Effie Tounas '19 OTD will put her St. Ambrose occupational therapy education to work, and build on it, too, during a year-long hand therapy fellowship at one of the most prestigious medical and research universities in the world: Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
As a practicing clinician this summer, she will be working with a team of Johns Hopkins hand therapists, each serving a different population base, while learning new methods and techniques to treat patients, perform diagnostics, and work in the prosthetics lab.
"It's a good opportunity for me in pursuing my certification in hand therapy," she said. Tounas can apply for certification after three years of practicing, and she already has provided one year of outpatient care at Athletico Physical Therapy in Oswego, Illinois, a job she was offered prior to even graduating from St. Ambrose.
"Johns Hopkins stood out to me because of its reputation for quality care and how it works to promote diversity and women in leadership. That really resonated with me. Through all of my interviews and talking with all of the members of the team, OT staff and past fellows, I felt very comfortable. I knew, if I got it, it would be the right thing for me," she added.
Tounas enrolled in the inaugural OTD cohort at SAU in 2016. "The program values connected with what I wanted to do with my doctorate in occupational therapy," she said. "At St. Ambrose, the program is grounded in holistic care and client-centered care, which is extremely important for patients," she said.
It was during her first rotation in outpatient hand therapy that Tounas discovered her passion.
"I liked how specific it was and the orthopedic side of things," she said. "[Occupational therapy] runs from shoulder to fingertips, and I loved it, and I loved watching my clients during the recovery process as they achieved the outcomes they wanted."
Tounas completed two more rotations in hand therapy. She also partnered with two classmates to research current trends in occupational-based interventions in hand therapy and presented at the annual American Occupational Therapy Association conference and the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapy.
For her doctoral project, Tounas developed a pre-operative, occupational-based education program for patients which caught the attention of the fellowship committee and faculty at Johns Hopkins.
"They loved my project," she said, adding they want her to build on it within a self-created project she has to complete during the fellowship.
In the future, Tounas would like to become certified in wound care, too, and at some point, become a clinical instructor. "I want to share my experience and knowledge with future students, future employees, and be in a leadership position," Tounas said. "Most of all, I want to give my patients the best quality of care, and this fellowship will definitely help me do that.
"I give a lot of credit to the St. Ambrose OTD program. They prepared me well for a career in occupational therapy and were helpful in providing clinical rotations closer to my home near Chicago. Every professor was willing to help and very motivating in completing the program. Associate Professor Erin Phillips, my mentor, provided me with a lot of guidance and help in getting to where I am today."
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