CHP Women Making History Series in honor of Women's History Month - Patty Coker-Bolt

Nominee:
Patty Coker-Bolt, Ph.D., OTR/L, FNAP, FAOTA
Professor
Division of Occupational Therapy
Number of years at CHP/MUSC: 21 years at CHP; 25 years at MUSC

Nominated by:
Roxanna M. Bendixen, Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA
Associate Professor and Division Director
Division of Occupational Therapy

How is the nominee making history at CHP through their teaching, research, innovations, and/or activities?

Patty Coker-Bolt is a highly respected Professor in the Division of Occupational Therapy at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) where she teaches pediatric coursework and engages students in community-based learning experiences. She has 25 years of experience in occupational therapy, specializing in the treatment of high-risk infants and children with neuromuscular disorders such as cerebral palsy (CP). Her research has focused on the identification of early motor delays and intervention studies for children with cerebral palsy. Her scholarship includes 35 peer-reviewed publications, 10 articles in clinical practice journals, over 150 national and international presentations, and a pediatric textbook on constraint-induced movement therapy for children with hemiplegia. She is the MUSC Site Co-PI for “Perinatal Arterial Stroke: A Multi-site RCT of Intensive Infant Rehabilitation (I-ACQUIRE) and Co-I for the National Center of Neuromodulation for Rehabilitation (NC NM4R) Pilot Study “Combining taVNS with Early CIMT to Improve Rehabilitation of Infants with Hemiplegia” (Jenkins, PI). Dr. Coker-Bolt is a member of the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE, 2018-2024) and former Vice-Chair of ACOTE (2021). She is the Chair of the AOTA Education Standards Review Committee (2021-2023) which developed the new educational standards for OT programs at all degree levels. She is the current Co-Chair of the MUSC College of Health Professions Promotion and Tenure Committee and is a member of the MUSC Center for Global Health Internal Advisory Board.

Among Dr. Coker-Bolt’s many accolades and accomplishments is her dedicated work in numerous global initiatives. She has mentored students on interprofessional medical trips to South Africa, Romania, Uganda, Haiti, Vietnam, and Nicaragua since 2007. She completed grant funded projects to train therapists in Ethiopia (2015) and Vietnam (2016-2018). She was selected as a Fulbright Specialist to work with the Episcopal University of Haiti and to develop curriculum for the first occupational and physical therapy educational program in Haiti (2016). She received a second Fulbright Specialist award to work with faculty in the Volga Region University in Kazan, Russia to develop inclusive community and sport opportunities for children with disabilities (2019). She developed an extensive proposal to share her expertise and knowledge with colleagues, students and the community of Trinidad and Tobago and was awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to teach in the Master of Science in Occupational Therapy at the University of the Southern Caribbean (May 2022 to January 2023). Each of these international projects continue to have broad and far-reaching effects for the host country and the people she has served.

Dr. Patty Coker-Bolt is more than deserving of being honored as a Woman Making History in the College of Health Professions at the Medical University of South Carolina.