Megan Sadou was one of 30 Occupational Therapy (OT) students selected to attend the second annual Future Scientists in Occupational Therapy program in Boston this past summer. The event was hosted by the American Occupational Therapy Association in collaboration with the American Occupational Therapy Foundation. Selected students traveled from across the United States to Boston University on June 1, 2017. After the program, students attended a two-day research summit alongside occupational therapy scholars.
The program gives aspiring graduate OT students a chance to form mentorships with top scientists in their field. During her time in the program, Sadou and her future scientist peers received direct and personalized mentorship from renowned OT scholars, as well as researchers and doctoral students in all levels of training. The event hosted Q&A panels and small group discussions to facilitate students’ development of research interests, plans for work-life balance, and their timeline for future research pursuits. At the research summit, Sadou expanded her OT research network and took advantage of opportunities to provide feedback to principal investigators who were in the design phase of innovative studies for the OT field.
Sadou demonstrated a strong interest in research before joining the OT Master’s program at SJSU. She previously published two peer-reviewed research articles from her undergraduate work in the ecology field. Sadou’s skills have transferred easily into her research courses as she now applies her talents to benefit occupational therapy clients.
Sadou served as a group leader for a year-long research project that was recently presented as a poster at the Changing Aging Tour through the SJSU Center for Healthy Aging in Multicultural Populations (CHAMP). Under the mentorship of her advisor, Assistant Professor Dr. Megan Chang, Sadou’s project was accepted for presentation at the Occupational Therapy Association of California. In addition, her team’s work was accepted for presentation at the 2018 International Congress of World Federation of Occupational Therapy in South Africa. Sadou plans to submit this work for publication.
Sadou would like to eventually pursue a doctorate degree that supports her research interests in sensory integration, neurorehabilitation, or the development of sociocultural and contextual frameworks that benefit OT practice. Sadou is currently completing her required internship in OT and expects to graduate December 2017.