Wesley Thornton
Wesley Thornton, PT, DPT, PhD, NCS, received his doctorate in Rehabilitation Science through the University of Colorado’s School of Medicine in 2025. He completed his clinical Physical Therapy doctorate at Regis University in 2014 and has worked throughout the PT department at Craig since his graduation. He has been a board-certified clinical specialist in Neurologic Physical Therapy for over 8 years and is currently completing a post-doctoral fellowship in the Research department at Craig. His research interests are in neurological disorders with a concentration on spinal cord injury and return of function.
His dissertation work focused on improving walking recovery prognosis for individuals with spinal cord injury. During his PhD training he secured the Foundation for Physical Therapy Research’s Promotion of Doctoral Studies I and II scholarships and won best Spinal Cord Injury poster at the 2024 American Physical Therapy Association’s Combined Sections Meeting. Other awards include the 2023 Labe C Scheinberg Award for the Best Work in Neurorehabilitation from the Consortium of MS Centers Annual Conference, and both the Mary Lou Barnes and Patricia Leahy doctoral scholarships from the Academy of Neurologic Physical Therapy.
Wesley is currently working on a study looking at the effectiveness of transcutaneous stimulation in the home setting on upper extremity recovery after spinal cord injury.