Columbia University Programs in Occupational Therapy

Happy February, everyone! In celebration of Black History Month, COTAD will be sharing weekly profiles on notable African American pioneers in OT. We plan on hosting a trivia event at the end of the month featuring information from our visual newsletters. There will be prizes! Our Valentine fundraiser is still going on, so if you would like to support COTAD please use the following link: https://forms.gle/tiLguydbMbpvXvRM6. All proceeds will go towards cultural consciousness workshops featuring speakers we love, such as Dr. Alaa Abou-Arab and Lee Ann Westover MS, OTR/L.

Be a leader and expert in Functional Cognition. Join our fully online Post-Professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy Program. Limited spots available for the Fall 2021 term. Contact Dr. Lenin Grajo for more information.

A very special congratulations to Sharon A. Gutman, PhD, OTR, FAOTA, Sheetala Balasubramanian, MS, OTR, Maya Herzog, MS, OTR, Elizabeth Kim, MS, OTR, Hannah Swirnow, MS, OTR, Yudis Retig, MS, OTR, and Samantha Wolff, MS, OTR for their work on their article, Effectiveness of a Tailored Intervention for Women With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and ADHD Symptoms: A Randomized Controlled Study, which appeared in the January/February 2020 issue of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy. It has earned them the Cordelia Myers AJOT Best Article Award from the AOTA! Amazing work, everyone!

The Columbia University Center for Teaching and Learning has collected "Voices of Hybrid" submissions from faculty and students participating in hybrid learning this fall. Dr. Daniel Geller, Dr. Amanda Sarafian, and Dr. Dawn Nilsen from our program have shared their stories about teaching this semester. Find out more about what a hybrid classroom looks like and how we've adapted to this new environment while keeping our students safe.

Join us for the Dr. Janet Falk-Kessler Distinguished Lectureship and Day of Scholarship on December 4th from 1:30-4:30pm EST. Register here: https://events.columbia.edu/go/JFK2020 In lieu of a registration fee, tax deductible donations are requested to support the OT Diversity Scholarship Fund.

The CUOT chapter of COTAD recently held a (socially distanced) pumpkin painting fundraiser. Students painted pumpkins with the flag of their country of origin and created this wonderful video explaining the meaning of each flag. Please enjoy!

Columbia University OT Research Opportunity Clinicians who work with the adult mental health and/or cognitively impaired populations are invited to review a new standardized occupational therapy performance-based evaluation of executive function, the Dream Home Assessment (DHA) and complete a short on-line survey to evaluate the clinical utility of the tool. There will be a 10-minute on-line training video to teach you how to administer the DHA. The survey consists of four Likert-like questions and four short open-ended questions, which will take you approximately 15 minutes to complete. You may choose to administer the DHA to a client, but you can also answer the survey without carrying it out with a client. If you are interested in participating, please use this link: https://cumc.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e3dQhjNFC7qx7O5

Help us promote student diversity in OT and earn 3 professional development contact hours! Please join us for the FREE, fully virtual 2020 Dr. Janet Falk-Kessler Distinguished Lectureship on December 4, 2020, from 1:30-4:30pm EST. There will be concurrent oral presentations on several areas of practice and Danielle Butin’s JFK Lecture on Innovation and Social Justice. In lieu of registration, we invite you to make a tax-deductible donation towards our newly created OT Student... Diversity Scholarship Fund. Every little amount helps! Donate and register now, through November 30th. Over 150 participants have now registered for the conference! For full program and details: https://www.ps.columbia.edu//janet-falk-kessler-distinguis To donate and register for the conference: https://events.columbia.edu/go/JFK2020

Registration for the FREE, fully virtual 2020 Dr. Janet Falk-Kessler Distinguished Lectureship is now open! Please join us on December 4, 2020 from 1:30-4:30pm EST. Danielle Butin, our 2020 JFK Lecturer will be providing an inspiring lecture focused on innovation and social justice. Attend presentations on various areas of practice and earn up to 3 professional development contact hours. We also invite you to support our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion through ...a newly developed OT Student Diversity Scholarship Fund. In lieu of conference registration, we invite you to make a donation to this newly developed scholarship fund for students. For more information and a full program, please see our website: https://www.ps.columbia.edu//janet-falk-kessler-distinguis Register here by November 30th: https://events.columbia.edu/go/JFK2020

The 2020 Dr. Janet Falk-Kessler Distinguished Lectureship has been rescheduled and will be a completely virtual conference this year! Please save the date and join us on December 4, 2020 from 1:30-4:30pm.Registration is FREE and we will welcome donations for a special cause.Registration and full program will open and be posted mid-October!

Applications and admissions for the Fall 2021 cohort of our Post-Professional OTD program with focus on Cognition are now rolling! Join us and be a leader of the field!

Please join us on Friday, Sept. 18 at 10am EST for the Capstone Presentation of Doctoral Candidate Joshua Kotler! Join Zoom Meeting (Zoom sign-in required): https://columbiacuimc.zoom.us/j/96775885349 Meeting ID: 967 7588 5349 Passcode: Capstone20

Orientation looks a little different this year but we are thrilled to welcome the MS Class of 2022 to Columbia!

Today is the day! CP Soccer Camp NYC 2020, in collaboration with faculty member Dr. Katherine Dimitropoulou and the New York Red Bulls, starts now! CP Soccer NYC is a day camp focused on creating community, support, and productive lifestyles for youths and their families affected by cerebral palsy, stroke, or traumatic brain injury. Dr. Dimitropoulou, a CP Soccer advisory board member, will be providing warm up and cool down activities for the children. Learn more by clicking here: https://www.cpsoccer.us/camp-nyc-2020

Congratulations to Dr. Sharon Gutman and our alumni, Dr. Katherine O'Neill, who have created the The Living Independently is For Everyone (LIFE) Program. It is a metacognitive strategy-training intervention designed to improve shopping performance in adults with intellectual disability secondary to Down syndrome. It consists of eight 90-minute intervention sessions that occur in community-based settings on a weekly basis. Detailed information about the LIFE Programincludi...ng descriptions of essential program elements, techniques to facilitate specific shopping skills, suggested outcome measures, and weekly intervention session contentcan be obtained by accessing the manual, which is available free on our website at the link below. https://www.ps.columbia.edu//living-independently-everyone

Join the Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) community on Wednesday, June 10th at 6:30 pm for Raising Voices: A virtual vigil to commemorate lives lost to anti-Black violence and a call to action to end structural racism. Gather with the University Chaplain, CUIMC leadership, and students, staff and faculty from all the schools and programs at CUIMC in a space for reflection and healing as we stand in solidarity against racism. Raise your voice in commitment to act to dismantle systemic racism in our institution, in our communities, and across the Nation. Click the link to RSVP for the event: https://cumc.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d7k4h4VRwMVZmqp

From Dr. Glen Gillen, Program Director: #BlackLivesMatter Dear CUOT Family,... I have been trying to write this post for a few hours. I have realized I am at a loss for words due to the horrific and tragic events this weekend. Disgustingly, we have seen multiple similar events. It is clear that systemic racism is just getting worse as the days go by. It might be a good time to revisit the original 13 guiding principles of the Black Lives Matter Movement: Diversity Globalism Black Women Black Villages Loving Engagement Restorative Justice Collective Value Empathy Queer Affirming Unapologetically Black Transgender Affirming Black Families Intergenerational As a CUOT family we must vow to incorporate these principles into our lives, classrooms, and clinics. It is time to be part of the solution. Let’s vow to speak out against racism and violence, stand in solidarity with the Black community, educate ourselves, move to an action stage, and fight racism, intolerance, and injustice. Stay safe and be strong #CUOT. Hail Columbia.

Know a gap in clinical practice and have a grand idea? Nurture it! Join us this Fall and apply you our full online Post-Professional OTD program with focus on cognition! Learn more at: https://www.ps.columbia.edu//online-doctor-occupational-th

Congratulations to our newly-minted Doctors: Dr. Katherine O'Neill, Dr. Phyllis Simon, Dr. Danielle Alonzi-Gold, and Dr. Stephanie Hui! They have successfully completed and presented their capstone projects!

EVENT REMINDER: Please join us as we celebrate the culmination of the doctoral journeys and hear about the Capstone Presentations of Katherine O'Neill, Phyllis Simon, Danielle Alonzi, and Stephanie Hui. Friday, April 24, 2020 9:00am-12:30pm Zoom link to join the video conference through the website link below:... https://www.ps.columbia.edu//online-doctor-occupational-th

An important message from one of our graduates on the front lines.

Dear CUOT Family, Please join us via Zoom Conference on April 24, 2020 from 9:00am-12:30pm EST for the Doctoral Capstone Presentations of our four Doctoral Candidates: Katherine O’Neil Phyllis Simon Danielle Alonzi-Gold... Stephanie Hui Attached is the flyer for details. Zoom call link and more information on our OTD website:https://www.ps.columbia.edu//online-doctor-occupational-th