Dr. Rebecca Aldrich named guest speaker for 2017 Voices of Inclusive Health Care Lecture

The Program in Occupational Therapy is proud to welcome Rebecca Aldrich, PhD, OTR/L, as our 2017 speaker for the Voices of Inclusive Health Care Lecture Series. This series of annual lectures focuses on the social determinants of health and community health issues that impact people’s everyday lives.

Since the Great Recession, long-term unemployment has remained a higher percentage of overall unemployment and become more pervasive, prolonged, and inequitably distributed. Particular framings of this “wicked” problem can obscure the everyday activities (e.g., occupations) that people do to survive and contribute to their families, communities and society. In her lecture titled, “Occupation-focused research on unemployment: Tackling wicked problems and seeking justice through critical scholarship,” Dr. Aldrich aims to answer the broader question of what occupation-focused research can contribute to the study and resolution of social problems by using employment as an example. The lecture will culminate in a discussion of implications for community-engaged research, inclusive health care practices and policy generation.

Dr. Aldrich is an associate professor at Saint Louis University’s Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. Her scholarly works explore the relationship of occupational engagement and social marginalization; community-engaged, collaborative research; the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in occupational science and occupational therapy; and the philosophical writings of John Dewey. She is one of seven Bicentennial Fellows at Saint Louis University and is part of a research team currently funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

The lecture will be held on Wednesday, November 15 at 5:00 p.m. in the Program in Occupational Therapy Auditorium at 4444 Forest Park Ave., St. Louis, MO 63108-2292.

There will be a meet and greet reception with light refreshments following the lecture with the opportunity to speak with Dr. Aldrich about her scholarly work. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP at http://evite.me/vD3efvs9ph.