Staff

Liza Tan, DPT, CEO & Owner

Columbia University Teachers College
Master's Degree - Applied Physiology 1999 - 2001
MGH Institute of Health Professions
DPT, Physical Therapy 2007 - 2010

English, Chinese and Tagalog

Kariz de los Santos, DPT

Kariz earned her Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from Mariana Marcos State University in the Philippines. She is currently completing her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Utica College.

Kariz chose Physical Therapy as her profession because she wanted to challenge herself to be creative, innovative, and competent in providing quality care to patients. She always strives to be updated on recent practices and research – devoted to a lifetime of learning – to deliver a more efficient and effective health care service.

“I want to improve my ability to help my patients to get better and assist them to attain their highest functional goal. My principle in treatment is to provide treatment and care to my patients as if they are the member of my family. To my patients - Let us work together not to prevent illnesses but to improve quality of life.”

Noreen Lagman, PT

Noreen received her Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from Our Lady of Fatima University in the Philippines.

She has over 24 years of experience in Physical Therapy, treating a wide variety of conditions including musculoskeletal conditions for Geriatrics, Pediatrics, and Young adults. She also has experience helping patients with post-operative sports injuries. Noreen’s passion for Physical Therapy rooted from her love for science and human anatomy, now helping patients along their journey to recovery.

Nicole Ventura, DPT

Nicole received her Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from Velez College in the Philippines. She recently completed her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Touro University to advance her expertise. Nicole has 4 years experienced and worked in acute in-patient rehabilitation, outpatient rehabilitation, and home care.

Nicole wanted to pursue another career path, but her mother was the one who decided she should take up Physical Therapy. Her mother knew Physical Therapists were very in-demand abroad and are well-compensated. Her mother had the degree and school was already set. Nicole followed her mother's advice and enrolled in a course she barely knew about, but eventually came to appreciate and love the profession. Nicole finds value in knowing that her patients are feeling and moving better. "Seeing the joyful and grateful faces of the patients gives me fulfillment and keeps the fire of service burning". It is amazing to know that in one simple way or another, you made an impact in their life. Nicole's principles in treatment always tell her patients to take it "one step at a time". Some expect to get better and back to regular programming after 2 or 3 sessions, but it almost does not work that way. She always reminds them that healing is a gradual process and would work with their cooperation (aka being compliant with home exercises).

Nicole's hobbies outside of work are a good book is always good company. In her spare time and days off, she enjoys reading romance classic books and theology books. Nicole receives her most outstanding internship in Velez College BS Physical Therapy Batch 2018, she was also Physical Therapist of the month at Chong-Hua Rehab Medics on October 2018. She also received her license as a Physical Therapist in the Philippines PRC in august 2018. Lastly, she became a Physical Therapist in New York on October 2019. Nicole's favorite quote is "some quit due to slow progress, never grasping the fact that slow progress….is a process" - Pinterest.

Colene, PT

Colene received her Bachelor's of Science in Physical Therapy at Cebu Doctors University back in the Philippines. She is currently completing her Doctorate of Physical Therapy at University of Montana. Growing up, Colene's father was part of the Cebu Football Association in the Philippines wherein she was able to witness teams being conditioned and trained by Physical Therapist. She was also a football player and that mainly encouraged her to take up a course that is sport related and exercises while pleasing her family who wanted her to take up a medical course.

Colene has been practicing back in 2017 in the Philippines, where she focused on home health care and sport related injuries. In the United States, she works in various out-patient clinics. Colene always had a certain compassion for taking care of people. She finds it very rewarding and satisfying being able to be of service to those in need. She finds her job very fulfilling when her patients' quality of life-improved for the better and able to contribute in achieving their goals towards healing and improvement.

Colene treats all patients as if she's treating her loved ones with respect, compassion and empathy. Her favorite quote, "Strength does not come from physical capacity; it comes from an indomitable will". - Mahatma Gandii

Christine Espiritu, DPT

Christine received her Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy at Cebu Doctors University back in the Philippines. She completed her Doctorate of Physical Therapy here in the United States. At first, it was Christine aunt's decision to take up this major, but eventually when she started her internship, she was able to foresee herself on helping people by making the best of their lives. She said, "being a Physical Therapist is a fulfilling job, seeing patients' improvement from the first day of their visit is a priceless feeling".

She has been practicing for 4 years and she has worked in out-patient clinics, in-patient settings and home care in the past. There are three things she liked about her job. First is being able to help people in reaching their goals. Second is learning a new treatment method that would be able to widen her knowledge about her profession. Lastly, is being able to meet and socialize with people.

Christine's Principle of treatment are: Passion, Empathy and Excellence. She believes that treating patients should be about treating them as a person. Treating patients the way we care for our loved ones and making their goal as your goal. She said, "we are not here for the sake of business, but we are here for a purpose". Christine's favorite quote related to healing is doctors add years of life but we therapists add life to years. Christine's hobby outside work is singing and recording music.

• Licensed Physical Therapist in the Philippines.
• Licensed Physical Therapist in New York.

Cielo Francisco, PT

Cielo received his Bachelor's Degree from De la Salle Health Science Institute in 2018. He is currently completing his Doctor of Physical Therapy at the University of Montana. Cielo's decision to take up Physical Therapy was greatly influenced by his family members since the majority of his family are healthcare professionals. Growing up, he watched them work and listened to their stories about their patients, and from then on, he got inspired and wanted to pursue something related to helping people with their needs.

Cielo has been working as a Physical Therapist for 2 years, and in the past volunteered at a private hospital in the Philippines, wherein along with treating patients, he worked as a PT Intern training and giving feedback about the intern's performances, unfortunately, had to stop working due to the pandemic. What Cielo like the most in his profession is being able to take part in a person's journey toward reaching their optimal function. He loves the fact that he gets to help patients recover and get back to their hobbies and sport they enjoy.

Cielo's principles are "not to be too comfortable in my job, that no matter how many times I handled the same condition, how long I been doing this career, I'll be thorough with evaluation, care and intervention because, in the end, I am dealing with a human being". Cielo's hobbies outside work are reading books and watching anime. He is also a food lover so when his schedule permits, he like eating out. Cielo's received his dean's lister award at De La Salle Medical Health Science Institute. He has certification in the Telephone & Telemedicine in Clinical Medicine: An Instrument of Opportunity & Risk, (Harvard Medical School) Introductory Course to Dry Needling: A Hands-on Training in the Philippines.

Jed Lim, DPT

Jed received his Bachelor's Degree from Liceo de Cagayan University. He completes his Doctor of Physical Therapy at Arcadia University. Jed's Father encourages him to pursue Physical Therapy and soon learns to love the course and all the challenges that come with it. Jed has 6 years of experience being a Physical Therapist.

What Jed likes about his career is the challenges and when he sees the progress of his patients from having difficulty to being able to easily become independent in ADLs. Lastly, the growth that brings him as a person and how transformative it became to his patients and friends.

Jed's principle in treatment is "I keep it simple and easy for everyone to do, like they say simple things make life happy, so there is no reason for me not to do it". Jed's favorite quote related to healing is "it takes time and effort so put your heart and mind to it and never give up". Jed's hobbies outside work are watching videos, exploring new places, and walking around the city.

Shaira Luna, PT

Shaira received her Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from Southwestern University. Shaira wanted to be able to make a difference in someone's life. To help them return to doing the things they used to do. Shaira has 5 years of experience in her career as a Physical Therapist including her experience in the Philippines.

Shaira like interacting with patients, listening to whatever they have in mind, and being there with them. Lastly, telling her that she made a huge impact on their lives even in the littlest way. Shaira's Principle in treatment is "You should have compassion and empathy towards your patients. Be able to communicate well with them". Shaira's Favorite quote related to healing is "The little progress you have made today still matters". In her spare time, Shaira enjoys cooking a lot.

Stephanie Hadjail, PT

Stephanie is a proficient Physical Therapist, who feel blessed in serving the community of Queens, New York. Attained her Bachelors Degree in Physical Therapy at Emilio Aguinaldo Manila. Stephanie a.k.a. "Sunshine" as her patients calls her, have substantial 15 years of experience in treating 'most if not all type of conditions' here and abroad. She continued her education to upskill her core of assessment and provide evidence based treatment techniques to her patients. Sunshine tailor her treatment in person centered care-approach with a precept of "help me serve you and together we will reach our goal."

Bhavna Rajesh Devnani, PT

Determination and integrity are the qualities which define the work with which Ms. Bhavna Rajesh Devnani treats her patients at New York Bone and Joint/All Sports Physical Therapy in New York, NY. She specializes in rehabilitation for various professional injuries such as dancers, musicians, and athletes in a discrete and ethical way. She has 3+ year of extensive clinical experience in various outpatient orthopedics, inpatient rehabilitation in hospitals, acute care facilities, sports medicine, geriatrics and home health from India. She has experience in treating spine health and disc disease, pelvis, hip, leg imbalance and scoliosis correction, post-surgical rehabilitation, woman's health and pelvic floor strength training and weight management, vestibular rehab, prenatal and postpartum physical therapy Ms. Devnani is a manual therapist, who uses combined approach of evidence-based physical therapy and holistic manual therapies drawn from musculoskeletal and orthopedic philosophy.

She is also a Certified Lymphatic Therapist (CLT) and a Certified Kinesio Taping Practitioner (CKTP). She has her Masters in Kinesiology and Exercise Sciences from Dallas, Texas. She is also certified in Manual Therapy and Mulligan techniques and uses advanced Myofascial Trigger Point Therapy to remove adhesions and scar tissues. She is a Pilates and Aerobics/Zumba instructor and has carried numerous workshops and classes over the past few years. She has experience in aquatic therapy and weight loss program using strength training and a combination of various skillful techniques. Ms Devnani has special interest in sports and strength training, she deals with sports related injuries such as soccer, tennis, baseball, basketball and is trained to diagnose walking, running and postural analysis and correction. Patients admire her hard work and the skills in treating various musculoskeletal issues like arthritis, back pain, meniscal injuries, sprains, ligament tear and postural correction. She is specializing in orthopedics both at recreational and professional levels. She also has experience in aquatic therapy and postoperative rehabilitation such as hip arthroscopy, ACL, PCL reconstruction, meniscal repair, rotator cuff repair, shoulder replacement, TKR, and THR. She always tries to find the best way for each client to restore the highest possible level of function and puts her heart into every case and has amazing outcomes and patient satisfaction.

Stanley Ong, DPT

Stanley received his Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from Philippine College of Health Science. He continued to pursue his schooling at Southwestern University in the Philippines for additional units . He completed his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Utica College in New York. Stanley has two years experience in the Philippines as a home care physical therapist. Three year experience in the nursing home (The Grand Nursing Home at Guilderland, Albany 2015-2018). Five years experience in an outpatient setting (Promotion Physical Therapy 2018 -2023).

Stanley wanted to pursue Physical Therapy to understand human biomechanics and use it to improve personal self and also to help others. What makes Stanley love his job is the progress of his patients and the occupation itself is prestigious. His principle in treatment made him believe in knowing when to advance the patient's treatment and when to step back. In other words, know the patient first before treating them. His Favorite quote is "if there is no sacrifice, there is no progress". One of Stanley's hobby outside his work are cosplay, piano, exercise at the gym (HIIT), shopping, food tripping, stroll around the park, nature appreciation, movies, shoes, biking, drawing and many more but most importantly, he likes to take care of animals, most especially cats. Lastly, Stanley received his best clinical intern award- school graduation (PCHS) and shining star award twice at the nursing home (The Grand).

Angelo Samano, PT

Angelo received his Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Medical Center Inc./Perpetual Help College of Manila, BS Physical Therapy.He wanted to make a difference regarding people who suffer from physical disability and motion problems. He has been practicing for 7 years in between the Philippines and the US state of NY. What he likes about this line of work is that he helps people get back on track with their lives by helping them gain more freedom from pain or physical limitation.

He takes his patient's backgrounds and histories seriously upon assessment to provide better service, as a strong foundation leads to a more successful outcome.One of his favorite quotes is "Pain is mostly a result of either trauma, weakness, or pathology. Or all of them." His mostly into movies/art/games/mountain biking and watching videos getting into applied sciences of most disciplines.

Robert Umandap, DPT

Robert received his Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from the University of Santo Tomas, Philippines in 2015. Robert comes from a family of medical professionals, mainly doctors and nurses. From a young age he knew he would also get into the medical field. He watched a relative go through PT and became interested in the profession over other medical health fields. As of 2023, he has been a PT for 8 years. His experience includes: Hospital Rehab (out-patient, in-patient, with focus on Neurologic PT) as well as experience working with Dr. George Canlas, top Sports Orthopedic Surgeon of the Philippines.

Robert said, "seeing patients get better, no matter how small or slow, knowing that even the tiniest bit of help I provide positively impacts someone's life helps me keep going even through the hardest parts of the profession"..He takes to heart the principle of feedback. Telling patients about what he can see with their progress helps them realize that all their hard work is showing results, and could be what they need to keep going and not lost hope in the process. One of his favorite quotes is "the question is not how to get cured, but how to live life."

Robert enjoys a wide array of geeky hobbies, from video games to table-top games, pop-culture, figure and comic collecting, and he used to host a pop-culture podcast. He also casually enjoys fitness activities such as exercising and cooking meals. Lastly, he finished a 6-month certification workshop to be a "Certified Neuromuscular Therapist" in 2017 in the Philippines.