Current Graduate Student attended the AOTF Summer Institute of Future Scientists

Earlier this summer, Janelle Barna was selected to attend the American Occupational Therapy Foundation’s Summer Institute of Future Scientists in Occupational Therapy. Janelle wrote the following reflection about her experience.

The AOTF Summer Research Institute was an incredibly eye-opening and educational experience on different aspects of occupational therapy research. It was held virtually over two days through Colorado State University and was composed of multiple sessions addressing different topics and pathways in research. It was absolutely incredible talking to various top researchers in their fields and hearing individuals like Wendy Hildenbrand, the President of AOTA, talk. I learned about the importance of asking a good question and how this shapes the whole research process and how important it is not only to complete research but to advocate for the application of research into clinical settings. One of the most shocking things that I learned was that it takes about 17 years for research that is done and published to make its way into practice. This statistic showed me that more advocacy needs to be done by researchers and clinicians to work on decreasing this gap so that current research can impact future practice in a shorter timeframe.

The Institute also stressed the difference between obtaining a Ph.D. or an OTD. I learned that a post-professional OTD (PP-OTD) is a clinical doctorate that prepares individuals to evaluate, synthesize, and apply research knowledge into OT fields. Individuals with an OTD are still qualified to conduct research but do so more with a focus on the application of this new knowledge into clinical settings. On the other hand, a Ph.D. prepares an individual to create original knowledge that contributes to research and theory in OT. This type of degree is more focused on designing and conducting original research for the exploration and creation of new knowledge in the field. I thought that this was an important distinction to learn when considering a future career path.

Lastly, one of my biggest takeaways from the Institute was that there is no one way to do research in OT and no one way to get into the research field. There were some individuals at the conference that were going right through OT school into graduate school to get their Ph.D. Then there were individuals who were practicing for 5-10 years before deciding to go back to school to get their Ph.D. Neither of these pathways was the “right” way though; they both had different life experiences that shaped their ideas, abilities, and research interests. Another thing that I thought was interesting was that many of the presenters also completed their Ph.D. degrees in fields outside of OT. I learned a lot about how research in OT can develop from a variety of different pathways, but all pathways are necessary to provide well-rounded and innovative research. Overall, the Institute was an amazing experience and made me feel extremely excited about the possibility of conducting future research.