Rehabilitation Scientist makes it to the White House

On February 18, President Obama named 105 researchers as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

Awardees are selected for their pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology and their commitment to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, or community outreach.

As an Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Skidmore has been referred by her peers as, “a representation of hope for the future of occupational therapy and rehabilitation science”.

Her NIH-funded research program examines the influences of cognitive impairments and mood symptoms on activities of daily living outcomes, and interventions designed to ameliorate these influences, focusing in two areas:

• Interventions designed to improve rehabilitation outcomes for individuals with cognitive impairments after acquired brain injury (stroke, traumatic brain injury).
• Activities of daily living disability among community-dwelling older adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Major Depression Disorder.

Currently, she is conducting a series of studies examining client-centered, activity-focused strategy training programs (modeled on the CO-OPApproach TM) designed to promote independence and community integration among adults with stroke-related cognitive impairments.

Dr. Skidmore is a CO-OP scientist and a member of the international CO-OP Academy, “not-for-profit” Community of Scholars, established in 2011 to advance the development and its evidence base of the  Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) approach to intervention, and to lead COOP knowledge translation and mentorship and provide a forum for international networking among CO-OP researchers, trainers, practitioners and consumers.

Dr. Skidmore served on the executive of the Academy from its inception to 2015. She is a close and valued colleague of some of RSI’s very own CO-OP scientists,  Dr. Helene Polatajko, Dr. Deidre Dawson and Dr. Sara McEwen.

For more on the CO-OP Academy, please visit: http://ot.utoronto.ca/coop/academy/about/vision.html

The awards, established by President Clinton in 1996, are coordinated by the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the Executive Office of the President.

Dr. Skidmore and all other winners will receive their awards at a Washington, DC ceremony this spring.

For more information and to see the full list of winners, click here.