Larissa Silcox first became interested in occupational therapy when she was an undergraduate student helping her 93-year-old grandfather, who had a bad fall and required back surgery.

Initially thinking of becoming a nurse , Ronell Matthew Sueno pivoted to occupational therapy as a career when he saw a therapist working with a patient in a gym. He knew he made the right choice later when he observed how a hand therapist assisted his girlfriend with the rehabilitation of an injury after they were in a car accident together.

Now both are part of the inaugural 34-member class about to graduate from UNLV’s occupational therapy doctorate program, poised to help people in endlessly creative ways. In contrast to physical therapy, which focuses on improving a patient’s ability to move their body, occupational therapy focuses on developing, recovering, or maintaining the patient’s ability to perform activities of daily living.

Opened amid the pandemic in summer 2020 and accredited in December, the doctoral program aims to feed a profession sorely needing workers in Southern Nevada.

About two-thirds of the graduates came from Nevada, and many are already lining up jobs that will keep them in Las Vegas. With their degrees complete, they next must pass the national exam to be licensed occupational therapists, helping people live their best lives across their lifespans. The doctorate also enables graduates to go into academics and administration and management in a variety of settings.

“Many of them already have job offers because there’s such a need,” program director Donnamarie Krause said. “[The 34 graduates] doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s a start to begin to change the tide.”

Ronald Brown, dean of the School of Integrated Health Sciences, notes that addressing the community’s health care needs requires a network of highly trained specialists. Along with occupational therapy, the school offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in such fields as neuroscience, physical therapy, nutrition sciences, kinesiology, radiology, and health physics. 

“The demand for exceptional care and for caring, knowledgeable professions is at an all-time high,” he says. “The school meets that demand by graduating students who are expertly trained and prepared to not only continue the delivery of top-notch health care but also advance innovation, research, and enhanced delivery methods throughout the industry.”

Capstone Projects Combine Research and Clinical Learning

All the students completed capstone projects — independent research and scientific writing to devise a solution to a real-world problem — to culminate their three-year, 120-credit study. 

For her capstone, Silcox worked with physical therapy professor Thessa Hilgenkamp in the Cardiovascular Research and Exercise (CARE) Lab, learning how to develop a yoga program for adults with Down syndrome. She also wrote a research grant to propose future research to determine the efficacy of yoga in adults with Down syndrome. 

Sueno developed a template for a lesson plan to mentor newly hired hand therapists at a local health provider. He hopes that his engaging program, filled with case studies, will help efficiently onboard new therapists, ease the pressure of beginning a new career, and reduce turnover.

Examples of other capstone projects: Helping new foster parents identify children’s needs and addressing some of those needs as part of a caregiver educational plan. Working with esports athletes and developing an ergonomic protocol for UNLV’s esports teams.

Gaining Confidence Amid Challenges

Pandemic-related obstacles, including virtual learning and restrictions in health care facilities, challenged students in the emerging program, which is part of the department of brain health in the School of Integrated Health Sciences. 

“These students have been incredibly tenacious,” Krause said. “So these graduates, who are coming out of Covid in a clinical education program, really deserve a standing ovation for just their perseverance.”

Sueno said he had to learn in a different way in some online classes. “I’m more of an in-person, visual learner. I like touching things and being able to work with models. So not being able to do that was pretty tough. I was able to really hunker down and learn different types of technology to help myself succeed in this program.”

Sueno, who has a B.S. from UNLV in kinesiology, says the challenges all the students faced will ultimately work to make them stronger.

The gratifying part, he says, “is being able to see how far we’ve grown as a cohort from questioning, ‘Oh, is this the right treatment?’ or ‘Is this the right diagnosis,’ and then us being more confident and showing how competent we will be in helping grow the occupational therapy program. It’s really inspiring to me, and I’m confident that all of us are going to be pretty successful once we start working.” His first job will either be in hand therapy or inpatient rehab.

Silcox, who earned a B.S. in human development and family studies from UNR (minoring in Spanish and developmental disabilities), says all the hard work will pay off in helping the community. “What kept me going was knowing that the stressors and the busy-ness of studying and doing clinical rotations were only temporary. And that in the end, I was going to have a really amazing career and a job where I could truly make a difference and an impact in others’ lives.”

Both students credited founding director Donna Costa, who retired in December, for her work in starting the doctorate program. Krause praised Costa for also instilling a strong mental health component. Occupational therapy students are taught how to work in behavioral health units, frequently in group settings, with “individuals who have mental illness, whether it’s psychosis, schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder,” Krause said. 

“Mental health is a large part of our curriculum, and that cannot be said across the board. That is unique. And it’s meant to really help us address the needs that we see in Southern Nevada, and across our nation, especially post-Covid.”