Kelcey Granger

Kelcey Granger, ’19, came to Indiana State University, specifically the athletic training program, for the connections and she was not disappointed.

After earning her bachelor’s degree, Granger, of McCordsville, Ind., worked at Toyota as an ergonomic specialist. When it came time to learn more about body mechanics to better aid patients in their workplace, she enrolled in Indiana State’s athletic training program.

“I started at Indiana State because of the athletic training program’s long history of excellence, and I wanted to be connected with all of that,” she said.

After completing her master’s, Granger decided to stay at Indiana State because of the faculty and enrolled in the PhD program in curriculum and instruction immediately after completing for master’s degree.

“I fell in love with teaching as a graduate assistant and decided that I want to teach athletic training,” Granger said. “I learned about the great places that graduates of Indiana State’s curriculum and instruction program have gone and I was encouraged to stay for my PhD.”

In her community-based clinical experiences, Granger worked with a variety of athletes and teams and conducted clinical research at the Wabash Valley Health Clinic where she worked with Timothy Demchak on an experimental treatment plan for vertigo, successfully relieving the patient’s symptoms.

“l was seeing a lot of patients who were experiencing vertigo, so I started a new laser treatment with my professor, Dr. Demchak, that required patients to insert a laser in either a nostril 3 minutes per side. When the time was up, the laser was removed and patients were told to relax for a few minutes before leaving.”

While it hasn’t really been used elsewhere before, Granger said they found the treatment to be effective in providing relief to patients.

“Besides setting up the laser, the treatment was something patients could do all by themselves while clinicians could treat other patients once the laser was inserted,” she said. “I used the treatment on four patients and wrote a case series on the treatment for my cumulative paper for my master’s degree, and now Dr. Demchak is continuing laser research.”

Faculty connections, like Demchak, have become valuable resources to Granger on her journey to a PhD.

“The professors know lot of people, not just in the community but nationwide, so they can really help you to take your career wherever you want to go,” she said. “From the clinical sites they put me at to the graduate assistant position I had and the faculty support I’ve had in making any idea I had feasible, literally everything I’ve done at Indiana State further me toward where I want to take my career.”