In just a few short years, Old ֱ University’s occupational therapy (OTD) program has gone from newcomer to nationally recognized innovator. Now the program in the Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences Ellmer College of Health Sciences has earned the 2025 ASAHP Award for Innovation and Excellence in Clinical Education from the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP).
ASAHP created the honor to spotlight academic–clinical partnerships that reimagine how students are prepared for real-world practice.
The OTD curriculum includes a four-course practice scholarship sequence. Students begin by appraising research literature, then move on to systematic reviews of clinical topics in collaboration with community partners. The work culminates in case reports co-created with practicing clinicians. These projects often become conference presentations or are submitted for publication.
Students have explored questions as varied as whether rock climbing benefits people with Parkinson’s disease, how trauma-informed interventions support women who have experienced domestic violence, and how occupational therapy approaches can ease caregiver burden for families of people with dementia. Case reports have covered everything from pediatric feeding therapy to regaining independence after neurological injury.
What makes the model distinct is the way community clinicians are invited into the academic process. Collaborators — including occupational therapists at Virginia Beach and Chesapeake public schools, Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters, Powerback Rehab and others — guide students while also expanding their own engagement with evidence-based practice. Together, they’re creating scholarship that benefits the profession and the community.
“The OT program is so new it’s validating to be recognized in that way, and to tell our community partners who have been so supportive of us that with their collaboration we were able to do this,” said Patricia Laverdure, OTD, program director and chair of the School of Rehabilitation Sciences.
The ASAHP Award for Innovation and Excellence in Clinical Education is presented annually to highlight forward-thinking strategies in preparing the next generation of health professionals. Awardees will be honored at the ASAHP Annual Conference, October 14-16.
The recognition highlights how the Doctor of Occupational Therapy program is shaping healthcare education through collaboration and fresh ideas, preparing students to improve lives while strengthening the field.