Cynthia - Occupational Therapist

MFA, MA, OTR/L, CHT

Cynthia has been a hand therapist for over 40 years. She works as a mentor and resource to the ProActive therapists who treat patients with upper extremity diagnoses. She is also providing training in her program to treat patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN).  Cynthia has presented at numerous national and international hand therapy meetings. Last year she was invited to speak at an international hand therapy conference in Berlin. She was scheduled to speak at an occupational therapy conference in Prague this fall but that conference has been postponed for one year due to COVID. She has provided volunteer hand therapy education and treatment in Ghana, Bolivia, and Peru. She has also volunteered at a free medical clinic at UCSD and has helped coordinate rehabilitation volunteers to help refugees in tent cities in Mexico.   Cynthia received the Paul Brand Award from the American Society of Hand Therapists (ASHT) on November 12, 2020. This award “recognizes individuals who have exemplified humanitarianism in their work as a hand therapist in addition to providing clinical and professional excellence in several facets of practice”.   Cynthia is the editor of the textbook “Fundamentals of Hand Therapy”, which is in its 3rd edition and which is used in OT curriculum to educate rehabilitation professionals in a humanistic approach to hand therapy.    Currently Cynthia is working with Occupational Therapists at the Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre in Malta to create a website for education on treatment for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. She is also collaborating with oncology researchers in Arizona on a study about CIPN and is on the advisory board of a new research project about CIPN with colleagues in Minnesota.