USC Chan Magazine Winter 2015

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT: Samia Rafeedie MA ’05, OTD ’06 Director of the Professional Program Earlier this year, assistant professor of clinical occupational therapy Samia Rafeedie was offered a position as the director of the professional program, a prestigious post that gives her the opportunity to shape future occupational therapists at the top-ranked program in the nation. Here are some other things to know about Rafeedie: She’s always been drawn to education.

In high school, Rafeedie enjoyed helping her former elementary school teacher grade spelling tests, put up bulletin boards and get organized for the school year. In graduate school, she says she “absolutely loved” being a teaching assistant for Julie McLaughlin Gray. As a doctoral student, she focused on occupational therapy education and adult learning. “I feel like all of this positioned me well for my new role because I have a direct connection to how the curriculum is designed and how it can be improved in any way with a direct link back to the student,” she says.

She’s driven.

Rafeedie attributes her work ethic to her Palestinian parents who left everything behind for better opportunities in America.

“All we heard growing up was ‘Get the education and work as hard as you can. Prove to me that we came here for a reason,’” Rafeedie says of the influence of her father, who passed away from kidney failure three years ago. “I have this sort of drive and passion for what I do because my parents set this amazing example for us,” she says.

She considers it a career mission to strengthen occupational therapy’s role in primary care.

Her father’s death at 61 years old has inspired Rafeedie to advocate for occupational therapy services in the primary care physician’s office. A lifetime smoker, Rafeedie’s father struggled with blood pressure management. Before he passed away, he was taking up to 12 prescriptions for his blood pressure — all of which took a toll on his kidneys. “Instead of giving him 12 different medications, they should’ve written one prescription for occupational therapy,” she says.

She considers USC Chan’s curriculum to be among the best.

Having been exposed to various occupational therapy programs across the country, Rafeedie counts USC Chan’s curriculum among the best. “We are really doing an amazing job at giving our students access to both theory and practice,” she says.

She’s often starstruck in the presence of the “mothers of OT.” Rafeedie admits that it’s a little awe-inspiring to walk down the hall and see people like Florence Clark, Mary Lawlor, Erna Blanche, Sharon Cermak, Deborah Pitts and Julie McLaughlin Gray.

“These are really big names in our field,” she says. “I have to pinch myself. If I can even contribute one ounce to the pound of anything going on here at the division, then I am so honored.”

PHOTO BY CHRISTINA GANDOLFO