OTD Student Profiles

Affiliation:

Henry J. Carter Specialty Hospital

OTD Goal: To promote self-efficacy by combining cognitive and ecological theories in older adults.

Lindsey Novakovic is an Occupational Therapist and doctoral candidate of Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons’ Masters-Doctorate of Occupational Therapy program. She served on the Occupational Therapy Department Student Advisory Board for two years and tutored first-year OT students for one year during her graduate studies at Columbia.

As a disabled OT, Lindsey immerses herself in the field of occupational therapy in and outside of the clinic, through her advocacy for disability rights and occupational justice, expression of the lived experience, continuing education in intimacy, sex, pelvic floor, and their intersection with physical disability. Lindsey is focusing her doctoral work on the continued development and validation of a self-report measure that provides occupational therapists the necessary information to better support their clients in intimacy and sex-related occupations. 

Outside of occupational therapy, Lindsey is the Program Manager for Team Achilles Kids, a program within Achilles International that supports individuals with disabilities to walk, roll, or run to achieve their goals in fitness and social connection. She began as a volunteer in 2018 and took over as “Coach Lindsey” in 2021 and has been proudly cheering on “her kids” every Saturday ever since. Lindsey also opened a small business selling enamel pins for advocacy at in the June 2022 and enjoys multimedia art.

Affiliation: Manhattan Childrens Center 

OTD Goal:  To explore and interpret the impact of a low-cost adaptive device program through outcomes in participation, function, and independence in children with disabilities.