Rachel Proffitt, OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA, FACRM

Trustee

Dr. Rachel Proffitt is Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Missouri. Her research focuses on developing, testing, and implementing virtual reality-based interventions for adults and older adults post-stroke. Dr. Proffitt has extensive experience working in an interdisciplinary setting with computer scientists and engineers and was previously the Director of the Game Based Rehab Lab at the Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California (USC). She has completed a T32 postdoctoral fellowship with an emphasis in rehabilitation clinical trials as well as a KL2 Career Development Award. She is currently translating effective interventions, such as LSVT®BIG, for use with the stroke population and pairing telehealth applications for remote delivery in rural areas. Dr. Proffitt is PI of an NIH R01 to evaluate a sensor system in the homes of rural community-dwelling older adults.

Timothy Reistetter, PhD, OTR, FAOTA

Secretary

Dr. Reistetter is Professor and Associate Dean for Research in the School of Health Professions at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio (as of January 2019). He is widely recognized for his leadership in health services research within rehabilitation in general, and in occupational therapy specifically. Through Dr. Reistetter’s K12, K01, and subsequently his currently funded Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality R01, he has brought the discussion of how to measure rehabilitation geographic regions to the forefront. Specifically, he is translating methodology from the hospital-centric research conducted at Dartmouth College and implementing these approaches to a rehabilitation context to define rehabilitation geographic services areas. Prior to Dr. Reistetter’s seminal work, any researchers examining geographic variations in rehabilitation quality of care were limited to the hospital-based regions, called Hospital Service Areas, even if they did not adequately reflect the context and environment in which rehabilitation was provided across the country, as this was the accepted approach. Thus, it has been Tim’s work, which has focused on developing and evaluating Rehabilitation Service Areas that has provided health services researchers with the necessary tools to effectively measure variations in service delivery, access, and quality.

2024 State of the Science Announced

Top AOTF Accomplishments in 2023

MJ Mulcahey As I reflect upon the year in review, I have deep gratitude and respect for the donors, partners, and volunteers who contribute to the tapestry of the Foundation. There are dozens of volunteers who serve the Foundation to help move the field towards the vision of a vibrant science that supports occupational therapy. Combined with the financial support of generous donors and partners, it is the time and talent of our volunteers that enable the Foundation to carry-out our important mission— advance the science of occupational therapy.

Happy new year and we look forward to building new research with your support in 2024 and beyond!

Sincerely,

Mary Jane (MJ) Mulcahey, PhD, OTR/L

1.) Laying the Groundwork: 20 OT Research Funds Awarded

5 Intervention Research Grant (IRG) Awardees will lay the necessary groundwork for larger intervention and for implementation studies and support the profession’s Vision 2025 of occupational therapy as an evidence-based profession. Thanks to NBCOT, AOTA, and the St. Catherine Challenge for their joint funding of the IRG.
3 Implementation Research Grant (IR) Awardees will conduct research that is focused on helping occupational therapists take evidence-informed practice from theory to reality in their practice setting. This research grant develops and evaluates the processes used to implement, sustain, and or scale-up evidence-based practice into routine care with an end goal to improve the quality and effectiveness of care. Thanks to NBCOT for their generous funding of the IR grant.
2 Health Services Research (HSR) Grant Awardees will examine how people get access to health care, how and what care is delivered, the cost of that care, and what happens to patients as a result of receiving or not receiving care. Thanks to NBCOT for their generous grant funding of the HSR grant.
The Dr. Gary Kielhofner Doctoral Research Scholarship in Occupational Therapy and Nedra Gillette Endowed Research Fellowship, Bonita Kraft Occupational Therapy Doctoral Student Scholarship and Nancy Talbot Postdoctoral Research Fellowship were also awarded to honor their namesakes.
Standing for Research Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (STRIDE) OT Research Fund  committee awarded research funds to five OT graduate students and clinicians from underrepresented groups to support their participation in a mentored research experience. With the first three STRIDE OT Research Fund (SRF)recipients in 2022 and five in 2023, a total amount of $80,000 has been awarded so far. Poster presentations will take place at the AOTA INSPIRE conference to showcase the SRF experience to a wider audience, ensuring the promotion of OT research careers among underrepresented groups.

2.) Moving the Science Forward

This past October, AOTF brought together over 45 occupational therapy and collaborative leaders in Alexandria, Va. for the AOTF Planning Grant Collective workshop,“Functional Cognition: Moving the Science Forward.” The focus of this two-day program was to clarify and advance occupational therapists’ critical role in supporting positive outcomes for consumers through assessment and treatment of functional cognition across different age groups and care settings. It also set priorities for functional cognition research and to identify and address the gaps in evidence, to advance the science, and to influence education, practice, and policy. This meeting is a first step in developing collaborative teams that will continue to meet to develop further action steps and projects, white papers, and new research grant proposals to move the profession forward in functional cognition, with the goal of maximizing client outcomes. The next PGC meeting will be held fall 2025.

3.) Providing Education Collaboratively

Our signature events at AOTA INSPIRE Conference 2023 were held live in Kansas City, Missouri, with Breakfast with a Scholar: Fearlessly Different, by Mickey Rowe, Founding Artistic Director of the National Disability Theatre, State of the Science and Research Excellence Symposiums. See what we have in store for #AOTFoundationFriday, March 22, at AOTA INSPIRE Conference & Expo 2024.
Through a NIH R25 Education Grant, AOTF along with rehabilitation institutional partners are funding the ‘Training in Diversity Education’ or TiDe program. TiDe will educate current rehabilitation clinician scientists in the skills and knowledge needed to recruit, train, and support research trainees from populations underrepresented in biomedical science. These clinician scientists will in turn support the next generation of diverse clinician scientists with the capacity to advance rehabilitation research. TiDe will leverage partnerships across disciplines and institutions to provide didactic and hands-on research experiences and “training for the trainers” (current rehabilitation clinician scientists). Following their first annual workshop on August 10-13 in Alexandria, Va., the TiDe program is now accepting applications for faculty scientists through February 29, 2024.
For the 2nd consecutive year, AOTF co-sponsored with the Center on Health Services Training and Research (CoHSTAR) and Learning Health Systems Rehabilitation Research Network (LeaRRn) to bring you Workshop in Implementation Science and Health Services (WISH): Advancing Grant Writing Skills for Rehabilitation Researchers, last May in Alexandria, Va. Of the 24 participants,14 were Occupational Therapists, and of those, six were AOTF-funding recipients. WISH will return in 2025 so check back this fall to apply.

4.) Forging a Path to OT Research

A cohort of entry-level OT students participated in the AOTF/AOTA Future Scientists Institute, in Kansas City, Missouri. The facilitators and mentors included faculty and doctoral/postdoctoral students from established research programs from around the nation. Program participants met with leading occupational therapy scientists to address topics such as possibilities within OT science, considerations when evaluating potential doctoral programs, and career opportunities as a scientist. The participants were also invited to our Breakfast with a Scholar, State of the Science and Research Excellence programs, AOTA's Presidential Farewell/Inaugural Addresses, as well as the Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecture by Mary Lawlor, ScD, OTR/L, FAOTA, Past AOTF Board Chair. Applications will open this fall for the 2024 Institute.

5.) Stronger Together

Pi Theta Epsilon (PTE) the national occupational therapy honor society, continues to grow and advance its mission to support occupational therapy by promoting research, leadership, and scholarly activities. With seven new schools joining PTE in 2023, they are now 142 active chapters strong. For a sixth consecutive year, PTE’s successful partnership with OccupationalTherapy.com offered free continuing education courses to its active alumni and lifetime members. Thank you to the leadership of PTE officers and engagement of members! See how to start a chapter.

6.) Investing in the Future with over 50 OT Scholarships

Over 50 OT students received scholarships ranging in value from $150 to $5,000 in 2022 from AOTF and its collaboration with organizational partners including state occupational therapy associations. The OT Scholarship Program is one of the oldest of the Foundation's programs dating back to the establishment of AOTF in 1965. Thank you to the Scholarship Selection Committee, comprised of volunteer occupational therapy practitioners and educators, who reviewed all applications and recommended scholarship recipients. Applications will open this summer for 2024.

7.) Disseminating Research through OTJR

2023 has been a year of continued growth and innovative change for our research publication which transitioned to its original name: OTJR: Occupational Therapy Journal of Research. The 2022 Impact Factor is 1.4 and the 5-Year Impact Factor is 1.9. To meet the ambitious goals of OTJR, we’ve expanded the size and expertise of the Editorial Board, implemented a reviewer in training program, and diversified types of manuscripts published by the journal to include brief reports, book reviews, and invited commentaries. We published a successful special issue on telehealth that included 22 high-quality articles in July and issued a call for papers on the practical application of the Person-Environment-Occupation-Performance Model for an upcoming 2024 special issue. OTJR's publicly available video, Enhancing Success in Publishing Peer-Reviewed Research," geared towards graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and early career researchers has been viewed over 400 times! Additionally, OTJR’s social media presence grew to over 3,500 AOTF/OTJR Instagram followers and 700 X followers providing new avenues for innovative dissemination of occupational therapy research.This continued growth represents the contributions of quality data-driven research from authors and the rigorous processes of OTJR's Editor-In-Chief, Timothy J. Wolf, OTD, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, Assistant Editor, Associate Editors, Editorial Fellows, Review Board Members, and SAGE Publishing Partners. View OTJR subscriber benefits and author guidelines.

8.) Best Partners Forever (BPFs)
One of AOTF’s strategic planning workgroups met with OT volunteers from both research & clinical backgrounds at the 2023 AOTA INSPIRE Conference to discuss, set objectives and agenda for the 2024 program `Connecting OT Researchers & Practitioners AOTA Conference Workshop' to promote knowledge interaction between OT researchers and clinicians. An abstract was submitted for the workshop to be held at the 2024 AOTA conference as a result of this planning meeting. We're happy to report that a session has been approved.

9.) Recognizing Research Excellence

Every year, AOTF bestows awards and honors to individuals that contribute time, energy, and support to the fulfillment of the mission, goals, and objectives of AOTF. See the full list of 2023 recipients including our distinguished Academy of Research inductees, Carolyn Unsworth, PhD, BAppSci (OT), GCTE, OTR, MRCOT, FOTARA, Professor, Discipline Lead Occupational Therapy Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University Australia and Sook-Lei Liew, PhD, OTR/L, Associate Professor; Director, Neural Plasticity and Neurorehabilitation Laboratory, University of Southern California. View the 2023 Research Excellence Symposium with presentations from our latest inductees along with our Early and Mid-Career Awardees.

10.) OT Students Supporting Research

57 schools raised over $53,000 in AOTF's 2023 St. Catherine Challenge, a national student-led fundraising initiative to support occupational therapy Intervention Research Grants (IRG). Results were posted at our 2023 AOTA Inspire Conference booth; top school teams were invited to both AOTF’s State of the Science and Breakfast with a Scholar which included group picture with the speaker.

1st Place- St. Catherine University
2nd Place- University of Pittsburgh
3rd Place- University of Southern California
MVP- Missouri State University
Rush to the Top- Yeshiva University and University of Wisconsin-Madison

11.) Thank YOU for Strengthening the Future of OT!

Our generous donors who made gifts during the fiscal year 2023 enables AOTF to invest in new OT research, support OT students at all degree levels and to disseminate vital information to the profession. All our work and the impact of that work is made possible through the power of philanthropy. The full list of donors will be available here and in our upcoming 2023 Annual Report. Become a donor: Give a tax-deductible gift.
Our dedicated volunteers from all areas of occupational therapy and the public are essential to implementing our strategies to build critical evidence. If you would like to become a volunteer, view opportunities and apply.
Together with our valued partners, we've created new programs, events, and opportunities to build and share evidence in demand. We look forward to collaborating this year with established and new partners.