Bringing Evidence Into Everyday Practice

Winnie Dunn, PhD, OTR, FAOTA, is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy Education at the University of Missouri and is a Certified Positive Psychology Coach. She was the Eleanor Clarke Slagle lecturer in 2001, received the Award of Merit from the American Occupational Therapy Association, received the A. Jean Ayres research award and the Chancellor's teaching and research awards, served as a Kemper Teaching Fellow, and is a member of the Academy of Research of the American Occupational Therapy Foundation. She has contributed research and other writings to professional literature across her career. Currently she is studying the impact of evidence-based coaching practices on family, education, and child outcomes.

Believing that researchers must also translate their findings for the public, she has also published her book Living Sensationally: Understanding Your Senses, which is available in several languages. Its focus is to demonstrate how sensory processing is part of everyone's choices throughout their daily routines. The book is written in everyday language so that everyone can understand their own, their family's, their coworkers', and their friends' behaviors a little better.

Rachel Proffitt, OTD, OTR/L, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Missouri. She received her OTD from Washington University in St. Louis and completed a T32 post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Southern California. She has a Certificate in Clinical, Translational, and Biomedical Investigations and was awarded the ASA/ACRM Young Investigator Award in Post-Acute Stroke Rehabilitation in 2020. Her research spans the breadth of technology, including virtual reality and ambient sensors to support individuals post-stroke and older adults living in the community. She has received foundation and federal funding to support her research, including an Intervention Research Grant from the American Occupational Therapy Foundation. She is the principal investigator of a 3-year R01 exploring a technology-supported intervention for rural community-dwelling older adults with disabilities.