As a proud native of North Carolina, I earned my bachelor's degree from Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, NC, as a scholarship athlete on the volleyball and basketball teams. I was later enticed across the country to attend the Occupational Therapy and Occupational Science program at the University of Southern California, where I was granted a research assistantship to work on the first occupational therapy project published in JAMA. After gaining experience in both mental health and physical disabilities at the VA hospital in Nashville, TN, I began focusing my career on the treatment of the upper extremity. As the first Hand Therapy Fellow at the world-renowned Philadelphia Hand Center, I found immense satisfaction in leading patients through their recovery from traumatic, acute, and chronic conditions of the hand, wrist, and elbow. After becoming a Certified Hand Therapist in 2001 and working for several years in Tennessee, I found my way back home to NC. I enjoy all aspects of the hand therapy specialty, especially working closely with physicians, fabricating custom splints, and helping patients return to normal and pain-free function. I have published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy and the Atlas of the Hand Clinics, in addition to presenting at the internationally attended Philadelphia Meeting. Whenever we can catch a flight or tune into ESPN+, my husband and I love watching our daughter play Division I volleyball at the College of the Holy Cross in MA.
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