Craig Velozo, Ph.D, OTR/L, FAOTA, honored with the 2019 Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Award

Craig Velozo, Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA, follows in the footsteps of the late Maralynne D. Mitcham Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA as the second MUSC Division of Occupational Therapy faculty member to receive the prestigious Eleanor Clark Slagle Lectureship Award. The award, presented by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), is among the highest honors in the occupational therapy profession. According to the AOTA, the purpose of the lectureship “is to honor a member of the AOTA who has substantially and innovatively contributed to the development of the body of knowledge of the profession through research, education, and/or clinical practice.” Velozo was present at the 2019 AOTA Annual Conference & Expo in New Orleans, Louisiana to accept his award.

The award offers Velozo the opportunity to reflect upon his 25 years of research in patient and clinician reported outcomes measurement. Velozo was among the pioneers who introduced Rasch measurement and item response theory (IRT) measurement into occupational therapy and rehabilitation research. The methodology has revolutionized the way we review and evaluate clinician and patient reported outcomes. IRT has made a tremendous impact on health care. So much so, that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has invested over $80 million to implement this methodology in the development of the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). Velozo, with his colleagues and doctoral students, were among the methodology groups involved in developing several of the PROMIS measures.

In his lecture, which will be presented at the 2021 AOTA Annual Conference & Expo, Velozo plans to overview the advances of Rasch and IRT methodologies in health care. He will provide empirical evidence supporting occupational therapy as critical to rehabilitation. Further, he will demonstrate how the occupational therapy profession can lead health care in applying Rasch and IRT methodologies in facilitating interventions of individual clients.

The lecture will be delivered virtually on April 6 from 5 to 6 p.m. EDT. Visit the AOTA website for viewing information.

About Craig Velozo, Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA

Velozo is a professor and the director of the Division of Occupational Therapy in the College of Health Professions at MUSC. He has been a principal investigator on numerous grants/contracts to develop patient reported outcomes (PRO) and clinician observational outcome measures. His expertise is in the application of Rasch measurement and item response theory in developing patient/therapist reported outcomes, short form tests and computerized adaptive tests.