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When Elizabeth Munsell was growing up in Madison, Wisconsin, she spent a lot of time at a nearby home where one of her friend’s siblings had cerebral palsy. The brother was non-verbal and used a wheelchair, but he and his family were supported by a cadre of therapists and home-health aides who helped him communicate and feel like a typical member of the family. “I could see how the therapists helped him lead a fuller life. They helped the whole family function,” remembers Munsell. “Without in-depth support services, that wouldn’t have been possible.”
That experience stayed with her when Munsell attended the University of Michigan, majoring in dance and kinesiology, the study of movement. She spent summer breaks training with various dance companies and had been planning a career as a professional dancer. But a series of injuries caused her to rethink that plan and her pragmatic side prevailed. ‘The air is very thin at the top of the dance world. It’s really hard to make a living,” she says. Munsell dropped her dance major and changed her career goal: She decided to become an occupational therapist, a job in which she hoped to “help people do what is most meaningful to them.”
Munsell moved to Boston for a master’s in occupational therapy at Boston University, where she developed an interest in research and working with children with developmental disabilities. Knowing she needed clinical experience, she went to work at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, splitting her time there with being an occupational therapist in the local public school system. She also taught a course in evidence-based research practices at BU and realized that doing research was where her true passion lay.
I could see how the therapists helped him lead a fuller life. They helped the whole family function.
ELIZABETH MUNSELL
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After getting married and putting in three years of clinical work, Munsell entered a PhD program at BU, focusing her research and dissertation on what supports are needed by adolescents with developmental disabilities like autism when they are transitioning from youth to adult services. She came to believe that training for the tasks of daily living could help people with disabilities make smoother transitions to adulthood and independent living. “Not a lot of people were trying to parse that out from an occupational therapy perspective,” Munsell says. “What people need is specific task-based training like how to refill their medication and keep an organized house. It can have such a big impact on the outcomes that everyone cares about like going to college or living independently.”
Munsell, 34, and her husband had their first child in 2018 and she completed her PhD in Rehabilitation Science three years later. She had heard about a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research (CROR) at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab from a former BU colleague and went for it. The family moved to Chicago in June 2021 when Munsell was pregnant with her second child.
She blends her clinical expertise with research knowledge to add valuable insights related to the domain of employment within occupational therapy practice.
MIRIAM RAFFERTY Open for Social Menu BODY
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Despite the pandemic, she hit the ground running, and is currently working on three projects with other CROR researchers. One is looking at ways to help people with Parkinson’s disease remain employed. Another is exploring barriers and facilitators to employment for people with disabilities and the third is focused on using smartphones to assess community participation by stroke survivors. Munsell is also building her own research portfolio in complementary areas in the hopes of staying on at CROR when her fellowship ends. “The department has so much going on and the people are incredibly supportive,” she says. “As somebody who loves to do research, it’s an incredible place to be. There’s always something going on and somebody to learn from.”
Shirley Ryan AbilityLab research scientist Miriam Rafferty, PhD, who works with Munsell on the Parkinson’s study, appreciates the expertise she brings. “Elizabeth is wonderful to work with. She blends her clinical expertise with research knowledge to add valuable insights related to the domain of employment within occupational therapy practice. She is one of those super research moms who juggles her research with two kids – and does so with efficiency and grace.”