Dr. Trombly Latham is Professor Emerita, Department of Occupational Therapy, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts. She is author and editor of the well-known textbook, Occupational Therapy for Physical Dysfunction, now in its 7th edition. In 1994, Dr. Trombly Latham was recipient of the American Occupational Therapy Association's Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship. When inducted into the Academy of Research, Dr. Trombly Latham's research contributions were described as follows:

Catherine Trombly has been named a Charter Member of the Academy of Research in recognition of her sustained and exemplary contributions to our understanding of clinical approaches to neurorehabilitation, particularly following cerebral vascular accident. [Dr.] Trombly is perhaps best known for her well-documented and definitive textbook, Occupational Therapy for Physical Dysfunction. However, her clinical research efforts, spanning two decades, have included a broad spectrum of studies focusing principally on rehabilitation of the hand. She is one of the few occupational therapists who hold membership in societies for both behavioral and electrophysiological kinesiology. Accordingly, a number of her studies have included electromyographic analyses of hand musculature during and following activity, exercise, and positioning. (1984, pp. 621-622).

Dr. Trombly Latham was named one of the 100 Influential People in Occupational Therapy by AOTA.

Q AND A

Identify two words that others have used to describe you.
Thorough, Knowledgeable.

How do you hope to make a difference in the world through research?
I am retired now, but my hope was to validate the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions used in the treatment of persons with neurological disabilities, especially stroke. I made a start at it while in active service and am thrilled that several of my students continue to do so. I also hoped to make a difference in the practice of occupational therapy for persons with physical dysfunction by organizing knowledge, with evidence to support where available, into a textbook from which students would learn and practitioners could refer; I just completed active involvement in the 7th edition of Occupational Therapy for Physical Dysfunction.

What is one piece of advice you have for individuals considering a career in science and research?
Enter into a good mentoring situation; do a post doc if possible.

Beside your own areas of inquiry, what is one research priority that you believe is important for the future of occupational science and occupational therapy?
Translation of research findings into practice.

Describe the most important role that mentors played in your professional journey.
My professional journey started before research was a part of OT or research mentorship was even thought of. I had no real mentor. However, I learned a lot from the first physiatrist I worked for who insisted that we actively engage in a monthly journal club that he attended and asked piercing questions. He also included me in his research team and encouraged my early attempts at research and graduate education. We were expected to publish.

Identify a favorite occupation that renews you outside of your work.
Gardening, reading mysteries, genealogy, knitting & crocheting.

What has been the most surprising or rewarding aspects of a career in science and research?
It has been rewarding to demonstrate what effects do or do not occur secondary to certain interventions. It is very rewarding to see OT establish its scientific base and that the science supports the underlying philosophy of OT for the most part.

REFERENCES

_________. (1984). The American Occupational Therapy Foundation Awards-1984. American Journal of
Occupational Therapy, 38, 621-622.

Radomski, MV & Latham, C.AT. (2014). Occupational therapy for physical dysfunction. (7th Ed.) Philadelphia,
PA: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Co.

Trombly, CA. (1995). Occupation: purposefulness and meaningfulness as therapeuticmechanisms. 1995
Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecture. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 49, 960-972.

Trombly, C. A., & Ma, H. I. (2002). A synthesis of the effects of occupational therapy for persons with stroke, Part
I: Restoration of roles, tasks, and activities. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 56(3), 250-259.

Ma, H. I., & Trombly, C. A. (2002). A synthesis of the effects of occupational therapy for persons with stroke, part
II: remediation of impairments. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 56(3), 260-274.

Wu, CY, Trombly, CA, Lin, KC, & Tickle-Degnen, L. (2000). A kinematic study of contextual effects on reaching
performance in persons with and without stroke: Influences of object availability. Archives of Physical Medicine
and Rehabilitation, 81, 95-101.

Trombly, C. A., Radomski, M. V., Trexel, C., & Burnett-Smith, S. E. (2002). Occupational therapy and
achievement of self-identified goals by adults with acquired brain injury: Phase II. American Journal of
Occupational Therapy, 56(5), 489-498.

Dr. Holm is Professor Emeritus, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Occupational Therapy Department, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Her research interests are in functional outcomes of medical, psychiatric and rehabilitation interventions and evidence-based practice.  (Retrieved on May 27, 2015 from https://www.shrs.pitt.edu/mbholm/.) Dr. Holm was awarded the American Occupational Therapy Association's 1999 Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship and their Award of Merit in 2014. She was also named one of the 100 Influential People in Occupational Therapy by AOTA.     

Q and A 

Identify three words that others have used to describe you. 

Mentor. Advocate. Principled.

How do you hope to make a difference in the world through research? 

The ability to carry out meaningful everyday activities is closely related to one's quality of life, regardless of country or culture.  How "ability to carry out" is measured can subsequently determine which interventions are appropriate and acceptable to clients. Methods and outcomes of measurement has been a thrust at Pitt, and our research has changed policies, protocols, and patient outcomes.

What is one piece of advice you have for individuals considering a career in science and research? 

Unless you like delayed gratification, this is the wrong career for you!

Beside your own areas of inquiry, what is one research priority that you believe is important for the future of occupational science and occupational therapy? 

Systematic collection of occupational therapy assessment data, intervention mechanisms, and client outcomes to evaluate and document the effectiveness of occupational therapy.

Describe the most important role that mentors played in your professional journey. 

My primary mentor, Dr. Joan C. Rogers, led by example. "People may doubt what you say, but they will always believe what you do" could easily be her motto.  For me, that was a powerful learning strategy.

Identify a favorite occupation that renews you outside of your work. 

Travel.  I enjoy immersing myself in other cultures and learning which daily activities are important, as well as the habits and routines that surround them.

What has been the most surprising or rewarding aspects of a career in science and research?  

Most surprising.....after years of recruiting human subjects only to lose them to long-term follow-up, I am developing an affinity for rat studies.

References

Holm, MB.  (2000). The 2000 Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecture. Our mandate for the new millennium: evidence-based practice.  The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 54, 575-585.

Ciro, CA, Anderson, MP, Hershey, LA, Prodan, CI & Holm MB.  (2015). Instrumental activities of daily living performance and role satisfaction in people with and without mild cognitive impairment: a pilot project. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 69(3):6903270020p1-6903270020p10.

Holm, MB, Baird, JM, Kim, YJ, Rajora, KB, D'Silva, D, Podolinsky, L, Mazefsky, C & Minshew, N.  (2014). Therapeutic horseback riding outcomes of parent-identified goals for children with autism spectrum disorder: an ABA' multiple case design examining dosing and generalization to the home and community. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44, 937-947. 

Sabedra, AR, Kristan, J, Raina, K, Holm, MB, Callaway, CW, Guyette, FX, Dezfulian, C,

Doshi, AA & Rittenberger, JC.  (2015). Post cardiac arrest service. Neurocognitive outcomes following successful resuscitation from cardiac arrest.  Resuscitation. 90, 67-72. 

Dr. Tickle-Degnen is Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Occupational Therapy, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts and Director of the Health Quality of Life Lab. Her research is directed toward understanding and promoting positive social functioning and wellness in Parkinson's disease and other chronic conditions. In particular, she studies nonverbal and verbal communication, cross-cultural health care interactions, interpersonal rapport, engagement in meaningful daily activities, and quality of life. She is interested in increasing occupational therapists' participation in inter- and multidisciplinary clinical interventions and research activities that have the goal of improving the health and quality of life of individuals with chronic conditions. (Retrieved on October 6, 2015 from http://ase.tufts.edu/hql/people.asp.)

Q AND A

Identify three words that others have used to describe you.
Big picture person, Mentor, Interdisciplinary.

How do you hope to make a difference in the world through research?
I hope to build the capacity of research in OT by mentoring interdisciplinary researchers and also to provide strong models of programmatic research through my work in Parkinson's disease and caregiving.

What is one piece of advice you have for individuals considering a career in science and research?
Choose an area that will entice you for life! It has to be something very close to the heart.

Beside your own areas of inquiry, what is one research priority that you believe is important for the future of occupational science and occupational therapy?
Research that contributes to developing community health & wellness models of OT.

Describe the most important role that mentors played in your professional journey.
They taught me to not be afraid of the complex problems and to keep going after them, not giving up.

Identify a favorite occupation that renews you outside of your work.
Yoga, biking, kayaking, skiing, drumming, and hiking -- I love it all!

What has been the most surprising or rewarding aspects of a career in science and research?
Seeing occupational therapy science & research come to be recognized (nationally and internationally) as fundamentally important to the entire health endeavor.

REFERENCES

Bogart, K, Tickle-Degnen, L & Ambady N. (2014). Communicating without the face: Holistic perception of emotions of people with facial paralysis. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 36, 309-320.

Foster, ER, Bedekar, M & Tickle-Degnen L. (2014). Systematic review of the effectiveness of occupational therapy-related interventions for people with Parkinson's disease. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68, 39-49.

Gray, H. M., & Tickle-Degnen, L. (2010). A meta-analysis of performance on emotion recognition tasks in Parkinson's disease. Neuropsychology, 24(2), 176.

Tickle-Degnen, L. (2013). Nuts and bolts of conducting feasibility studies. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 67, 171-176.

Tickle-Degnen, L., Ellis, T., Saint-Hilaire, M. H., Thomas, C. A., & Wagenaar, R. C. (2010). Self-management rehabilitation and health-related quality of life in Parkinson's disease: A randomized controlled trial. Movement Disorders, 25(2), 194-204.

Dr. Helfrich is an adjunct instructor at Bristol Community College, Fall River, Massachusetts and Co-Investigator Project Team, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Helfrich describes her research in this way: "My research is community based with vulnerable populations including individuals who are/have been homeless, survivors of domestic violence and their children and individuals with mental illness. Working with these populations I have completed needs assessments, developed interventions and evaluated outcomes."  (Retrieved on June 4, 2015 from https://www.linkedin.com/pub/christine-helfrich/83/b19/1b7.)

Q and A

Identify three words that others have used to describe you.
Innovative. Collaborative. Generous.

How do you hope to make a difference in the world through research?
I would like my work to support occupational therapists to assist individuals, particularly those who are marginalized, to develop the skills they need and a sense of their own competence and worth so that they are free to be themselves and do what is important to them.

What is one piece of advice you have for individuals considering a career in science and research?
Don't be afraid to do what you believe is important, the most motivating words to me are "You won't be able to do it." Focus on an area that you are passionate about, so that when you encounter internal or external barriers, you will be motivated to keep going.

Beside your own areas of inquiry, what is one research priority that you believe is important for the future of occupational science and occupational therapy?
The field needs to continue to educate others about the importance of occupation and that involving human beings needs to be translational and community based even if the tradeoff means smaller sample sizes. We must educate federal funders about the importance of our role in all areas of rehabilitation.

Describe the most important role that mentors played in your professional journey.
They believed in my ideas, encouraged my "non-traditional" applications of occupational therapy and supported my dreams and endeavors.

Identify a favorite occupation that renews you outside of your work.
Supporting my daughter to believe she can become whatever she wants and to be proud of who she is. Travelling and making every day an adventure!

What has been the most surprising or rewarding aspects of a career in science and research?
That my work has been more far reaching than I ever imagined and that it has helped a wide variety of people in a number of ways clinically and has supported the work of occupational therapists in various settings.

Selected References

Chan, DV, Helfrich, CA, Hursh, NC, Sally, Rogers E & Gopal S.  (2014). Measuring community integration using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and participatory mapping for people who were once homeless. Health and Place, 27, 92-101.

Chang, FH, Coster, WJ & Helfrich CA.  (2013). Community participation measures for people with disabilities: a systematic review of content from an international classification of functioning, disability and health perspective. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 94, 771-781.

Helfrich, CA, Simpson, EK &Chan, DV.  (2014). Change patterns of homeless individuals with mental illness: a multiple case study. Community Mental Health Journal, 50, 531-537.  

Dr. Smith is Professor, Occupational Science and Technology, College of Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Director, Rehabilitation Research Design and Disability (R2D2) Center.  
Dr. Smith’s interests and expertise are described as follows.

Roger O. Smith’s research focuses on measurement related to disability and the application of assistive technology and universal design. In measurement, Smith examines assessments to determine their reliability and validity in use. He has created a software-based evaluation system that uses a branching question structure called TTSS (Trichotomous Tailored Sub-branching Scoring.) One component of Smith’s current research specifically investigates the utility of the TTSS methodology as embedded in OTFACT software. Smith also investigates the effectiveness of assistive technology and universal design interventions on the lives of people with disabilities. (Retrieved on September 17, 2015 from http://uwm.edu/healthsciences/directory/smith-roger/.)

REFERENCES

Brayton-Chung, A., Tomashek, D., & Smith, R. O. (2013).   Fall risk assessment: development of a paradigm to measure multifocal eyeglass effects.  Physical and Occupational Therapy in Geriatrics, 31, 47-60.  

Fiedler, G, Slavens, B, Smith, RO, Briggs, D & Hafner BJ.  (2014). Criterion and construct validity of prosthesis-integrated measurement of joint moment data in persons with transtibial amputation. Journal of Applied Biomechanics, 30(3):431-438..

Lenker, JA, Harris, F, Taugher, M & Smith RO.  (2013). Consumer perspectives on assistive technology outcomes. Disability and Rehabilitation. Assistive Technology, 8, 373-380.