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NEWS FROM OS&OT AT
THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
HONG KONG OTS VISIT
THE DEPARTMENT OF OS&OT
The Department of Occupational Science & Occupa-
tional Therapy was honoured to welcome guests from
Hong Kong for two weeks in October. While they were
here, Occupational Therapists Simon Wong Kam Man,
Maurice Wan Sing Hin, Christina Yau Sai Fun, and Joyce
Cheung Tsz Ying made a special presentation entitled “In-
novation and Occupational Therapy in Hong Kong” as part
of Rehab Rounds and the Department’s celebration of OT
Month. As they had a particular interest in assistive tech-
nologies, they were thrilled to meet with Drs. Alex Mihai-
lidis and Rosalie Wang, who are recognized leaders in the
field.
RSI SPEAKER SERIES FOR OT MONTH
The Rehabilitation Sciences Institute celebrated Occu-
pational Therapy Month with a Speaker Series. The five ses-
sions included:
Dr. Bonnie Kirsh, “Transforming values into action:
•
Advocacy as a professional imperative”
Dr. Mary Stergiou-Kita, “Work Integration Across
•
Populations”
Dr. Susan Rappolt, “Political occupation of the indi-
•
vidual: 21st century oppression and slavery”
Dr. Nick Reed and Dr. Anne Hunt, “Pediatric Con-
•
cussion: An Emerging Field for Occupational Thera-
pists”
Joanne Maxwell and Dr. Heidi Schwellnus shared
•
their perspectives and experiences in supporting
and advancing evidence-based practice at Holland
Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.
UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP FOR ACADEMIC
REHABILITATION (UPAR) ANNUAL RETREAT
On November 4th, UPAR held its annual retreat at
Hart House, University of Toronto. The evening’s activities
included presentations by Nick Reed, a Clinician/Scientist
at OS&OT and Bloorview Research Institute, who de-
scribed the four Centres for Leadership (Participation and
Inclusion; Child Development; Acquired Brain Injury; and
Innovation) that make up the clinical research program at
Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.
Kevin Reel, Ethicist at the Centre for Addiction and
Mental Health and Interim Discipline Co-Chief for Occu-
pational Therapy CAMH, described Cognitive Adaptation
Training, a relatively new approach to enabling people liv-
ing with chronic schizophrenia to manage living as inde-
pendently as possible, as well as his research related to the
prospective roles of OTs in the provision of ‘physician as-
sisted death’, which may soon become a reality in Canada.
Beverly Bulmer, Director, Health Disciplines Practice
and Education, St. Michael’s, spoke about the develop-
ment of a research capacity and knowledge translation ac-
tion plan to build and enhance practice based research
(PBR) and knowledge translation (KT) .
The event was well attended and the presentations in-
spiring and thought provoking.
REHAB SCIENCES INSTITUTE CELEBRATION
On November 4th, the Faculty of Medicine celebrated
the launch of the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute (RSI) at
the University of Toronto with speakers Dr. Angela Colan-
tonio, Director, Rehabilitation Sciences Institute and CIHR
Research Chair in Gender Work and Health, and Dr. Ros-
alie Wang, Assistant Professor, Department of Occupa-
tional Science and Occupational Therapy and Affiliate
Scientist, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute.
The Rehabilitation Sciences Institute provides research
training opportunities for graduate students through an in-
terdisciplinary lens. Students and faculty from a broad
range of backgrounds — occupational science and occu-
pational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language pathol-
ogy, medicine, engineering, sociology, kinesiology,
women’s studies, and beyond — pursue rehabilitation re-
search focused on changing and improving the lives of
people and communities. The RSI will, without doubt, be-
come an international leader in rehab sciences.
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