Occupational Therapy Faculty Win Humanitarian, Lifetime Awards

Two faculty members from Samuel Merritt University’s (SMU) Occupational Therapy department received the highest honors from the American Society of Hand Therapists (ASHT) at the national organization’s annual conference in October.

Associate Professor Ginny Gibson, OTD, OTR/L, was the recipient of the Paul Brand Award of Excellence, which acknowledges distinction in clinical, research, and humanitarian practice. Gibson is the co-founder and director of Camp Winning Hands, an annual summer camp for children with congenital hand differences in Livermore.

Aside from her clinical work at Oakland’s UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Gibson (pictured at right in center) also volunteers with Health Volunteers Overseas, where she travels to Nicaragua annually to teach and provide hand therapy services. She also co-directs the free pediatric clinic at SMU offered in the fall, where students get the opportunity to work with clients between the ages of 6 months and 16 years.

“This award embodies what we teach in our department,” Gibson said. “Our philosophical approach is to treat both the mind and body, to address the psychosocial issues of someone who is dealing with a physical component.”

The Paul Brand Award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated, “qualities of clinical and professional excellence and humanitarianism in several facets of practice: clinical, research, humanitarian endeavors, educational development and support to the promotion of the profession of hand therapy,” according to ASHT.

On the same night Gibson was honored, Professor Donna Breger-Stanton received the Lifetime Fellowship Award from the society. Breger-Stanton’s contributions date to the late 1980s, when she served as research chair on the ASHT board of directors, plus several other positions for the society until ultimately serving as ASHT’s president in 2005.

Breger-Stanton’s (pictured at left in center) clinical positions have included work in neurorehabilitation, mental health, orthopedics, sensory integration, pediatrics, with emphasis of clinical work in hand therapy when she became known for her contributions both in presentations and in publications related to hand therapy and in specialty areas of work with Hansen’s disease (Leprosy), peripheral neuropathies including carpal tunnel syndrome, sensibility testing and acute hand rehabilitation.

It is because of her dedicated service to the ASHT including contributions made through coordination of national meetings in addition to that already mentioned that Breger-Stanton was deemed worthy of this esteemed award. Only 15 other individuals have received The Lifetime Fellowship Award from ASHT since the award was created 30 years ago. The honor recognizes those who have made, “lifelong contributions to ASHT and the hand therapy community at large.”

“The award is an acknowledgement of all of my service to the hand therapy society over the years,” Breger-Stanton said. 

“The Lifetime Fellowship Award is a high honor that values leaders of our profession,” Gibson added. “Donna Breger-Stanton is one of the great leaders in our profession.”