News & Updates

Alumni News

Maryann Brennan has been named associate professor of Occupational Therapy at Alvernia University.

Monique Chabot joined Philadelphia University as an assistant professor. Previously, she was selected to participate in the AOTA Emerging Leaders program, working with AOTA mentor Karen Smith. One aspect of this AOTA project is to increase the knowledge base of occupational therapists in home modifications through the creation of education modules on the Home and Community Special Interest Section on the AOTA OTConnections.

Tina Champagne was elected vice president of the Massachusetts Association for Occupational Therapy (MAOT).

Ashley Deaton serves as the director of Footprints in the Community, a nonprofit organization serving children with special needs. Her practice has grown to 35 therapists covering 1/5 of North Carolina.

Carole Dinan (Sargent 22), OT, OTD, OTR, accepted a position as assistant professor at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in the Occupational Therapy program.

Julie Dorsey is an associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at Ithaca College.  She was promoted to associate professor in 2014 and received the 2014-2015 dean’s award for faculty excellence and productivity in teaching, scholarship and service. Dorsey was elected chair of the AOTA Work & Industry Special Interest Section (WISIS) in 2014 for a 3-year term, and was appointed as the representative to the AOTA Commission on Practice for a 2-year term. She was also appointed by the provost to co-chair a committee on assessment of student learning for our Middle States Re-Accreditation self-study.

“I firmly believe that none of these things would have happened without the knowledge, skills and confidence I gained through the BU post-professional OTD program. The program fostered development of my leadership and advocacy skills which has helped me immensely in my professional life” – Julie Dorsey

Nancy Doyle works with students with learning and sensory differences in school and pediatric clinic settings. She was recently awarded a 2017-2018 Professional Development Fellowship from the U.S. Department of State’s Family Liaison Office.  This fellowship will be used to participate in the Online Learning Consortium’s Advanced Online Teaching Certificate Program.  The goal of the fellowship is to advance pedagogy and online technology for BU’s online post-professional OTD course OT 610: Health Promotion and Wellness.

Since 2006, Nancy has been involved in online occupational therapy education at Boston University, as a doctoral student, online facilitator, and course instructor.  Nancy’s interests include evidence-based online education, constructing inclusive learning opportunities, and the evolution of telehealth in occupational therapy. Nancy has lived abroad with her U.S. Foreign Service family in Mexico, Egypt and Croatia.  She is interested in populations in transition and promoting their health, wellness, and occupational engagement.

Nancy is an active member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, the World Federation of Occupational Therapy, and the editorial board for WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment, and Rehabilitation. She has published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy, Occupational Therapy in Health Care, OT Practice, and WORK as well as in the textbooks Health Professional as Educator and Occupational Therapy Essentials for Clinical Competence.

Karen Duddy co-presented a poster at the 2016 AOTA conference, “Primary Care OT: Program Evaluation Findings from the Everyday Matters VA Workshop.” Her article “How Occupational Therapy Works for You” was published on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website.

Dana Emery published “Occupational Therapy Treatment for NTOS.” In K.A. Illig, R.W. Thompson, J.A. Freischlag, D.M. Donahue, S.E. Jordan, P.I. Edgelow (Eds.), Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (p. 175-81). London: Springer. (2013). Her poster was accepted for the 2015 American Occupational Therapy Association conference in Nashville, TN. The title of her poster is: Preventing Thoracic Outlet Syndrome In High School Baseball and Softball Athletes: A Model For OT Clinical Practice.

Denise Finch is the legislative chair of the New Hampshire Occupational Therapy Association. She has given multiple presentations at conferences including: “Office Ergonomics:  Exploring Work Posture and Equipment Options to Reduce Injury” at the Safety and Health Council of Northern New England Annual Conference, Concord, NH; and a poster presentation entitled  “Online Education: Best Practices to Promote Learning” (Finch, D. & Jacobs, K.) at both the AOTA Annual Conference and Expo, San Diego, CA and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Conference, Boston, MA.

Lowana Lee was an invited speaker at the Sichuan Provincial Rehabilitation Conference in May 2013. Lowana’s paper was entitled “Occupational Therapy in Stroke Rehabilitation – a Canadian Model.”

Kristen Maisano is director of the Occupational Therapy Assistant Program at Trinity Washington University School of Nursing and Health Professions. Previously, Kristen used the expertise gained from her OTD degree to assist the US Department of Defense in designing, building, and developing programming for a National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) satellite at Fort Belvoir, VA. Kristen has been a point of contact for other Army bases across the country who are building the same structure and program. Additionally, she has been appointed a subject matter expert in the area of mild TBI by the Defense Center of Excellence (DCoE) and Brainline.org.

Anastasia Raquel Martinez has been named program director for the Master of Science in Occupational Therapy at the University of the Southern Caribbean.

Jackie Mayo is a full time instructor at Central Piedmont Community College.

Scott McNeil serves as academic fieldwork coordinator and assistant clinical professor at University of New England (UNE) in Portland, ME. He has had numerous scholarship opportunities including co-authoring a chapter in Occupational Therapy Essentials for Clinical Competence. Previously Scott was assistant professor at Jefferson College of Health Sciences in Roanoke, VA, his first full-time position in academia after completing his OTD degree. Scott also served on the Executive Board of the Virginia Occupational Therapy Association as the Continuing Education Committee Chairperson. In addition to teaching, Scott has continued his clinical work in home health.

Edwin Myers is an assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy and Community Health at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Julie Nastasi received specialty certification in Low Vision from the AOTA, and she was appointed Commissioner for the Commission on Education for the Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association (POTA).

Robin Newman is a clinical assistant professor of Occupational Therapy at Boston University, Department of Occupational Therapy. She also serves as an American Occupational Therapy Association Media Expert in area of Lymphedema (Breast Cancer Survivorship) and has acted as a Guest Editor for the Special Issue on Cancer and Work in WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation.

Natalie A. Perkins is the new program director and chair in the OTD Department at the University of the Pacific, Sacramento.

Laura Poleshuck Rosenhack is an assistant professor at the Nazareth College OT program.

Lisa Schubert is an associate professor at the School of Occupational Therapy at Brenau University. She is the Tennessee Representative Assembly (RA) representative to the American Occupational Therapy Association.

Lori Vaughn serves as the assistant dean at Bay Path University. She received Bay Path’s first annual “Excellence in Teaching” award in 2012.  In addition, Lori took eight students to Gambia for a Level 1 fieldwork experience.

Colleen Cameron Whiting is co-authoring the chapter on school and trauma for the upcoming AOTA Trauma textbook. “School-based occupational therapists have a unique role and distinct value in supporting students who have experienced trauma. Grounded in meaningful occupation-based activities, occupational therapy practitioners can enhance students’ resilience and posttraumatic growth through their holistic, strength-based, and client centered approach,” says Whiting.

Julie Yaroni will be presenting a course at the 2021 AOTA conference based on her doctoral project in the post-professional OTD program. The course is entitled “Play 4 Parents: An Evidence Based Training Guide to Promote Parent Participation in Play Amongst Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.”