After years of hard work and determination to making her dreams a reality, Belmont alumna Jennifer Pacileo has succeeded in opening her own clinic – Southern Pediatric Therapy.

As freshman at Arkansas State University, Pacileo accepted a position at an outpatient pediatric clinic, owned by another Belmont alumna, to clean bathrooms, file papers, schedule patient appointments and answer the phones. The moment she started the position and saw the impact of occupational therapy on a child’s life, she knew she not only wanted to be an occupational therapist, but she also wanted to own her own clinic. Two years later, as a junior in college, she wrote her business plan for Southern Pediatric Therapy.

Due to financial hardships, Jennifer was unable to finish her degree at Arkansas State and had to return home. She applied to and graduated from the Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) program at Concorde Career College and set her next goals of finding employment and working to apply to the Bridge Program at Belmont University.

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Occupational Therapy Department professor Dr. Natalie Michaels was awarded the 2021 Richard Ruoti Research Award for Excellence last week by the Academy of Aquatic Physical Therapy, a section of the American Physical Therapy Association.

One of the association’s most prestigious awards, the Richard Ruoti Research Award for Excellence was established in 2002 and is named after Dr. Ruoti, whose achievements have helped to set the standards of volunteer leadership for the academy. He spent years combining bench research with the application with a focus on aquatic physiology and rehabilitation.

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Belmont undergraduate (2005) and School of Occupational Therapy (2007) alumna Jenny Owens was recently published in Disability and Neurorehabilitation. As a clinical occupational therapist, Owens worked for the Department of Defense treating active-duty soldiers with mild traumatic brain injuries. With cognitive rehabilitation as a focal point of her work, she observed that some soldiers were not able to translate traditional compensatory strategies to real-world situations.

Owens and a team of experts sought and received a federal grant to study the feasibility of teaching active-duty soldiers to use implementation intentions (a novel approach to treating executive dysfunction) to advance self-identified goals. Her role on the team was to administer the experimental and control interventions to Ft. Campbell soldiers over the course of six sessions.

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Alumna Madeline Harcrow, OTD, OTR/L, and Associate Professor Dr. Elena Wong Espiritu, OTD, OTR/L, BCPR, co-wrote an article entitled “Occupational Therapy’s Role in Breast Cancer Prehabilitation Protocol Recommendations to Enhance Clients’ Function,” which was published in the October 2020 edition of OT Practice magazine.

Harcrow is a 2019 graduate of Belmont University’s Doctoral Program in Occupational Therapy. She completed her doctoral capstone experience in the areas of program development and advocacy with Nashville Breast Center. Harcrow now works in the acute and inpatient rehabilitation settings in Nashville.

Harcrow said Belmont’s OTD program offered her the opportunity to develop and exercise creativity, self-discipline and professionalism as a student. As a result she states, “I felt well-suited to leave the nest, with the ultimate goal of benefiting others and furthering the field of occupational therapy”.

Belmont University School of Occupational Therapy student Rebecca Denton recently won the Scholarship of Distinction Award from The Tennessee Occupational Therapy Foundation.

She earned the award and scholarship by maintaining a GPA of 3.97 in the Doctorate of Occupational Therapy program while serving in the community with the Leah Rose Residence for Senior Citizens and Dismas House. In addition, she serves on the TNOTA Student Involvement Committee.

Charmaine Uy, a 2019 alumna of Belmont’s School of Occupational Therapy, recently completed a neurological occupational therapy fellowship at the Brooks Rehabilitation Institute of Higher Learning. The Brooks Neurological Occupational Therapy Fellowship is a one-year program in which fellows-in-training gain extensive experience in the evaluation and treatment of individuals with various neurologic diagnoses but with an emphasis on spinal cord injury, brain injury and stroke.

Fellows-in-training received 1:1 direct mentorship from expert clinicians in these fields with a focus on enhancing clinical reasoning and improving general practice management. In addition to working full-time and managing a full-case load, Uy attended neurologic-focused classes. She completed a total of three case studies examining occupational therapy treatment interventions for pain, upper limb ataxia and stroke in order to improve ADL (Activities of Daily Living) performance and overall independence.

Of her experience in the program, Uy said, “My participation in the neurologic fellowship over the past year has allowed me to become a more knowledgeable and efficient occupational therapist. I feel that it was a great first step as I start my career as an OT and would not have done it any other way.”

Dr. Teresa Plummer, PhD, OTR/L, ATP, CEAS, CAPS was nominated and selected among more than 70 therapists across the globe to be a member of the International Society of Wheelchair Professionals Educators Training Package Consortium.

As a mandate from the World Health Organization, occupational therapy and physical therapy programs are encouraged to increase the learning opportunities for knowledge related to wheelchair service and delivery. Few resources exist in low income and middle income countries. The outcome of the ISWP project will create learning resources for all socioeconomic levels.

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Katy (Coffer) Schmidt was recently offered a mental health occupational therapy fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Schmidt received her Bachelor’s degrees in Psychological Science and Music Performance from Belmont in 2016 and a doctoral degree in occupational therapy from Belmont in 2019.

For 12 months beginning in August, Schmidt will gain mentored advanced clinical practice and didactic experiences in eight psychiatric settings. She will also have opportunities for research, advocacy, program development and teaching.Although many occupational therapists across the country apply for this position, only one fellowship is awarded each year.

This fellowship will contribute to Schmidt’s eligibility for an American Occupational Therapy Association Board Certification in Mental Health.