Sarah Jossart, OTDS – Selected for national honor

Sarah Jossart, a first-year, entry-level doctoral of occupational therapy student is one of 30 students in the nation to be selected for the Summer Institute of Future Scientists in Occupational Therapy 2018 at Boston University. HU has now had 2 OTDS students honored over the past 2 of 3 years to participate in research initiatives. Sarah will be recognized at the national AOTA conference in Salt Lake City this April.

Sarah will have five research classes embedded into the curriculum at Huntington University. This semester she is further researching occupational therapy’s role with bottle feeding and oral motor facilitation. She is building on her research at The Ohio State University under the guidance of Sarah Keim, PhD and Rebecca Andridge, PhD from a public health perspective. Sarah Jossart conducted a systematic review and produced a poster, thesis, and three OSU presentations on the topic of “Support Factors that Influence Mothers’ Decisions to Breastfeed Their Twins and Triplets Beyond 12 Months of Age”.
In addition, Sarah Jossart participated in a summer research internship at Washington University working with Dr. Roberta Pineda in the NICU at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. This research experience with data collection in the NICU and synthesis of data resulted in a thesis paper. Sarah’s appreciation for evidence-based practice was solidified and heightened her passion to conduct research. Her internship has also led to knowledge translation to parents about the potential effects of the intervention tested. Her discussions with the parents enabled her to learn about what the parent’s experience in the NICU and how the research would impact their infant.

The OTD faculty are committed to developing research initiatives with the students and alumni.