Abby Smith
PT, DPT
Abby grew up in the heat of Phoenix, Arizona and attended Xavier College Preparatory for high school where she played volleyball. Abby’s fondness for physical therapy care came from a variety of ankle injuries. In Arizona, Abby enjoyed wakeboarding, hiking, swimming, road trips, and bike riding including participation in RAAM, the 3,000 mile bike race from California to Maryland in 2013. Abby has moved many times, living in 5 states after high school and her first change being Orange, California where she attended Chapman University for undergrad and played D3 Volleyball and was captain her Junior and Senior Year.
Brandon Balmelli
PT, DPT, CSCS
Brandon grew up in Tacoma, WA and attended Bellarmine Prep. His love of sports started at a young age—from playing soccer to hitting balls on the range, he was very active from the get-go. Experiencing a few injuries along the way created a passion for wanting to participate in the rehabilitation process of others and sparked his interest in physical therapy.
Nick Jackson
PT, DPT
Nick grew up in Redmond, Washington and attended Redmond High School where he played football and lacrosse. Since his childhood, he has been hiking and camping with his family throughout the Pacific Northwest and has a love for the outdoors. He gained an interest in physical rehab from both sports training and receiving physical therapy for knee injuries in high school…..
Anne Harmon Grout
PT, MSPT, BSHSE
Anne grew up in Ft. Myers, Florida. She loved gymnastics and competed in the private club sector until early high school. Wanting to be more involved in high school athletics, she transitioned to competition cheerleading…
Victor Kollar
PT, DPT, CSCS, TPIc
While Victor was born in Toronto, Ontario, he grew up on the eastside in Redmond for most of his life. He attended the International Community School in Kirkland and went on to receive his BS in Human Physiology from Gonzaga University in 2013.
John Simonds
PTA & Admin
John was born in the Philippines but grew up in Monroe Washington. He served 5 years in the United States Navy as an Aircraft Director. During that time, he had the opportunity to visit the VA hospital in San Diego, which inspired him to pursue a position in Healthcare. In the Spring of 2020, John graduated from Lake Washington Institute of Technology with a Physical Therapy Assistant certification.
Matt Sato
PT, DPT, TPIc, SFMAc
Owner & Director
Matt grew up in Duvall where he attended Cedarcrest High School . He did his undergraduate studies at Western Washington University where he graduated in 2004 with a BS in Exercise Science/Pre-Physical Therapy. After graduating, he spent a year gaining more experience in the field of physical therapy and became the first Aide at Redmond Physical Therapy......
Aides & Front Office
Kelli Sato
Operations Manager
High School: Interlake
College: Western Washington University
Kelli Sato is originally from Bellevue Washington, where she attended Interlake High School. She graduated from Western Washington University in 2004 with a degree in Exercise Science. Kelli and Matt met in their undergraduate program and were married in 2005. Kelli has worked as a rehab coordinator, a Starbucks Barista, and even a Badminton teacher.
In 2010 she got the opportunity to work as the office manager at Lake Washington PT. In 2016 her path took a new turn as she and Matt started to think about opening a clinic. Kelli manages the financial side of the business. It has been an interesting transition for her, as her youngest child started school to allow her to work every day.
When Kelli has spare time she likes reading, yoga, fantasy football and golf. She also makes a mean strawberry rhubarb pie. Kelli loves to spend time with her husband Matt, two kids and dog Wickett.
Melinda Bernard
Front Office Coordinator
High School: Interlake
College: University of Washington
Melinda grew up in the Kirkland and Bellevue area and attended the U of W, where she graduated with a BS in Fisheries. She sailed with her family on the waters of Puget Sound and around the San Juan Islands, where she developed her love of marine life. After working as a lab research tech, she homeschooled her two sons and returned to the work force when her youngest son entered high school. She has been working as a medical receptionist, most recently in the field of orthopedics. It has been a natural transition to working with Lake Washington Physical Therapy and encouraging patients as they journey through the process of healing and regaining their mobility in order that they may live life to the fullest.
Melinda is married to her husband Mark, whom she met as a 9th grader at a local church. Together they enjoy spending time with family, their granddaughter, travelling to visit their eldest son in Florida, and spending time on the beaches looking for shells and scanning the waters for anything that moves!
Katie Beasley
Lead Aide & Front Office
High School: Brookland
College: Seattle Pacific University
Katie was born in Seattle, WA and lived in the Bremerton area, before moving to the South at young age.
She was raised in Jonesboro, AR, where she spent majority of her adolescence, and developed a passion for volleyball and horse-back riding. She grew up on a farm, where she and her family cared for various animals such as horses, chickens, numerous dogs and cats, and parakeets. Katie began playing volleyball in 2nd grade and hung up her court shoes after her sophomore year of college. She played at Belhaven University in Jackson, MS as a right-side and defensive specialist. Throughout her many years of playing volleyball, training, and building connections within the world of athletics; she discovered a curiosity for physical therapy. This interest was solidified once she began attending PT herself, after sustaining injuries from athletics. Katie is currently a senior at Seattle Pacific University, studying Psychological Science, graduating in Spring 2023, with the intent of applying to DPT programs
In her free time, she enjoys exercising, playing volleyball, snowboarding, and spending time with her boyfriend Nicholas.
Molly Guerrero
Aide & Front Office
High School: Chelan
College: Northwest University
Molly grew up in Chelan, Washington where she attended Chelan High School and graduated as Valedictorian of her class.
Being involved in a variety of activities ranging from raising goats for FFA to leading in Fellowship of Christian Athletes to playing numerous sports, Molly gained a love for being active in her community and building relationships with others. She also gained a passion for prevention and rehabilitation of injuries after tearing her ACL in her senior season of basketball and participating in physical therapy over the following nine to twelve months.
Molly decided to continue her passion for exercise and injury prevention at Northwest University where she is currently a senior in the honors program and working towards a BS in Exercise Science. While at Northwest, Molly played basketball for two years and is now serving as the team chaplain where she enjoys encouraging her teammates and leading bible study groups. She looks forward to graduating in May of 2024, and plans to pursue a career in coaching or physical therapy.
In her spare time, Molly enjoys hiking, running, reading, watercolor painting, watching movies, and spending time with her newly married husband Isaiah. Together, Molly and Isaiah enjoy visiting family and being active in the outdoors.
Cindy Lao
Aide & Front Office
High School: Inglemoor
College: UW
Cindy graduated from the University of Washington with a B.S. in Public Health and a B.A. in Dance. She was born in Guangdong, China, and immigrated to the U.S. when she was nine, living in the Seattle area since then.
In addition to English, she is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese. She attended Inglemoor High School, where she ran cross country and track, rowed, and played the violin in orchestra. Cindy began dance when she was young and reconnected with it in college, primarily training in the styles of contemporary modern and ballet. She has performed in the MFA Concert and UW Dance Presents Concert, and completed the dance summer program at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London.
During her dance education, she became fascinated with optimizing dance technique and performance through a deep understanding of human anatomy and physiology. This inspired her pursuit of a career in physical therapy, where she wants to help athletes reach their peak performance through proper alignment and strengthening. Cindy is currently taking gap years to prepare for physical therapy school and hopes to enter in 2025. Her loves and hobbies include dancing, running, traveling, skiing, roller coasters, and Avatar the Last Airbender.
Aneesh Grove
Aide & Front Office
High School:Ballard
College:UW
Aneesh was born in Gainesville, FL, before moving to Seattle at a young age. He grew up in the Ballard area, where he attended Ballard High School. He has played soccer ever since he could walk, and played club soccer for eight years with Seattle United. During his first season of high school soccer, he saw his friend suffer a season-ending muscle tear that ultimately kept him from ever playing soccer again. Through lots of PT, his friend regained the ability to walk uninhibited and soon became pain-free. Seeing how much of a positive impact PT had on his friend inspired Aneesh to pursue a career as a Physical Therapist. He attended the University of Washington, recently completing his Bachelor of Science in Biology in Spring 2023. During his time at UW, he explored his interest in genetics through working in a research lab studying the genetic components that characterize rare forms of autism. He plans on applying to DPT programs during Fall 2023 and hopes to start PT school in 2024. In his free time, Aneesh enjoys playing soccer, golfing, watching movies, trying new food, and beating his friends in fantasy football.
Sabrina Shaffer
Aide & Front Office
High School: Sacred Heart
College: UW
Sabrina was born in Tacoma, Washington and moved around a little when she was younger, living in both Fairbanks, Alaska and Fargo, North Dakota, eventually settling back in Bellevue, Washington. She is currently a senior at the University of
Washington where she is working towards a Bachelor of Science in Cellular, Molecular, and Developmental Biology and graduating in December 2023.
Sabrina was involved in a variety of athletic activities growing up, from ballet to basketball to softball all throughout her school-age years. In high school, she played basketball and golf, and was co-captain of her basketball team in her sophomore year.
Currently, she is in the process of applying to Master’s in Public Health programs for the year 2024 across the U.S. and afterwards plans on pursuing a career in healthcare.
In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her three cats, Mina, Marco, and Moxy, watching horror movies with her family, and hanging out her friends when she can. She also loves to read, cook, and take care of plants in her spare time.
Claar French
Aide & Front Office
High School: Blaine
College: UW
Claar was born in San Antonio, Texas but grew up in Blaine, Washington. She attended K-12 in the Blaine School District, graduating from Blaine High School in 2022. She enjoyed running varsity cross country and track all four years.
Claar’s interest in physical therapy began when she took a medical terminology class at a community college through the running start program. Her interest in physical therapy continued to grow when she helped start her high school’s sports medicine club. She also had positive experiences working with physical therapists to overcome her own sports injuries.
Claar is currently attending the University of Washington and plans to major in biology with a concentration in physiology and minor in nutrition. She enjoys being a member of UW’s pre-physical therapy club. Upon graduation, she plans to pursue a DPT degree.
In her spare time, Claar has fun playing guitar and ukulele, cooking, going to the gym, listening to all kinds of music, and dreams of traveling the world.
Meredith Only
Aide & Front Office
High School: University City High School, SD
College: UW
Meredith was born and raised in San Diego, California, where she attended University City High School. She grew up playing almost every sport imaginable before landing on soccer, which she played competitively until coming to Seattle for college.
Meredith became fascinated with medicine and the prevention of injuries through her sports career when she suffered an ankle break that led to a few months of rehabilitation and physical therapy. She loved her time working with physical therapists who helped push her to recover from her injuries and left therapy even stronger than before.
Meredith is a soon-to-be graduate of the University of Washington, where she has spent the past four years studying biochemistry. In addition to her studies, Meredith has been involved in psychology research studying mitigating negative behaviors after traumas. She has also become very involved in preventing drug overdose through education and access to harm-reduction tools in her community. After graduation, Meredith plans to take a few gap years before applying to medical school, hoping to begin in the fall of 2026.
In her spare time, Meredith enjoys exploring new parts of Seattle, reading, traveling, and getting outdoors and active as much as possible.