Jersey City
Physical Therapy
& Certified Hand Therapy

Susan began her career path when she pursued a BS in Physical Education from Ithaca College, which was driven by deep-seated passion for sports.  Her undergraduate education sparked a desire to learn more about human performance and the human body, and with this came an interest in becoming a physical therapist.  From there, she would go on to obtain her MS in Physical Therapy from Columbia University, and later her Doctor of Physical Therapy from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

Susan started working for Strulowitz & Gargiulo Physical Therapy after graduating from Columbia University in 1986, when the practice was still in its early years of existence.  She has remained with the clinic and has served a vital role of their day-to-day operations ever since.  Her roles and responsibilities have grown over the years and she eventually became a senior therapist and the clinical director for the Jersey City location, where she has closely supervised the physical therapy staff.  Throughout her career, Susan has had the opportunity to work with a diverse orthopedic population, including student athletes and professional athletes alike, and she has regularly worked with many of the local high schools and athletic trainers in surrounding community.  She also served as coordinator for Columbia University’s Program in Physical Therapy as a mentor for students completing the clinical rotation component of their education.

Susan holds a Sportsmetrics Certification in ACL Injury Prevention, which enables her to prescribe targeted prevention programs to reduce the risk for ACL and other knee injuries in athletes.  She treats a wide range of conditions, but specializes in sports medicine, the female athlete, knee and shoulder injuries—particularly softball pitching and throwing injuries—human performance, and return-to-play after rehabilitation.  She was also an adjunct professor at Columbia University for several years, where she helped develop their orthopedic curriculum and regularly gave lectures on a variety of topics, including orthopedic evaluation, manual therapy, and exercise prescription, with a strong focus on knee and shoulder injuries.

Susan retained her role as clinic director when Strulowitz & Gargiulo Physical Therapy partnered with Twin Boro Physical Therapy in 2019.  With this partnership, Susan will continue to provide the best available care to patients while also looking to expand and improve upon the rehabilitation services offered at Strulowitz & Gargiulo-Twin Boro Physical Therapy at Bayonne to better serve the community.  When treating patients, she utilizes a comprehensive, hands-on approach that starts with a thorough evaluation to accurately diagnose the condition present, followed by an assessment of what functional needs the individual has.  Her process emphasizes careful and precise exercise prescription, manual therapy techniques, and a progression of interventions that gradually increase in intensity as the patient regains their abilities.  These principles of patient management through every stage of improvement are very much in line of Twin Boro’s One2Four^TM Care Model to determine the “right level of health care” for each individual.  Susan is also committed to incorporating evidence-based practices into her treatment plans whenever possible.

Carl Gargiulo’s 40-year career as a physical therapist started with his lifelong love of sports and a desire to help others remain as active as possible in their daily life endeavors, whether that’s on the playing field or around one’s home.  His interest in the field led him to New York University, where he obtained his BS in Physical Therapy, and later his MA in Pathokinesiology.  Carl eventually went on to further his education by completing his Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

Carl began working with the late Dan Strulowitz after graduating from NYU, and they went on to become partners, opening Strulowitz & Gargiulo Physical Therapy in 1984.  He remained owner and president of the practice for his entire career before partnering with Twin Boro Physical Therapy in 2019.  Carl has worked closely with patients of all ages and ability levels, from pediatrics to geriatrics, but has extensive experience and specializes in orthopedics, sports medicine and injuries, isokinetics, functional capacity evaluations, and work-related injuries.  Over the past 10 years, he’s coordinated with local hospital outpatient departments to develop cancer rehabilitation programs.  He’s also worked to improve the safety of older adults with regular fall prevention lectures that highlight the importance of mobility and independence.

Carl has been certified as an Orthopedic Clinical Specialist (OCS) by the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties and serves as an adjunct instructor at the Columbia University Program in Physical Therapy.  He regularly provides lectures at Columbia related to foot and ankle injuries, and has offered instruction on the entire orthopedic curriculum over the years, primarily focused on orthopedic assessments, intervention, and manual therapy.

With the partnership between Strulowitz & Gargiulo Physical Therapy and Twin Boro Physical Therapy that began in 2019, Carl has been able to continue working towards his vision of providing the best quality care to as many patients as possible.  As clinic director of Strulowitz & Gargiulo-Twin Boro Physical Therapy at RWJ Barnabas JCMC and CMMC, he will be using the new resources available to him to improve and update the services offered with the goal of further optimizing and simplifying the patient experience.  His treatment method is focused on assisting patients as they progress through the entire continuum of care, from impairment, to function, and finally to participation, which correlates directly with Twin Boro’s One2Four^TM Care Model to determine the “right level of health care” for each individual.  Through his educational background and teaching experience, he also makes it a primary focus to incorporate evidence-based principles into his daily practice in all treatment decisions.