Gail Fisher, MPA, OTR/L
Associate Department Head for Administration
Clinical Associate Professor
Admissions Coordinator |  | | Phone | (312) 996-4371 | | Fax | (312) 413-0256 | | Email | gfisher@uic.edu | | Office | AHS 317A | Bio
Expertise (key words): health policy, workforce research, advocacy, adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities. Teach in the area of health and disability policy, the health care system, and areas of OT practice.
Teaching responsibilities:
- OT 407: Introduction to OT Practice (Co-instructor)
- OT 424: Contexts of OT Practice
Scholarly interests: My current scholarship is in two areas. One focus is the occupational therapy workforce, including supply and demand trends that influence the job market and occupational therapy services. This has close ties to my interest in health policy and reimbursement, as well as occupational therapy service delivery systems and advocacy. A second area is also related to my current clinical work, which is with adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities. In particular, I am interested in working with the staff and the facilities in the community to improve service delivery for this underserved population.
Current projects:
- Assessing the Future Workforce Needs for Occupational and Physical Therapy Personnel. Funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, part of a 5 year grant establishing a Midwest Center on Health Workforce Studies. I also work closely with the American Occupational Therapy Association on this project.
- Community Participation for Adults who are Aging with Intellectual Disabilities. This NIDRR funded study is being conducted by Dr. Joy Hammel as part of the UIC Center on Aging with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities. We are looking at the supports and barriers to community participation for this population.
- The Residential Environment Impact Survey. Three OT students and I have developed a new assessment to improve group home settings for adults with intellectual disabilities.
Potential opportunities for doctoral students:
I collaborate with graduate faculty members on doctoral student projects. The graduate faculty member is the primary advisor and supervisor of the final project, with my active participation. Areas of potential collaboration and student projects are:
With Dr. Joy Hammel:
- Improving community participation and programs for adults with intellectual disabilities, including fitness and health programming, and community resource development.
- Using Photovoice, a method of using photography as a means of communication with adults with intellectual disabilities.
With Dr. Brent Braveman:
- Exploring aspects of the occupational therapy workforce as they relate to administration and management, and developing recommendations to address staff retention, OT/OTA roles, service delivery, program implementation, and planning for future trends.
- Developing an advocacy leadership role, in either political advocacy, professional organization leadership, or reimbursement advocacy.
- Developing teaching materials and experiential learning in the areas of advocacy, reimbursement, and trends in health care and occupational therapy practice.
With Dr. Gary Kielhofner:
- Further development of the Residential Environment Impact Survey and Staff Development Framework, based on the Model of Human Occupation.
Curriculum Vitae |
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