Latest Chan Division News

Healthier aging through sharing life stories ⟩
September 28, 2020

Academics and Courses Faculty Pandemic Students

September is Healthy Aging Month, a national observance to draw attention to the lifestyle choices and behaviors that can promote healthy aging for older Americans. In her course, “OT 538: Adulthood and Aging,” Associate Professor of Research Stacey Schepens Niemiec assigns students a project using the power of personal stories to highlight occupations that contribute to meaningful older life experiences. To learn more, Student Ambassador Lamoni Lucas MA ’21 asked Schepens Niemiec to explain the inspiration and purpose of the “Life Story” project, and four OT 538 students to reflect on the project and its mementos.

Schepens Niemiec: Life storytelling — sharing one’s personal life experiences and stories with others — is a meaningful, culturally rich, shared occupation that can be powerfully health-promoting. Life storytelling can help people make sense of their lives, become more aware of the scripts…

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Inaugural China Initiative Academic Workshop: Critical Reading in Graduate School ⟩
September 25, 2020

Academics and Courses China Initiative Community and Partners International

The China Initiative OTD residents hosted a series of virtual workshops with the first one centered on critical reading in graduate school for the first-year PKUHSC students.

With the beginning of a new academic year, the China Initiative OTD residents began a new project to provide academic support to the master’s students enrolled in the occupational therapy-focused master’s program at Peking University Health Science Center (PKUHSC). The inaugural workshop focuses…

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40 Trojans to take part in 2020 OTAC Conference ⟩
September 21, 2020

Alumni Associations and Bodies Conferences Faculty Students

40 Trojans, including faculty members, students and alumni, will be speaking and presenting during the 2020 conference of the Occupational Therapy Association of California. The annual event will be going online from Oct. 8-11. Click to see the full list of this year's USC-affiliated speakers.

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Four faculty members to feature in AOTA Education Summit ⟩
September 16, 2020

Alumni Associations and Bodies Conferences Faculty

Four USC Chan faculty members and two alumni will be speaking during the American Occupational Therapy Association’s 2020 Education Summit. The annual event brings together hundreds of faculty members from academic institutions across the country to learn about new trends, innovative classroom…

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PKUHSC Program Returns to In-Person Teaching ⟩
September 14, 2020

China Initiative Community and Partners International Pandemic

More than six months after transitioning to virtual instruction, Peking University Health Science Center (PKUHSC) dual-degree students returned to in-person classes and restored normal campus life in Beijing.

After 7 months of online teaching that began after the Lunar New Year national holidays in February 2020, PKUHSC instructors and students finally returned to in-person classes, as the COVID-19 pandemic subsided in China. Cohort 1 continued their typical second-year coursework, including an in-person…

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When education requires in-person work during a pandemic ⟩
August 26, 2020

Academics and Courses Chan in the Media Faculty Pandemic

By Kate Faye / HSC News With Keck Medicine of USC now accepting all patients for needed health care services and the fall semester in motion, departments throughout have taken steps to make sure that the risk of COVID-19 transmission is minimal. This has resulted in new policies and best practices…

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Clinical faculty featured in AOTA’s free COVID-19 webinar ⟩
August 20, 2020

Associations and Bodies Clinical Faculty Lectures and Talks Pandemic

Associate Clinical Professor Jamie Wilcox USC Chan clinical faculty members Jamie Wilcox MA ’13, OTD ’14 and John Margetis ’11, MA ’12, OTD ’13 shared insights and expertise gained from working with COVID-positive patients at Keck Hospital of USC during an Aug. 19 webinar hosted by the…

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Chan Community Commission meets the moment ⟩
August 19, 2020

Community and Partners Diversity, Access, Equity Events Faculty Global Initiatives Pandemic Students

How student-leaders, faculty and staff kept the division connected during USC’s first fully remote semester.

By Kayla Johari MA ’21 and Calvin Lee MA ’21 During the Summer 2020 semester — the first full academic semester spent away from campus due to the Covid-19 pandemic — the Chan Community Commission (CCC) was assembled to support the incoming Class of 2022. The commission joined USC Chan…

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PhD student Dominique Como earns NIH fellowship ⟩
August 17, 2020

Awards Research Students

$92K award to support oral health care disparities research and training

In July, USC Chan occupational science PhD student Dominique Como ’21 received a National Institutes of Health Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award. Commonly referred to as a F31 award, the two-year fellowship funded by the National Institute of Dental and…

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A trio of faculty members explore how VR can help combat neurological diseases ⟩
August 4, 2020

Chan in the Media Faculty Health and Wellness Research Technology

USC’s Sook-Lei Liew, Judy Pa and James M. Finley are researching the benefits of virtual reality for patients with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease or stroke.

By Chandrea Miller / USC Today From left, Sook-Lei Liew, James M. Finley and Judy Pa in the USC SMART-VR Center. (Photo courtesy of Sook-Lei Liew) They've been called one of the most junior teams to lead such a high-profile USC collaboration. "I'm not sure if this is good or bad," said Sook-Lei Liew…

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