Dr. Heidi Prather is an Attending Physician and Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS)/Weill Cornell Medicine, where she holds the title of Simonsen Family Foundation Scholar. She is the Founder and Medical Director of the HSS Lifestyle Medicine Program—an interprofessional program designed to help people with musculoskeletal pain improve whole-person health, reduce pain, and enhance function through behavior change. She has also served as Clinical Director for Value-Based Programming and Medical Director for the HSS Osteoarthritis Pilot Program.
Dr. Prather earned her Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Biology and Chemistry from Drury University and her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Kansas City University, followed by a residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
From 1998 to 2020, she served at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis as Professor, Vice Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery, and founding Division Chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She co-founded the Sports Medicine Fellowship, co-directed the NASS-recognized Spine and Intervention Fellowship, and founded the Living Well Center—the first standardized musculoskeletal health program of its kind.
Dr. Prather is board-certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Sports Medicine, and Lifestyle Medicine, and is a founding Senior Editor of PM&R journal. She was the first female president of both the Physiatric Association of Spine, Sports and Occupational Rehabilitation and the North American Spine Society.
Her research spans pre-arthritic hip disorders, the hip-spine connection, and lifestyle medicine, resulting in over 100 peer-reviewed publications.
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