CPERL Bids a Second Farewell to Dianna

Introduction

Our team bids farewell (again!) to Dianna who has worn a multitude of hats during her time at CPERL. Dianna first joined the team as an undergraduate research assistant completing her honors capstone project prior to heading to her occupational therapy graduate studies at Boston University. She then returned to lab to complete her doctoral project evaluating the CPERL-CanChild sponsored contract model aimed at engaging students and scholars in knowledge translation and product development projects. Since then, she has continued to build her research engaged career by remaining a part of the lab as a research specialist. Most recently, Dianna has been involved in the CCTS project, where she led efforts to extend previous knowledge for implementing YC-PEM on a larger, multi-state scale by engaging with stakeholders in Illinois to determine how helpful or easy it would be within this early intervention context. We wish Dianna nothing but the best as she fully transitions into her role as Executive Director at The Clubhouse!

Mary Shares: It has been a delight to nurture Dianna into a strong research-engaged occupational therapist, and it is with great pride that we celebrate her call to rise into leading a pediatric organization to new heights. I'm forever grateful for the ways that Dianna has energized our lab in word and in deed, by approaching a diverse range of studies with talent, humor, and an exceptional work ethic that made her a model lab citizen. She taught me the value of trying to sustain the course of training research-engaged practitioners and bringing our shared scholarly imprint to a more local context after nearly a decade of effort. I will miss her dearly as a trusted colleague and friend but look forward to staying connected far into the future as part of our growing 'CPERL network'.