Nikkita Crozier is comfortable with being uncomfortable.

By the time he was 12, Crozier had moved as many times as his age. He developed a malleability that helped him thrive in different settings.

As his dad sought advancement in the construction business, Crozier’s family relocated several times to numerous states, including Idaho, Utah, Oklahoma, Arizona, and eventually Texas, where Crozier stayed until he graduated from high school.

“I never felt stressed or anything moving around a lot as a kid. It just felt normal because that’s what we were used to,” he said. “When people ask where I’m from, I tell them I’m from all over.”      

The athletic Crozier shied away from the Texas' unofficial religion of football. He preferred running cross country, where he excelled in the 800m and 1,600m. He placed third in the state championships during his senior year, just a few months after an ankle injury during a national track meet threatened the start of his season.

It was during this rehab stint that Crozier was introduced to the world of physical therapy.

“It wasn’t a terrible injury like some have experienced, but it spurred my curiosity and I wanted to learn more about it,” he said. “It always kept my interest and I even went through undergrad with the assumption that a career in physical therapy was where I was headed.”

After completing a two-year mission in Peru, Crozier went to Brigham Young University for his undergraduate degree in exercise science.

He applied to physical therapy schools across the country, but UNLV’s Department of Physical Therapy, housed within the School of Integrated Health Sciences, remained one of his preferred choices.

“I could feel the drive that UNLV had to achieve R1 status as a top-tier research university,” he recalled. “I felt that there was a good trajectory toward something bigger. UNLV was well known and respected but still hungry for more. I really liked that.”

Crozier found himself on the move yet again, this time to the Southern Nevada desert.

“Getting used to a new place doesn’t give me anxiety. In class, a lot of us were going through the same thing. We came from other places, but we pushed ourselves,” he said. “I had to be competitive as an undergrad because physical therapy school is hard to get into. But once you get in and you surround yourself with smart and driven people, it’s a good environment to be in.”

That extends to the faculty, he said.                     

“The special part of the program was the drive to be better. I felt that from the professors, and it drove me. I still seek out that challenge, and it makes me better. UNLV offered a lot of opportunities that needed to be taken advantage of if I wanted to be better,” he said.

At UNLV, Crozier worked closely with associate professor Jennifer Nash. As her graduate assistant, he worked to ensure that community outreach and falls prevention clinics went off without a hitch.

Once the COVID-19 pandemic forced the university to move many operations remotely, Crozier found a new way to help Nash and the older populations they were serving.

“Nikkita was integral to ensuring that our community outreach programs for fall prevention continued seamlessly. His technical expertise and patient demeanor allowed older adults to access virtual fall-risk screenings and evidence-based prevention classes, creating a lifeline during a difficult time,” Nash said.

Crozier had once again proved his resilience.  

“COVID forced us to adapt,” he said. “You could either stop and get stuck, or you could plow on through, work with the growing pains, and come out stronger.”

In 2022, he graduated from UNLV's Doctor of Physical Therapy program and joined the U.S. Public Health Service as an officer.

Being commissioned by the Public Health Service allows Crozier to work at one of several government agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Indian Health Services, and the Food and Drug Administration.

Crozier currently is a staff physical therapist at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, a facility operated by the Bureau of Prisons.      

“[This job] wasn’t even on my radar when I began physical therapy school,” he said with a laugh. “I thought to myself, ‘Physical therapy? In prison?’”

Crozier works as part of a medical team to provide care for inmates who have suffered a variety of injuries and ailments.

“We’re able to provide good quality rehab,” he said. “People still have strokes. They still have heart attacks. They need to be able to walk upstairs and get into their bunk. I have a lot of autonomy, and I get to do what I feel is best for the patients.”

Along with his wife and two young daughters, Crozier is preparing for the next development in his life: being stationed in Petaluma, California, with the U.S. Coast Guard, where he'll be working as a physical therapist for active-duty personnel.

There’s a good chance he’ll fall back on the lessons he learned while at UNLV: serving whichever communities need his help, wherever they may be located.

“At UNLV, there was a big emphasis on rural and underserved settings. It offered me some special experiences that I still carry with me,” he said. “I work in a very underserved setting right now, and it opens your eyes to things that most people don’t think about. I feel like I’m in a good spot.”