Natalie Blonien is a member of the teaching faculty in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program and a pediatric physical therapist in the neuromuscular disease specialty clinic at UW Health’s American Family Children’s Hospital. She teaches Motor Control Dysfunction Examination, Diagnosis and Management I (PT 635) and II (PT 636), as well as Physical Therapy Management of Integumentary Conditions (PT 678).
Blonien joined the UW–Madison DPT program as a lab assistant for course work in motor control and dysfunction from 2013-2017 and became a faculty associate in 2018. Her area of clinical interest includes neurologic dysfunction in pediatric populations and care coordination. She is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association pediatric and neuro sections, and serves as a member of the practice development committee through APTA Pediatrics.
Blonien also serves as faculty liaison to LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities) at UW’s Waisman Center, as well as Go Baby Go program coordinator.
Her research focuses on assessment of functional outcomes in spinal muscular atrophy treatments in pharmacological trials and exploring care coordination in pediatric physical therapy.
Blonien received a bachelor of science degree in physical therapy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1998 and her transitional doctor of physical therapy degree from Arcadia University in 2015. She completed a capstone certificate in 2022 through UW Institute of Clinical and Translational Research in Clinical and Community Outcome Research.