Occupational Therapy (OT)

Kerry McAlpine, administrative supervisor for our Department of Occupational Therapy, is one of the first six honorees of the UAB Shared Values in Action Program (UAB VIP Award), launched in January to honor employees whose work exemplifies and embodies one or more of values of integrity, respect, diversity and inclusiveness, collaboration, excellence and achievement, accountability and stewardship.

Four faculty and staff from the School of Health Professions have been selected to receive the inaugural President’s Award for Excellence in Shared Values. The award honors Blazers who demonstrated one or more of UAB’s shared values in the course of their work during the extraordinary times presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Gavin Jenkins, Ph.D., chair, UAB Department of Occupational Therapy, has been named to the 2020-21 UAB Faculty Fellows in Education Abroad program. His course will take students to Entebbe, Uganda, to work with adults and children with disabilities.

Carla Rigo Lima, a PhD in Rehabilitation Science student expected to graduate May 2023, has been awarded a UAB School of Health Professions Blazer Forever Scholarship. The award is given to five SHP students during Homecoming Week based on their answer to an essay question. This year, there were nearly 100 submissions to the question: What makes you most proud to be a UAB Blazer?

Roxgena Jones, an M.S. in Occupational Therapy student expected to graduate December 2022, has been awarded a UAB School of Health Professions Blazer Forever Scholarship. The award is given to five SHP students during Homecoming Week based on their answer to an essay question. This year, there were nearly 100 submissions to the question: What makes you most proud to be a UAB Blazer?

Christopher Eidson, assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, is one of twelve UAB faculty selected to receive the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. The honor is given to those who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments in teaching.

Tamara Traber is the first graduate of our Clinical Doctorate in Occupational Therapy program, a degree designed to prepare experienced occupational therapists for important leadership roles in health care, academia and advocacy for professional and community organizations.

The UAB Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy graduate programs each move up in the latest U.S. News & World Report “America’s Best Grad Schools” rankings. The MSOT program is now #23 and the DPT program is now #13.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham honored six students in the School of Health Professions' M.S. in Occupational Therapy program with the President’s Diversity Champion Award at a celebration on February 20, 2020. The annual award recognizes employees, students and organizations that have helped create a more culturally diverse, inclusive university community through their achievements.

Five members of the UAB School of Health Professions faculty earned certificates for completing the National Inclusive Excellence Leadership Academy (NIXLA). Members of the Class of 2019 are Dina Avery, DHSc, Brenda Bertrand, Ph.D., April Rollins-Kyle, MAEd, Sarah Tucker, Ph.D., and Neena Xavier, M.D.

Chris Eidson, MS, OTR/L, assistant professor in the UAB School of Health Professions’ Department of Occupational Therapy, is the Alabama Occupational Therapy Association‘s (ALOTA) 2019 Ann Cosby Service Award winner.

Faculty and alumni from the UAB Department of Physical Therapy, along with students from the UAB Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program, were joined by students from UAB’s Department of Occupational Therapy and School of Engineering, to adapt electric toy cars for Alabama children with disabilities as part of the nationwide GoBabyGo program.

By Adam Pope, UAB Media Relations

The perpetual association of current symbols with wheelchair users has been criticized for insufficiently representing individuals with other disability types.Recent research from the UAB School of Health Professions Department of Occupational Therapy has assessed individual comprehension and perceptions of nine existing and newly created accessibility pictograph symbols, and it identified one that represented universal access to fitness equipment.

Jana Cason, DHS, OTR/L, FAOTA, alumna of UAB Occupational Therapy Class of 1998, is the 2019 American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Emerging and Innovative Practice Award.

Researchers from the UAB Department of Occupational Therapy have published new findings that suggest spending 20 minutes in an urban park will make someone happier regardless of whether they are engaging in exercise or not during the visit.

For the fourth year in a row, the UAB Department of Occupational Therapy handed out one of their most prized possessions – the infamous Golden Toilet Award. And the award goes too...

Gavin Jenkins, Ph.D., has been named chair of the UAB Department of Occupational Therapy. Jenkins, whose research interests include assistive technology, pedagogical affect, learning performance, and the influence of green spaces and built environment on occupational participation, has worked and researched in the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.