Faculty Updates

Dr. Ana Allegretti is the current chair of the Functional Mobility Assessment Latin America committee under the International Special Interest Group of RESNA. She continues to mentor students and they have had a productive year in presenting at AOTA, ASAHP and local conferences.

 

Dr. Karin Barnes’ current research is related to the needs and services for older adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. She presented her current work at the Association of Schools of Allied Health Programs annual conference in October 2019. Dr. Barnes has created new service-learning opportunities in underserved areas of our community and developed telehealth service delivery experiences in pediatric OT for our students.

Dr. Autumn Clegg was appointed the Capstone Coordinator of the OTD program. She serves as the OT Technician at the AARP Driver Safety’s CarFit Event with University Health System Trauma Prevention in our community. She co-presented at the Texas Occupational Therapy Association Annual Conference in November 2019 on OT and OTA collaboration in education. She is also serving as co-chair of the New Fieldwork Educator Mentoring Program as part of the AOTA Academic Education Special Interest Section. She and Dr. Piernik-Yoder co-authored two chapters in the newly published text, The Specialty Practice of Rehabilitation Nursing: A Core Curriculum (8th ed.).

 

Dr. Kimatha Grice is conducting a normative study on a new dexterity assessment and is a co-investigator for an interdisciplinary study on ergonomics and dental professionals. Dr. Grice is also active with the Texas Society for Hand Therapy.

 

Dr. Ricky Joseph was promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure in September 2019. Dr. Joseph is a leader in interprofessional education and is a co-facilitator for an interprofessional education grant for OT students to educate dental students on ergonomics related to the dental practice. He also is the chair of the Alamo South District of the Texas Occupational Therapy Association and serves on the TOTA Executive Board. He presented on interprofessional education at the Association for Schools of Allied Health Professions' annual conference in October 2019.

 

Ms. Laura Novak supports clinical program development and provides clinical occupational therapy services in conjunction with the UT Mays Cancer Center San Antonio and the UT Health San Antonio Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases. She is also involved in an implementation study of the Care Of People with dementia in their Environment (COPE) program and presented at the AOTA annual conference on creating more supportive communities for people with dementia and their caregivers.

 

Dr. Precious Osuoha extends her research focus related to the needs of caregivers for people with dementia through her collaborative work with the Center for Caregiving at UT Health San Antonio. She is highly involved in the Caring for the Caregiver skills training program with the School of Nursing to provide education on various areas such as transfers/fall prevention, nutrition, dental hygiene, medication management to community members who care for persons with dementia. She has also been engaged in a grant-funded, interprofessional education program that allows OT, SLP, and nursing students to learn more about each disciplines’ role with persons with dementia and their caregivers.

 

Dr. Bridgett Piernik-Yoder serves as the chair of the AOTA Academic Education Special Interest Section and is a member of the AOTA Committee on Education. She is also a member of the AOTA Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Mentoring Institute. She has presented her scholarly work at the AOTA annual conference and the AOTA Education Summit this year. She co-authored two chapters with Dr. Clegg in the text, The Specialty Practice of Rehabilitation Nursing: A Core Curriculum (8th ed.), which published in November 2019. She is also involved in a collaborative research study to assess the impact of natural disasters on social determinants of health in seniors in rural communities.

 

Dr. Timothy Reistetter was appointed to the Department of Occupational Therapy when he assumed the role of Associate Dean of Research for the School of Health Professions in January 2019. Dr. Reistetter continues his research related to the use of large datasets to investigate population health data related to rehabilitation outcomes. He was inducted into the American Occupational Therapy Foundation Academy of Research this year.

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In this issue
Faculty Updates
Message from the Chair
OT alumna receives award from TOTA
OT faculty member elected to chair AESIS
Two OT faculty members appointed to national leadership positions
OT students simulate telehealth therapy sessions
Students travel to Mexico to learn about occupational therapy