at recreational team sports, lifting, and running. However, sidelying with endless scolling once a week is also very therapeutic. Recently I have also gotten into high protein meal prepping to improve QOL and maintain hypertrophy during my residency era.

What are you most excited to learn about during your residency program?
My focus is on building the efficiency and confidence needed to thrive as a well-rounded acute care clinician. I'm partially excited to dive deeper into trauma care after a great experience on my last rotation, and I look forward to tackling the complexity of neurological cases to push my clinical decision making and interdisciplinary collaboration to the next level.

What do you hope to achieve with this program?
Through Stanford Health, I hope to expand my knowledge and skills across multiple service lines within the acute care setting and to hone my skills as a clinician to serve a diverse array of patient populations and complex diagnoses.

Share a fun fact or something unique about yourself.
I truly believe 2011 sci-fi sports film Real Steel is most heavily underrated and under watched movie during the 2010-2020 period. Our universe may be the only thread in the multiverse where this movie was a box office bomb.

Joshua Buck

Hometown: Turlock, CA

Where did you earn your DPT degree?: Fresno State University

What are your interests and hobbies outside of PT? Outside of PT, I love to stay active, whether it’s through running, swimming, or exploring national parks. I enjoy trying new food cuisines or restaurants. During PT school, I also developed a passion for indoor rock climbing, which I also enjoy doing in my free time.

What are you most excited to learn about during your residency program?
I am excited to gain a unique insight into all of the different service lines that physical therapists specialize in at Stanford. I am looking forward to collaborating with the healthcare team, solving complex cases, and providing patient-centered care.

What do you hope to achieve in this program?
I hope to become a competent generalist in an acute care physical therapy setting. I also aim to strengthen my application of the clinical and evidence-based skills that I will learn here to hopefully improve the care I provide to my patients as a whole.

Share a fun fact or something unique about yourself.
A fun fact is I have a chocolate lab named Thor! He is very energetic and is the best running buddy.

Program Basics

Duration

August to August

Location

Stanford Health Care Hospitals (300P & 500P)

Schedule

Each resident is scheduled for a minimum of 40 hours per week. The schedule will vary based on the specialty areas, and may consist of days, evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays.

Cohort Size

One to three residents.

Total Rewards

Physical Therapy residents are salaried, full-time employees. Residents are eligible for benefits including medical, dental, life insurance, retirement plan, tuition reimbursement (after six months), and paid time off.

Learn More

Recruiting Information

Qualifications

The Acute Care Physical Therapy Residency Program at Stanford Health Care is looking for physical therapists with energy and passion for their profession, ready to move to the next level of clinical practice. Applicants do not have to have a minimum amount of practice in the field.

Eligibility requirements for residency:

Graduate from a CAPTE accredited PT program or demonstrated substantial international equivalency (See FAQ)
Be a current licensed Physical Therapist in the State of California or a current Licensed Applicant who has passed the California licensure examination.
American Heart Association BLS Certification for Healthcare Workers.
Meet all necessary requirements of Stanford Health Care per review of SHC Human resources to be hired as an employee including passing of background check and pre-employment physical, including TB test.
Demonstrate competency in technical skills and clinical reasoning during the interview with the Residency committee.

Application Components

Formal application completion
Two Professional letters of recommendation
- Your letter should be from people who can best attest to you as a person, and make an excellent case for why you are the best applicant for this position. We do encourage prior clinical instructors and/or scholastic professors.
Curriculum Vitae (CV) or resume

Application Timeline

We will be using the centralized RF-PTCAS system and the candidate will also need to apply for a job through our careers website.

October 1, 2026: Applications Open
March 1, 2027: Applications Close
Early 2027: Candidates will be notified of a phone screening and formal interview
July 2027: Offers for the 2027-2028 cohort will be sent via e-mail.
August 2027: Residency begins

Onboarding Process

Before the residency starts, selected candidates must pass the onboarding process. This includes verification of:

Basic Life Support (BLS) Certification
Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) Certification
Background check
Occupational health clearance (includes drug test, tuberculosis testing, blood test, and physical evaluation)

Watch our Informational Webinar about the PT Residency Program.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, our curriculum is designed to meet the qualifications for most of the board certification examinations through ABPTRFS. Currently, there is no acute care board certification exam, however we are hopeful that one will be developed in the near future.

There is no minimum experience requirement to apply to the program. We will address the needs of the resident individually, but we do encourage a strong background and passion for Acute Care Physical Therapy. See the application and eligibility requirements (hyperlinks to each).

We will begin using RF-PTCAS for the 2025-2026 cohort with applications opening on October 1. There are no application fees outside of those required by RF-PTCAS.

Yes. All residents must have evidence of passed Licensure Exam and CA State Law Exam. The resident will work as a PT licensed Applicant (PTLA) if the Board of CA has not approved their official license before the start date, so long as they qualify for PTLA status.

Yes, as long as you meet all of the licensure requirements through the Foreign credentialing commission of physical therapy (FCCPT). The FCCPT uses a tool to determine substantial equivalency to the US Commission on Accreditation of Physical Therapist Education (CAPTE) criteria. You would apply through our position posted through the career site.

In order to create an equitable admissions process, and to recruit passionate physical therapists who are motivated to advance their career, there are no tuition or program fees associated with the Acute Care Physical Therapy Residency Program. There will be costs associated with the program that are reimbursable through our continuing education benefit (e.g. conference fees, organizational dues, pertinent coursework).

Our interview process is very extensive. We have multiple staff/faculty who will be part of the interview process. As such we cannot adequately provide interviews at this time during national conferences. We welcome networking with professionals from Stanford Health Care, and typically we have a booth set up at CSM where questions are welcome.

It is our policy not to allow potential residents to have a preview other than previous patient experiences, clinical rotations, and/or other clinical or academic related reasons prior to the interview. This would be unfair to potential applicants who reside outside of this geographic region, in addition to potential breach of patient confidentiality. We do perform a full tour of the facility and leave ample time for questions during the interview process

Stanford Health Care is comprised of multiple sites/campuses across the peninsula including an Outpatient Center in Redwood City, Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital, and the primary Stanford Health Care Hospital Campus. The primary hospital campus (adult patient population) consists of 2 buildings – 300 Pasteur Drive and 500 Pasteur Drive in Palo Alto, comprising 650+ beds. Clinical and educational learning activities for this residency program will occur at the primary medical campus

We have a very dynamic resident/mentor relationship schedule. Our program utilizes multiple mentors over the course of the year. You rotate to each service line in the adult hospital with content specific mentors 1 to 1 (Specialty area of clinical practice). The content mentor treats with you one on one in the clinic for up to 8 hours per week. You also meet with the Residency Director for 1 hour per week to discuss program related issues, clinical questions or any related agenda items as decided by you and the Residency Director. It really is a comprehensive model.

We have dynamic residency faculty members who are comprised of interprofessional rehabilitation professionals (PTs, OTs, and SLPs). A clinical mentor is a licensed physical therapist or clinical specialist within a specific service line/patient population. They are the primary mentor during each clinical rotation working with the resident during patient care. A didactic content expert consists of PTs, OTs, SLPs, and other interprofessional colleagues (e.g. Case Managers, Social Workers, MDs, Dieticians, Pharmacists) who create evidenced-based content that will be discussed during weekly didactic teaching sessions. The didactic and clinical content supplement each other.

Contact Us

For more information about our residency or for any questions, please e-mail:
Residency Program Email: AcuteCarePTResidency@stanfordhealthcare.org
Residency Program Director: Lauren Stoll, PT, DPT – lstoll@stanfordhealthcare.org
Residency Program LinkedIn