The President, Dr. Hilary Bowman, and Administration of the University of the Southern Caribbean extends heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Lesley Garcia, Director of the Master’s in Occupational Therapy Programme for being awarded the competitive and prestigious Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network Fellowship.
With this fellowship Dr. Garcia will embark on studies and research in Dementia leading to the award of a Ph.D at the University of Nottingham in England.
As part of USC’s preparation to offer the Master’s in Occupational Therapy Programme, Dr. Garcia was awarded a scholarship by USC and Loma Linda University to pursue a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy. Upon completion, Dr. Garcia joined the faculty at USC in March 2015 and developed the MSOT programme.
Under Dr. Garcia’s leadership as the Director of the Department of MSOT, the MSOT programme was approved by ACTT in December 2015 and it was approved by the World Federation of Occupational Therapists in March 2016. The MSOT was launched in September 2016 and the first cohort of (8) eight students graduated from the programme in July 2019. USC is the only university offering an accredited MSOT programme in the Caribbean.
As Dr. Garcia proceeds on study leave from October 2019, we take this opportunity to commend her for her outstanding contribution to the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and more specifically, the Master’s in Occupational Therapy Programme. We are grateful for her leadership and we are proud of her accomplishments. We wish her success and God’s blessings in her studies.
