Rutgers OTD Program

This past week, our OTD ’25 students learned about and explored kits created by Dr. Emily Balog for Project PROTECT. Project Preparedness, Response, Recovery: Occupational Therapists in Emergency Contexts Training (Project PROTECT) is designed to equip OTPs and students with the necessary knowledge and skills to assist community members in personalized emergency/disaster preparedness and management. Efforts for Project PROTECT are led by Dr. Balog, who has pervious experience in disaster preparedness and continues to ensure an evidence-based approach to force multiply readiness in communities. While OTD students unpacked and explored the kits to understand what emergency/disaster preparedness could need, they were also challenged to think about additional items needed based on case studies. Thank you Dr. Balog for sharing this knowledge and resource to the OTD students.

✨Part 2/2 (Oral Presentations) ✨ On Thursday May 2nd, our graduating cohort (Class of 2024) participated in the first annual Rutgers OTD Capstone Conference. Students chose between an oral presentation or a poster presentation. Our students were able to showcase the evidence-based projects that they worked on over the 14-week capstone experiential. Special thanks to our amazing community partners who hosted our students, including Back Home Safely, Vision Loss Alliance of NJ, Action Tank Philadelphia, Team Foster, JFK Johnson Rehabilitation, Sharp Rehabilitation, RWJ Barnabas Ambulatory Care Center, Children’s Specialized Hospital, Crosswinds by Legacy Treatment Centers, Neurotech R3, ABLE Adults, RAIN LGBT Shelter, Covenant House, and the Boggs Center LEND Fellowship Program.

Yesterday, our 3 years presented their posters for their doctoral capstone project at the BIANJ conference! Congratulations to Marise, Hareem, Erin, and Sarah on this great accomplishment!

Topics included:
- Usability and Feasibility of Hybrid R3THA Model in a Community Based Clinic (Marise)
- Building Bridges in Brain Injury Caregiving (Sarah)
- Developing Student Collaboration Skills in an Interprofessional Head Injury Clinic (Erin)
- Student Perspectives of Individual Versus Collaborative OT Services in a Community (Hareem)
- Validation of R3THA™ Kinematic Assessment Protocol in Neurorehabilitation for Children with Cerebral Palsy (Marise)