OTD News Volume 5, Issue 1

Faculty Translates Clinical Education & Entrepreneurship to Academics OTD Graduating Student Joins Department Staff Page 12 OTDNews, Volume V, Issue 1 Thomas J. Decker , OTD, OTR/L joins NSU Tampa from Advance Therapy Systems, two clinical facilities in Dundalk and Dublin, Ire- land, that he co-founded to provide specialized sensory integration treatment, NDT, and COOP approaches for developmental coordina- tion disorders with other frames of references. Prior to that he has provided home health services and worked in Florida and California. Upon his return to Florida Dr. Decker jumped into FOTA leadership by accepting the position of Sensory Integration Special Interest Sec- tion of the Practice Standing Committee. He assumes the position of Academic Fieldwork Coordinator in addition to responsibilities in teaching, service and research. Dr. Decker has a post-professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy degree from Rocky Mountain Uni- versity of Health Professions, a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy from Saint Ambrose University, and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Dr. Decker has published sev- eral articles and presented at refereed conferences. Larry Holmes, OTD-S joined the NSU Tampa entry-level Doctor of Occupational Therapy program as a Federal Work Student (FWS) on February 9, 2015. He will serve as a lab assistant to the department in which his roles will include assisting professors with lab setup and providing office assistance to the staff. Larry is a former Vice Presi- dent of the NSU Tampa Student Occupational Therapy Association (SOTA) and a student in the 2015 inaugural class of the OTD Program here at Nova Southeastern University Tampa. He is one of the found- ing members of the virtual community called Scholars for the Advance- ment of Occupational Science (SAOS). One of his charges in his cur- rent position is to create the shell for the maiden issue of the SAOS’s publication called the Journal for the Advancement of Occupational Science (JAOS), soon to break soon in electronic format. Larry will be on his doctoral residency, graduating in August, 2015. He is looking forward to starting his career as an occupational therapy practitioner in acute care rehab.