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Angelika Kudla didn’t speak a word of English when she started kindergarten in Chicago in the 1990s. Her parents were both recent Polish immigrants and her mother preferred that only Polish was spoken at home to keep her culture roots alive. Fortunately, there were several other Polish children in her class who knew more English than she did, and they translated for her.
When her family moved to the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Kudla was put into an English as a Second Language (ESL) program. For the first few years the ESL class helped her a lot, but by fifth grade she wanted to stay in the same class as her classmates and was looking for more of a challenge. Her parents backed her decision and the school agreed. By sixth grade, she went from reading short chapter books to binge reading the Harry Potter series in English. And in high school, she was taking advanced placement classes.
I loved the hospital and saw it was an extremely nice place to work
ANGELIKA KUDLA
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These days Kudla is the one translating for others. As a Senior Project Coordinator at the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research (CROR) at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, her job is to take CROR’s research findings and translate them into more everyday language. She does this for a wide group of readers including people with disabilities and employers who may already be working with someone with a disability or are in the process of hiring one. “I do a lot of ‘knowledge translation,’ taking what we’ve learned on our end and translating it for specific stakeholders,” she says. “I’m the one who pulls it all together and disseminates it to our specific audiences.”
Before she joined CROR, Kudla was studying neuroscience and psychology at Loyola University Chicago while working multiple jobs to support herself. As part of her coursework, she had an internship at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. “I loved the hospital and saw it was an extremely nice place to work,” she says. She was inspired by the occupational and physical therapists she met. Kudla thought about pursuing a master’s degree in OT but decided that mental health was really the area that interested her. After graduation, she was hired by CROR in early 2020 and only spent one day in the Chicago office before the office went into a pandemic-related lockdown. It was a difficult transition for her, especially because she didn’t know any of her co-workers, but she quickly adapted to remote work.
She is a dedicated, collaborative researcher who has made significant contributions to our research and has been instrumental in disseminating our findings through newsletters, webinars and social media.
DEBORAH CROWN, CRC
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“It has been a pleasure having Angelika on the CROR team,” says Deborah Crown, Kudla’s supervisor and a CROR Project Manager. “She is a dedicated, collaborative researcher who has made significant contributions to our research and has been instrumental in disseminating our findings through newsletters, webinars and social media.”
Now that she has two years of experience and has been promoted twice, Kudla is preparing for the next step in her career. While working slightly reduced hours at CROR, she is pursuing a Master of Science degree in Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling through an online program from West Virginia University. When she is finished, she will be certified in clinical rehabilitation as well as licensed as a mental health counselor. She loves Chicago but since she has never lived anywhere else, she is open to moving somewhere new, maybe even Europe where her dual Polish citizenship would allow her to work. “My fiancé and I really love to travel so we’re both open to finding a new place to explore.”