CFOT Awards
2024 Humanitarian Award
Rancho Works Café & Gift Shop
The California Foundation for Occupational Therapy (CFOT) honors individuals/groups who, through their humanitarian activities, have demonstrated exceptional commitment to the philosophical principles of occupational therapy and to the mission and vision of CFOT.
CFOT is pleased to present our 2024 Humanitarian Award to the Rancho Works Café & Gift Shop for their significant humanitarian activities: helping people with severe physical disabilities make a successful transition to becoming productive and contributing members of the community.
Following a devastating life change, adjustment to disability and community reintegration are serious challenges that patients face. The Rancho Works Café & Gift Shop is an innovative initiative within the Occupational Therapy Work Rehabilitation Continuum at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey, California. As a non-profit business selling freshly prepared food, beverages, and handcrafted novelty items, it provides a vital platform for former patients to build essential job skills and habits in a real-life supportive work environment that prepares them for community employment. Rancho Works Café & Gift Shop Workers learn a variety of transferable work skills such as food preparation, stocking shelves, monitoring inventory, cashiering, and customer service. Graduate workers have found long term employment with businesses including Sodexo, Servicon, and Home Depot. Of note is that the origin of Rancho Works dates back to 2012 with partial start-up funding from a CFOT Seed Money award.
CFOT Salutes you and is pleased to present you with our 2024 Humanitarian Award!
Heather J. Kitching, OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA
2024 Honored Lectureship
The CFOT Honored Lecturer Award recognizes California occupational therapy practitioners who have demonstrated leadership and promoted ideas and visions in occupational therapy for the profession, and a presentation gives them an opportunity to share their insights and knowledge with the OT community at the CFOT Awards Luncheon and Symposium.
Heather J. Kitching, OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA
Loyalty in the Face of Adversity: Sustaining Ourselves, Each Other, and the Profession
Providing services to those in need and doing so competently and enthusiastically challenges us to our very core. The provision of healthcare and wellness interventions can be so rewarding yet so exhausting. We can choose to take the lead in facing the multitude of challenges before all of us by focusing on ourselves and each other. Loyalty as leadership allows us to acknowledge one another honestly, to accept and forgive when necessary, and to take the necessary risks to promote change, growth, and sustainability. Let us change some pervasive dynamics around us by intentionally daring to stand by each other with transparency, courage, and compassion. Sustaining ourselves and each other will create a sustainable and vibrant future for the profession.
Shannon Rutledge, CMP
2024 Award of Appreciation
Shannon Rutledge, CMP
CFOT is pleased to present Shannon with our Award of Appreciation for her unwavering support and invaluable guidance that has continually ensured the success of our
Awards Luncheon & Symposium at the OTAC Annual Conference.
Shannon is a Certified Meeting Planner (CMP) who has served the Occupational Therapy Association of California (OTAC) for 16 years. She is the Senior Membership and
Events Director at OTAC and works closely with their executive director and board of directors to service its members, plan and organize its annual conference, and support its strategic plan. In this
role at OTAC, Shannon has been a tremendous help and resource to CFOT over the years, mitigating both foreseen and unanticipated issues, allowing our signature annual event to thrive.
OTAC Executive Director Karen C. Polastri shared that …. “From her first day with OTAC, Shannon has been an invaluable asset utilizing her people and technology
skills, resourcefulness, and can-do spirit. We are all fortunate to have her on the OTAC team.”
We couldn’t agree more, and for that, CFOT is deeply grateful.
2024 CFOT Meritorious Service Award - Not Awarded
2024 Scholarship Awards
- Michele Berro Scholarship
(in memory of Mary Ann Epstein)
Darcy McPherson – West Coast University - Frank J. Biehl Scholarship
Catheline Phan – California State University Dominguez Hills - Ardith Breton Scholarship
Brigid Connelly – University of Southern California - Linda Florey Scholarship
Monica Ribeiro – West Coast University - Maureen Cunningham Herwood Scholarship
Nathan Burke-Tan – San Jose State University - Evelyn Jaffe Scholarship
Nicole Conyers – Dominican University - Susan Knox-Hirsch Scholarship
Stacy Sanchez – University of Southern California - Bonita Kraft Scholarship
Tess Zapalac – San Jose State University - Janice Matsutsuyu Scholarship
Kathleen Jayne – University of Southern California
Taylor Kamemoto – University of Southern California - Jaynee Taguchi Meyer Scholarship
Vanessa Wilder – California State University Dominguez Hills - Margaret (Meg) Mitani & Gaylord E. Moss Scholarship
Maria Nicole Sombillo – University of Southern California - Karen C. Polastri Scholarship
Emily Canigiula – San Jose State University - Fred Sammons Scholarship
Samantha Leggis – California State University Dominguez Hills - Chuck Strauch Scholarship
Alessandra Velasquez – Samuel Merritt University - Lisa Test Scholarship
Haley Michaels – Stanbridge University - Wilma West Scholarship
Alex Lee – University of St. Augustine - Dorothy (Dottie) Wilson Scholarship
Amanda Vasquez – Loma Linda University - Ascend’s Future OT Leaders Scholarship
Ariel Appel – San Jose State University - Ascend’s OT Excellence Scholarship
Kimberly Ancheta – San Jose State University - CFOT In Memoriam Scholarship
Hannah Schmid – Boston University
2024 Traineeship Awards
- Maureen Cunningham Herwood Traineeship
Gisele Pereira – Santa Ana College - Janice Matsutsuyu Traineeship
Jenna Marshall – CBD College - Jaynee Taguchi Meyer Traineeship
Brooke White – Sacramento City College - CFOT Traineeship
Beatrice Gonzales – Clovis Community College
Wen Min (Mina) Ho – Grossmont College
2024 Research Awards
- Kaitlin Lillywhite, OTD, OTR/L, CSRS
OT Unlocked: Cognitive Rehabilitation
Funding for this grant comes from the Luis Arabit Research Grant in Memory of Consuelo & Marialuz Arabit, the Julie Shaperman Research Grant in Memory of Dr. Martin Shaperman, the Dorothy (Dottie) Wilson Research Grant, and the CFOT General Research Fund - Karen M. Keptner, PhD, OTR/L
The Development of an Assessment Tool: Occupations in Higher Education Transitions Inventory (OHETI)
Funding for this grant comes from the Bonita Kraft Research Grant, the Margaret (Meg) Mitani & Gaylord E. Moss Research Grant, and the CFOT Legacy Research Grant - Sidney Johnson, OTD, OTR/L
Identifying How Diverse Abilities Are Depicted in Children’s Literature
Funding for this grant comes from the Lisa Test Endowed Research Award
2024 Seed Money Awards
San Jose State University
- The Impact of Simulation-Based Education for Interprofessional Collaboration to Improve Student Self-Efficacy
- Student Researchers: Anne Decker, OTS; Clarisse Fulgado, OTS; Kate O’Neill, OTS; Jonathan Wong, OTS
- Faculty Advisor: Jerilyn Smith, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA
San Jose State University
- The Experience of Parents Learning Sensory Processing Strategies in a University-Based Pediatric Occupational Therapy Clinic
- Student Researchers: Paula Gomez, OTS; Yovanna Gonzalez, OTS; Michelle Macias, OTS; Sondra Stilwell, OTS; Ashley Thigpen, OTS
- Faculty Advisor: Courtney Boitano, OTD, OTR/L
San Jose State University
- Exploring the Relationship Between Access to OT Services with Physical Activity and Quality of Sleep in Adults with Parkinson’s Disease
- Student Researchers: Jennifer Howard, OTS; Gloria Hsu, OTS; Samantha Krestchmer, OTS; Dayana Rangel, OTS
- Faculty Advisor: Katrina M. Long, EdD, MS, OTR/L
San Jose State University
- Political Astuteness Among SJSU Occupational Therapy Students
- Student Researchers: Cara Mamola, OTS; David Ranit-Mauro, OTS; Inessa Owen, OTS
- Faculty Advisors: Winifred Schultz-Krohn, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA; Luis L. Arabit, OTD, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA
Dominican University of California
- The Synergy of Executive Functions and Sensory Processing in Shaping Occupational Participation
- Student Researchers: Sophia Zertuche, OTS; Kaitlin Mulvaney, OTS; Isabella Aguirre, OTS
- Faculty Advisor: Julia Wilbarger, PhD, OTR/L
San Jose State University
- Getting Into Your Zone
- Student Researchers: Tal Shay, OTD (Cand); Linda Crabtree, OTD (Cand)
- Faculty Advisor: Courtney Boitano, OTD, OTR/L
California State University Dominguez Hills
- Giving Voice to POTS Patients: A Qualitative Investigation into Perspectives on Exercise Protocols and Aquatic Therapy
- Student Researcher: Eva Rose Celeste, OTS
- Faculty Advisor: Sheryl Ryan, PhD, OTR/L
California State University Dominguez Hills
- Experiences of Sexual Health, Sexuality, and Intimacy Among Individuals with Acquired Physical Disability
- Student Researchers: Elizabeth Kearney, OTS; Samantha Nugroho, OTS; Stephanie Flores, OTS; Hanna Lagman, OTS
- Faculty Advisor: Sheryl Ryan, PhD, OTR/L
California State University Dominguez Hills
- Suenos Amenazados: An Investigation of Doing, Being, Belonging, and Becoming in DACA Recipients in Higher Education
- Student Researchers: Lyneia Neri, OTS; Nancy Ascencio, OTS; Samantha Leggis, OTS
- Faculty Advisor: Sheryl Ryan, PhD, OTR/L
California State University Dominguez Hills
- The Essence of Naginata: A Case Study of Practitioners in Southern California
- Student Researchers: Tamaki Hozumi Trexler, OTS; Ingo Gabriel Ocampo, OTS
- Faculty Advisor: Sheryl Ryan, PhD, OTR/L
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