Meet Med Travelers’ Scholarship Winner for Spring 2023
Med Travelers is proud to announce the winner of their 2023 Spring Scholarship: Christine J., an occupational therapy doctoral candidate at Boston University, College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences. Christine is set to graduate with her doctorate this August.
Undoubtedly, the scholarship money comes at a good time. “I applied for the scholarship and got it in literally a day before it was due, and it paid off, so it was awesome,” she said.
Pictured: Christine J.
An unexpected win
As a part of Med Travelers’ commitment to attracting the best and brightest in allied healthcare, the staffing agency offers a $5,000 scholarship twice a year to current speech-language pathology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and school psychology graduate students. The scholarship helps to recognize the vital role these practitioners play in making our communities happier and healthier.
Christine had to submit an essay about her life and career as part of her entry. She found out she won the spring scholarship after she received a call from Med Travelers telling her that she was a finalist, and then eventually the winner.
“At that moment I kind of froze,” she said. “I was ecstatic and screamed on the phone out of joy. It was great, it was good news and I didn’t expect that at all.”
After completing her undergraduate studies at Boston University, Christine set her sights on pursuing her doctorate in occupational therapy. “I definitely plan on using the scholarship money to help pay for loans,” she explained. “School is expensive and I have primarily funded my education through scholarships and loans so this definitely helps to minimize the loan burden.”
With graduation close on the horizon, Christine has both short-term goals and longer-term goals for her future OT career.
“More immediate is of course passing the NBCOT boards (National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy), getting registered in my state, and then getting a job,” she said.
Finding her passion in an OT career
Christine is passionate about health equity and inclusive healthcare. She plans to focus her career on enabling people to have better access to health care.
“We call this occupational justice in our realm -- which is basically just the right to meet basic needs and have equal opportunities to engage in meaningful activities or occupations,” she explained.
She hopes to do this by giving a voice to people who are typically marginalized in a community and helping them to amplify their voices through research, resources, and education.
Christine actually started her undergraduate education with the goal to become a pediatrician and didn’t know anything about OT. “I never envisioned myself as being an occupational therapist,” she remembers. After preparing for the MCAT, Christine met with an advisor who connected her with an OT.
“Within five minutes of meeting me, she said, ‘You are not going anywhere, we are going to keep you.’ She was doing research with women in the community who had breast cancer and had undergone treatment and were experiencing cognitive challenges secondary to the therapy. After one session, I realized this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to connect with the community in a way that was meaningful and impactful -- and not just for me, but for them as well.”
Fast forward to today, and Christine is now on her way to a meaningful career as an OT. She has advice for those on a similar path.
“Life is really unpredictable and I think you miss 100 percent of the shots that you don’t take. I never thought that applying to this scholarship would lead me in a different direction. I never considered occupational therapy being in a traveling setting, I always thought of traveling nurses. But it just kind of brings to light that life is really spontaneous and taking a few hours out of my life to apply to this scholarship was well worth it and alleviated a lot of the financial strain for me. It’s a huge blessing.”
Check out allied travel with Med Travelers
Are you a graduate student or an experienced professional who wants to know more about a career in allied travel? Connect with a Med Travelers recruiter who can answer your questions and introduce you to the many perks of the traveler lifestyle.