On The air

On Episode 53, Stephanie Goodman, an OT practitioner from Kansas City, MO, shared about her work as a coach at The Parkinson's Exercise and Wellness Center in Overland Park, KS. On this episode, two individuals with whom she works - Sarrisa Curry and Jacob Weiss - both of whom are pioneering innovative work with people in the Parkinson's Disease community, talk about their work and research with p...

Occupational therapist Allison Sullivan, DOT, OTR/L, was the recipient of the 2017 Catherine Trombly Award for Excellence in Research and Education from the Massachusetts Association of Occupational Therapy and the 2018 Faculty Excellence award from American International College. She is Lead Faculty for AIC’s Post-Professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy program, where she mentors doctoral cap...

Tanya Peterson, MS, OTR, has been an occupational therapist for over a decade. She began her career in acute care at Upstate Medical University, eventually transitioned into pediatrics, and then became a full time faculty member in an Occupational Therapy Assistant Program. Eventually she branched out on her own to open The Tot Spot Play Center in Upstate NY. And her most recent project aligns her...

Liz DeFinnis is an occupational therapist and a busy mom of three young children. She graduated from Misericordia University in 2009 with a MS in Occupational Therapy. A few years later she continued her education and graduated from Capella University in 2019 with a PhD in Psychology. She has spent the last several years exploring various approaches to understanding the intertwined dynamic of the...

Occupational therapist Rafael E. Salazar II, MHS, OTR/L, is the guest on this episode which centers on improving clinical outcomes through human connection. As principal owner of Rehab U Practice Solutions, a leader in patient retention strategy, he has experience in a variety of rehab settings, working with patients recovering from a variety of injuries and surgeries. He worked as the lead clinic...

Steve Nawotniak is an occupational therapy practitioner living in Buffalo, NY, who specializes in mental health and treatment of mental health conditions. On this episode, Steve shares his insight and perspective about ways to improve quality of life for individuals living with mental health conditions, based on his experience after his own diagnosis. In addition to practicing as an OT practitione...

Tiffany Davanzo is a freelance medical illustrator specializing in art for medical publications, education and the medical legal field. She is 2003 graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Art as Applied to Medicine Program. Tiffany is a Certified Medical Illustrator and has been a member of the Association of Medical Illustrators since 2001. In addition to medical illustration...

Susannah Bailin is a former patient who was very frustrated by the handouts and generic videos that she was supposed to use to do her home exercises so she started a business called AC Health. Her goal was to make it easy for patients to bring the information - and encouragement - provided to them by their therapists home. Susannah has been a board member of seven non-profits, including schools an...

It's the 100th episode of the On The Air podcast and things are being done a bit differently for milestone installment. On this episode, the podcast host, Stephanie Lancaster, is interviewed by Orli Weisser-Pike, and Stephanie shares about her professional trajectory, including her days as a candy striper, the ah-ha moment when she realized she wanted to be an OT practitioner, her days as an OT st...

Dr. Frederick B. Covington is an occupational therapist , award winning inventor, professor, author, and technology design specialist. Following his graduation from Howard University, he began his career as an occupational therapist. His areas of expertise includes pediatrics, school based intervention, autism, developmental disabilities, physical disability and dysfunction and technology as well...

Erika del Pozo, MOT, OTR/L, holds a BA in Dance and Master’s in Occupational Therapy from Nova Southeastern University. Erika has practiced in outpatient pediatrics for five years and also has experience working with older adults with progressive neurological conditions. Erika created a modified-dance curriculum for adults with Parkinson’s Disease in Boca Raton, FL, in 2016. Erika served as an adj...

Crystal Cabrera, who is known on social media as The Brainy OT, became an occupational therapist in 2015. Her first jobs were in pediatrics; she worked per diem OT positions at a private outpatient clinic and at a prescribed pediatric extended care clinic (PPEC). After a little more than a year as an OT, Crystal sought out opportunities to work with the adult population. In 2016 she accepted a pos...

Do you know what a long-hauler is? According to the World Health Organization (WHO), people with COVID-19 typically recover from the condition in about two weeks' time, but there are a number of individuals who continue to experience symptoms and/or continue to test positive for the virus for much longer - even 100+ days in some cases. This group of people is being referred to by medical personnel...

On this episode, second-year occupational therapy students Bailey Diprima, Serena Khiantani, and Pam Ponce talk about the outcome of their work in a course in OT school on evidence-based practice. Their study looked at the outcome of medical interventions used with children ages 4-18 for treatment of medulloblastoma, a malignant (cancerous) type of brain tumor that originates in the cerebellum. Th...

Brittany Ferri has been an occupational therapist for 4 years, during which time she has developed a specialty in mental health. She founded her business, Simplicity of Health LLC, a year ago and began providing services such as health writing, community health education, corporate wellness seminars, consulting, and private pay treatment. Around the same time her company was founded, she also got...

Meredith Castin, PT, DPT, is a physical therapist who has developed a self-paced online course to guide therapists through the process of finding gainful employment in non-clinical positions. Meredith has been a PT for ten years, during which time she worked in outpatient orthopedics, inpatient rehab, acute care, and home health settings. She entered the non-clinical space in 2015, starting out as...

Melissa LaPointe is an occupational therapist-turned-consultant from the UK who helps OT practitioners transition from burnt-out clinicians to thriving, purpose-driven entrepreneurs. After running a brick-and-mortar practice for five years, Melissa transitioned to full-time online business ownership and is now location independent. She helps occupational therapists around the globe to market and s...

Marissa Yahil, MSOT, OTR/L, CBS, is an occupational therapist who specializes in lactation and infant feeding. She owns and operates a private practice in Texas called Lactation & Development Resources which serves mothers perinatally and infants ages 0-6 months. Prenatally, she educates and empowers mothers with evidence based information about lactation, breastfeeding, and bottle feeding so that...

Laura Barnhart, OTR/L, CIMI-2, CIIT, has been an occupational therapist for almost 20 years and has a passion for helping the pediatric population and their families. Laura completed her sensory integration training at The Children's Center for Neurodevelopmental Studies in Glendale, Arizona, under the tutelage of Lorna Jean King. Laura first became certified in infant massage in 2004 while workin...

One thing that many people don't realize is that, as one of the big things that occupies our time, sleep is an occupation. In fact, sleep is a vital part of wellness as research indicates that deficits in sleep are linked to accidents, chronic disease, early mortality, and reduced quality of life and productivity (CDC, 2015). On this episode of the podcast, occupational therapists Stacy Smallfield...

Trish Williams, BA, BHScOT(c) is an occupational therapist and the owner and CEO of Spring OT, ​a multi-disciplinary practice in which OT is the lead service provider, in Calgary in the province of Alberta, Canada. Trish is also an educator at the University of Alberta, a coach for OT Entrepreneurs, and the co-founder of the upcoming OT Entrepreneur Summit 2020. She has been an OT for over 25 year...

Allison Chrestensen, MPH, OTR, is a licensed occupational therapist with over 10 years of experience specializing in cancer rehabilitation. After earning her Masters of Public Health degree, Allison worked in healthcare quality improvement, leading large-scale projects for Medicaid waiver programs and conducting training programs for providers. Inspired by her own patient experience after a catast...

Niccole Rowe, BA, COTA/L has 7 years of experience as an occupational therapy assistant with clinical experience working in various settings such as acute care, long term acute care, skilled nursing, and outpatient chronic pain treatment. She currently works as an adjunct faculty member at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In 2019, Niccole ventured forth into entrepreneurship...

Rachel Russell, PhD, OT, is an occupational therapist, lecturer and researcher based at the University of Salford in the UK. With 18 years of experience of working in adult health and social care, she has been directly involved in the assessment and delivery of home modifications. Since 2011, her research has focused on the home modification process, particularly the role of occupational therapist...

This episode features an occupational therapist by the name of Margret Kingrey who retired from practice in 2016 after working in the field for several decades. Margret graduated with a degree in occupational therapy from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA, in 1976. She worked as an occupational therapist in many different states including Washington and Alaska. During her career as an OT...