My First Conference Acceptance
It actually happened: my academic conference proposal was accepted! I submitted a poster presentation proposal to the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) for the 2024 annual conference and was thrilled when I received the email that my proposal had been accepted. My poster is titled “Once Upon a Time in the ICU: Did Covid-19 Change the Role of the Acute Care Occupational Therapist? A Literature Review.” It’s based on the lit review I’m currently working on for my dissertation.
This is the first time I’m the lead presenter of research at this level. I’ve been the lead presenter at poster presentations at my school, but obviously that’s not the same. Additionally, I’ve presented posters where I’ve been second-, third-, or fourth- presenter, but again, not the same! So, I’m pretty pumped!
I’m also jazzed because I’m an additional author on a poster one of my mentors submitted! My first AOTA as a PhD student, and I’m two-for-two. Can’t argue with that!
If you ask any of my friends who went to OT school with me, odds are they’ll tell you I was always interested in doing research and was always interested in doing that research in the medical area of occupational therapy. And it’s true!
Now let me tell you how I did it. In the second year of my undergraduate program, we had a class called Evidence for Practice; this was where I met Dr. Inga Wang. Believe it or not, I actually read my professor’s CVs, and this story is precisely why I do (and why you should too!). Smack in the middle of Dr. Wang’s lengthy and amazing resume (and I’m not just saying that because she’s my longtime friend and mentor—I say it because it’s the absolute freaking truth) is the fact that she did a postdoc at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.
Pause right there. I had just come off of a multi-day shadow with an occupational therapist who worked specifically with spinal cord injury patients. This OT told me about the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (otherwise known as RIC, which is these days known as Shirley Ryan AbilityLab—yes, I am dating myself here). Anyway, after learning about RIC, I just knew I needed to get down there because not only was I going to do one of my clinical fieldwork rotations there—it was clearly my destiny to work there.
After one class (not the first, I’m not that impatient), I went up to Dr. Wang and reintroduced myself, bringing up my interest in RIC. It turned out she was still working with RIC and Northwestern researchers. The conversation progressed and ended with her inviting me to Chicago as her guest the next time she had meetings. Of course, I said yes! She had a whole itinerary for us and for me: meetings with her research team; a tour of RIC; a meeting with one of RIC’s prosthetists; and (perhaps the most important) a meeting with RIC’s fieldwork coordinator! I was floating on air.
So, what does this have to do with a life of research? Yeah, yeah, I’m getting there, I promise. It’s twofold. First, during the ride to and from Chicago, Dr. Wang and I had a long time to talk, and one thing that came out of the conversation was that I got involved in the University’s undergraduate research program. I worked specifically in her lab on two specific projects, one of which ended up turning into my Master’s Project. The second way is on that trip to RIC, I met an occupational therapist who was doing research with a participant. She was testing a hand exoskeleton on a stroke survivor. This was over ten years ago, but I still distinctly remember thinking, “This is what I want: a clinical role that’s hands-on with patients, but one where I can also conduct potentially life changing research.” Amazing how 48 hours can change your life, huh?
Here's my advice to you if you are an occupational therapy student (or, truly, any student of any major) and are thinking that you want to try your hand at research:
Think about your interests. What areas of practice are interesting to you? Most likely, those areas will line up with the areas of research that will interest you, but who knows!
Look up your professors and their areas of expertise, research, and teaching. See who might be a good fit.
In my direct experience, those students who want to do research but are not required to do so come to it in one of two ways:
They do it like me, and go up to their chosen faculty member, ask them directly, and see if they’re looking for any assistance, or…
The faculty member makes an announcement at the beginning of class or sends out an email saying, “I’m doing this research and I need some assistance. I need X number of students. Please submit your resumes.”
If the number of faculty in your department is small and the number of students is large, you can always look outside the department for a potential mentor. Head over to the Office of Undergraduate Research for assistance.
Be willing to volunteer if necessary. If you are really and truly interested in research, you might be working for free for a period. That said—it will always look good on your CV!
This is a two-part blog post! Next week, I will have some advice and tips from people who do this for a living: doctors (MD, DO, and PhD), doctors-to-be, and inventors (all names who I know you know!). Stay tuned for part two!