Current PhD Students

Elisa Apra >

Faculty Mentor: Mary Lawlor ScD, OTR/L, FAOTA

Research Lab: Sensory Integration, Engagement and Family Life lab

Year of Entry: 2019

My research interests focus on improving the lives of people with mental illness through occupational science. I’m particularly interested in how technology can be employed in new ways to support day-to-day occupational performance, as well as the power of narrative in relation to mental health, especially in the Asian American community and other underserved populations. In the Sensory Integration, Engagement and Family Life lab, I am currently supporting research projects examining the experiences of autistic adolescents and young adults.

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Emily Campi MA, OTR/L >

Faculty Mentor: Grace Baranek PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA

Research Lab: Innovations in Neurodevelopmental Sensory Processing Research (insp!re)

Year of Entry: 2019

In my current role as a PhD student, I am involved in assessment training and video coding for the Parents and Infants Engaged (PIE) intervention study, which is a “proof of concept” of the PIE intervention for infants at-risk for neurodevelopmental disorders. I am also participating in the efforts of the insp!re lab to develop early screening tools and parent-mediated interventions for autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders by contributing to various ongoing research studies.

My long-term research interests include investigating the impact of a neurodevelopmental diagnosis on the entire family unit, including caregiver balance of engagement across occupations. I am especially interested in the impact of homelessness on caregiver role balance and the caregiver-child relationship as it relates to neurodevelopment.

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Stuti Chakraborty >(she/her/hers)

Faculty Mentor: Sook-Lei Liew PhD, OTR/L

Research Lab: Neural Plasticity and Neurorehabilitation Lab

Year of Entry: 2022

My research interests involve understanding the neural mechanisms behind recovery from stroke and traumatic brain injury. I am interested in the use of functional and structural neuroimaging methods to determine regions of the brain affected in stroke to develop improved outcomes for recovery and also to aid in the understanding of disease processes. I have prior experience in the use of non-invasive brain stimulation to enhance motor skills in stroke patients with mild to moderate deficits. As an Occupational Therapist trained in one of the largest tertiary care hospitals in India, I have had the opportunity to work with a wide range of patients with neurological disorders, stroke being the most common. At the Neural Plasticity and Neurorehabilitation Lab, I look forward to combining my previous clinical training as an OT with my interest in neuroimaging to design, test and validate programs that are better equipped to treat and detect stroke lesions.

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Elizabeth Choi-Tucci MS, CCC-SLP >(she, her)

Faculty Mentor: Grace Baranek PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA

Research Lab: Innovations in Neurodevelopmental Sensory Processing Research (insp!re)

Year of Entry: 2018

My career interests include bridging the knowledge gaps between occupational science and speech, language, and hearing sciences and moving both disciplines and related professions toward societal and global action. I hope to contribute to the development and support of multidisciplinary knowledge mobilization teams and research-clinical-stakeholder partnerships.

The Parent Expectations, Aspirations, and Concerns for Children (PEACCh) study is my mixed-methods dissertation project exploring the impact of sociocultural/socioeconomic and birth-related influences on infant development. One major goal of this research is to address persistent disparities in autism diagnoses that impact families from historically marginalized groups. Using an intersectional framework, I am explicitly incorporating sociodemographic factors as interdependent, intertwined, and reflective of social and power dynamics (such as racism and oppression). Part of my research includes using narrative-based interviews to gain a contextualized understanding of one aspect of developmental surveillance — caregiver concerns — that is crucial for taking steps toward addressing existing service gaps, changing public policies for promoting infant and child health, and improving early infant care.

In the insp!re lab, I am supporting research in the Sensory and Social Development in Infants and Toddlers project, a longitudinal study examining individual differences in sensory regulation and social communication development in infants using biobehavioral and neurophysiological measures. I was also the project coordinator of the Southern California Child Development Survey, an ongoing study to obtain norms on early sensory regulation and social communication development in 6- to 16-month-old infants through parent report.

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Miranda Donnelly MS, OTR/L >

Faculty Mentor: Sook-Lei Liew PhD, OTR/L

Research Lab: Neural Plasticity and Neurorehabilitation Lab

Year of Entry: 2019

I am interested in innovations that serve people with neurologic conditions and support their everyday needs through meaningful engagement with technology. In the Neural Plasticity and Neurorehabilitation Lab, I support research projects that leverage technology to enhance stroke rehabilitation, including the development and testing of a game-based telerehabilitation muscle-computer interface that provides electromyography (EMG) biofeedback for chronic stroke survivors with upper extremity hemiparesis. Additionally, I help manage the stroke lesion segmentation and processing pipeline for the ENIGMA Stroke Recovery working group, which uses large datasets of post-stroke brain images to study how brain structural changes influence function after stroke.

As an occupational scientist and therapist with clinical experience in adult neurologic rehabilitation, I value holistic rehabilitation. The sensorimotor, cognitive, psychological, social, and emotional recovery domains are complexly interwoven into the fabric of identity. When traditional rehabilitation approaches these domains separately, I believe we miss opportunities for people to have a deeper sense of alignment between their pre and post injury sense of self and belonging. My career interest is to study the intersection of technology, health, and occupation to empower people to live meaningful lives that reflect their values and identity.

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Yiyang (Sunny) Fang OTD, OTR/L >(she/her/hers)

Faculty Mentor: Shawn C. Roll PhD, OTR/L, RMSKS, FAOTA, FAIUM

Research Lab: Musculoskeletal Sonography and Occupational Performance (MSOP) lab

Year of Entry: 2021

My research interests are focused on prevention of work-related musculoskeletal injuries in the upper extremity and ergonomics to reduce pain and discomfort. I am particularly interested in behavioral prevention strategies to help workers in industries that have high risk for developing work-related injuries. I am currently working on a research project that assesses the risk of musculoskeletal injuries in dental hygiene students.

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Marshae Franklin OTD, MSOT, OTR/L >(she/her/hers)

Faculty Mentor: Amber Angell PhD, OTR/L

Research Lab: Disparity Reduction and Equity in Autism Services (DREAmS) Lab

Year of Entry: 2021

I am a PhD Student in the Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy working under the direction of Dr. Amber Angell in the DREAmS Lab. I am honored to be a member of the DREAmS Lab team, where I can explore my research interests, which center around the lived experiences of neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals as they relate to mental health and health equity. In alignment with the lab’s mission, I am particularly interested in the impact of mental health conditions on occupational performance among Black autistic girls and women, which has been significantly understudied. As a clinician and a future occupational scientist, my goal is to utilize community-based participatory research to amplify the voices of historically underrepresented and underserved populations in the literature to promote equitable access to diagnosis, quality health services, and wellbeing.

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Yoko Ellie Fukumura >

Faculty Mentor: Shawn C. Roll PhD, OTR/L, RMSKS, FAOTA, FAIUM

Research Lab: Musculoskeletal Sonography and Occupational Performance Lab

Year of Entry: 2019

Workplace injury continues to prevail despite guidelines and policy level change. Through the PhD program, I hope to further understand musculoskeletal injury from an occupational science perspective to change the ways in which we address injury prevention. As a research assistant in the Musculoskeletal Sonography and Occupational Performance lab, I am working on an interdisciplinary project to create an office workstation that uses machine learning to promote health behavior change and prevent injury. We are currently studying ergonomics of computer users to develop an algorithm that accurately senses the user’s posture in a pilot study. Through this study, we also hope to enhance our understanding of ergonomics and human behavior at the office workstation. I hope to apply the knowledge I gain from this project to address injury prevention in musicians in the future.

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Savannah Gluck >(she/her)

Faculty Mentor: Grace Baranek PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA

Research Lab: Innovations in Neurodevelopmental Sensory Processing Research (insp!re)

Year of Entry: 2022

My research interests are focused on early indicators that may lead to an autism diagnosis, including sensory processing and communication differences. I am particularly interested in strengths-based parent education in relationship to screening, diagnosis, and early-intervention. As a research assistant in the Innovations in Neurodevelopmental Sensory Processing Research (insp!re) lab, I am working on a project that will use Respiratory Sinus Arrythmia (RSA) levels of both infants and caregivers to measure parent engagement and synchrony during early occupations (such as play, sleep, feeding, etc).

Prior to my time as a PhD student, I worked clinically as an occupational therapist in schools and for California Children’s Services for 4 years. During this time, I identified a need for more understanding of the parent and child relationship and how this impacts early occupation and development in young children with neurodevelopmental disorders. I am eager to explore this relationship, among many others, under the guidance of Dr. Baranek.

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Bethany A. Gruskin OTR/L >(she/her)

Faculty Mentor: Bobbi Pineda PhD, OTR/L, CNT

Research Lab: NICU Therapy Lab

Year of Entry: 2021

To provide a brief background of my research experience, I joined the Back 2 Baby Basics (B2BB) research lab as an undergraduate research assistant. With a focus on early childhood temperament, my roles within this project included interacting directly with participants to collect data, coding videos for specific behaviors, entering and correcting information in datasets, and training new undergraduate research assistants. Upon graduation, I joined another Penn State project — the Study of Infant Emergent Sleep TrAjectories Family Foundations (SIESTA-FF) — as a full-time Human Research Technologist I. As a member of the start-up team for this National Institute of Child Health and Human Development funded clinical trial, I worked closely with the Principal Investigator and the project coordinator to create operating procedures, ensure efficient protocols for data collection and entry, and recruit couples, who were first-time parents. After this initial startup process, I worked directly with families through each stage of the project, including informed consent and data collection. As a project based in human development and family studies the terminology diverged, but ultimately, we were looking at occupations, co-occupations, roles, and routines within the emerging family unit. With this foundation, I pursued my Master of Science in Occupational Therapy at the University of New England and graduated in May 2021.

I am currently enrolled as an Occupational Science PhD student at the University of Southern California, immersed in Dr. Pineda’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Therapy Lab. My research interests focus on the outcomes of developmentally vulnerable infants and their families, especially pertaining to neurodevelopment, environment, and familial transitions. As a member of Dr. Pineda’s research team, I am responsible for collaborating with lab members to support research regarding the Supporting and Enhancing Neonatal Sensory Experience (SENSE) program, other projects evaluating neonatal outcomes post-NICU admission, and longitudinal follow-ups. My long-term goal is to promote positive outcomes for infants, caregivers, and therapeutic providers in the NICU through research.

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