One Program, Many Destinations

ATLANTA — Respiratory therapy is often defined by the moment at the bedside, when a clinician supports a patient who is struggling to breathe. For four respiratory therapists in Georgia State University’s online master’s program, three graduates and one student set to finish in December, that moment was only the beginning. Their careers have taken them into clinical leadership, academic administration and program development, proof that a respiratory therapy degree can lead in very different directions.

Doug Gardenhire, assistant dean of international initiatives and chair of the Department of Respiratory Therapy in Georgia State’s Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing & Health Professions, said the Master of Science in Respiratory Therapy is built to prepare clinicians to lead teams, develop programs and advance research.

Patient Care, Scaled Up

Holly Sangster has spent her entire 18-year career with Wellstar Health System, and her job still comes down to the quality of care patients receive. As the system’s only Respiratory Therapy Clinical Specialist, she works directly with physicians to shape clinical protocols and helps train the students who will soon be making critical decisions to help patients breathe better.

A double Panther who earned her bachelor’s degree from Georgia State in 2008, Sangster returned for her master’s, completed in December 2023, because she wanted a greater say in decisions that reach beyond individual cases. The program’s online format allowed her to keep working full time while navigating a major family health crisis.

“Having my bachelor’s degree and my master’s degree just expands how much impact I can have in a patient’s life,” Sangster said.

The degree didn’t take her away from patients. Instead, it widened her focus from one patient at a time to delivering consistent, high-quality care systemwide.

Learning While Leading

Sarah Westbrook’s connection to respiratory therapy began as a patient. Hospitalized with pneumonia as a child at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, she remembers the respiratory therapists who helped ease her fears.

After earning a music degree from the University of Georgia, Westbrook returned to metro Atlanta and chose Georgia State for its reputation in respiratory therapy.

Today, more than two decades into her career, including 13 years with Tanner Health System, Westbrook serves as clinical coordinator at Tanner Medical Center in Carrollton, Georgia. She oversees respiratory therapy operations across three high-acuity units, including cardiovascular care, the intensive care unit and the neonatal intensive care unit, while supporting roughly 60 respiratory therapists.

She is now pursuing her master’s degree at Georgia State, with completion expected in December 2026, and is already putting it to use.

“It’s all been real-life problem-solving that is immediately applicable,” she said.

The coursework is helping her strengthen clinical protocols, lead a large team and think more strategically about the future of respiratory therapy education in Georgia.

From Clinician to Educator

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects respiratory therapist employment will grow 9 percent between 2025 and 2035, much faster than the average for all occupations, and U.S. News & World Report ranked respiratory therapist No. 4 among the best health care jobs of 2026. Two Georgia State alumni are helping meet that need by educating the next generation of respiratory therapists.

Stephanie Watkins discovered the profession almost by accident. After transferring out of a nursing track, she came across respiratory therapy in a course catalog. A job-shadowing experience at Hamilton Medical Center in Dalton, Ga., confirmed she had found the right fit.

After working eight years as a clinical coordinator, Watkins earned her master’s degree from Georgia State in 2019. Today, she serves as program director of the respiratory therapy program at Dalton State College. She credits the degree with changing how she thinks about leadership.

“We need people with these higher educations, and these greater skill sets to continue to push out into these other avenues of respiratory care to continue to help our communities,” she said.

Ed Goodwin took that idea a step further.

He earned his Master of Science in Respiratory Therapy from Georgia State in 2016 as part of one of the program’s earliest online cohorts. At the same time, he was developing a brand-new respiratory therapy program at Jacksonville State University.

“I was literally designing curriculum, laying out schedules, deciding textbooks, doing everything you have to do to set up a program, while going through my own program to get my master’s,” Goodwin said.

Today, as department head and associate professor at Jacksonville State, he has graduated the program’s eighth cohort.

“The biggest thing it helped me with is it made me qualified and helped me open a program,” he said.

Fitting It All In

While their careers have led to very different destinations, all four share one thing: Each has pursued a graduate degree while carrying significant personal and professional commitments.

“I remember sitting at ball games watching my boys play, with a headset in ... trying to answer questions,” Goodwin said.

For each of them, the online format has made graduate education possible without stepping away from career or family responsibilities.

Georgia State’s Department of Respiratory Therapy offers degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels, including a Ph.D. in Respiratory Therapy, giving clinicians a path from entry-level practice into leadership, teaching and research. Gardenhire said the program is built for working professionals and designed to help respiratory therapists “transform experience into influence” for their patients, their organizations and the profession.

For Sangster, the return on that time was clear.

“Completing Georgia State’s master’s in respiratory therapy program is one of the best investments that I’ve ever made in myself,” she said.