For more than four decades, Holly Lookabaugh-Deur has dedicated her career to one core belief: rehabilitation is not an afterthought in cancer care — it is essential to it. As a physical therapist with board certifications in both geriatric and oncology practice, Holly has worked across the full landscape of patient care, from inpatient hospitals and outpatient clinics to home care, skilled nursing facilities, aquatic centers, and community sports settings.

She built outpatient rehabilitation facilities centered on aquatic therapy, forged partnerships with major health systems, and created specialty programs to address the gaps she saw her patients falling through — the lingering fatigue, loss of function, and diminished quality of life that follow cancer treatment but rarely receive dedicated care.

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As a faculty member, curriculum developer, and program director in physical therapy education, Holly has trained the next generation of clinicians to see oncology rehabilitation not as a niche specialty but as a core clinical competency. She has served as a residency program designer, a PTA program director, and a long-standing instructor in the APTA Aquatic Academy's Clinical Competency Certificate program.

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Her commitment extends beyond the clinic and classroom. Holly has served the American Physical Therapy Association at both the Michigan chapter and national levels, contributing to multiple Special Interest Groups and helping shape the profession's evolving approach to oncology and geriatric care.

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Today, as Director of Oncology Rehab Residency at Ivy Rehab, Holly channels that lifetime of experience into education, resource-building, and advocacy — reaching clinicians and cancer survivors alike with the knowledge that can change outcomes.