NEWS RELEASE
February 10, 2004

Contact: Laurie Jake, ATRA Communications Coordinator
Phone (480) 460-1525 or
Ann Huston, ATRA Executive Director
Phone: (703) 683-9420

Recreational Therapist Selected as VA Pre-Doctoral Associated Health
Rehabilitation Research Fellow

(Alexandria, VA) ATRA Member Marieke Van Puymbroeck, MS, CTRS, a Doctoral Candidate in Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Florida, has been chosen for a highly prestigious Pre-Doctoral Associated Health Rehabilitation Research Fellowship. The VA Office of Academic Affairs, in collaboration with Rehabilitation Research and Development Service, sponsors up to six Pre-Doctoral Associated Health Rehabilitation Research Fellowships each year. The awardees receive a sizeable monetary allocation allowing them to work on their dissertations full time. Only six of these awards are given nationwide, so competition is fierce. These fellowships are designed for graduate students who have completed their doctoral course work in a rehabilitation healthcare profession and are prepared to execute mentored studies, as well as write their dissertations of relevance to the health care needs of veterans with disabilities.

Van Puymbroeck, who received her Bachelor of Science, at Longwood College, 1994, and her Masters of Science, at University of Florida, 2001, will be working with Pam Duncan, a highly respected researcher at the Rehabilitation Outcomes Research Center in Gainesville, Florida. According to Van Puymbroeck, "It is an awesome opportunity and I believe I'm the first RT they have funded with this award!"

Van Puymbroeck, a former Peg Connolly Scholarship recipient, has been actively involved with ATRA for several years. In addition to giving presentations at ATRA conferences, she has served as a faculty for the ATRA Academy and currently is a member of the ATRA Workforce Development Team. ATRA President Melinda Conway Callahan states, "Ms Van Puymbroeck has been an active member of ATRA, providing outstanding education opportunities for our members. She is a deserving recipient of this prestigious award"

Her dissertation is entitled "Predictors of Quality of Life in Stroke Caregivers at One and Six Months Post-Stroke." As Van Puymbroeke explains, "I first became interested in caregivers when working in a SNF as an RT. I saw the burden that the caregivers felt and experienced on a daily basis. I started a caregiver support group and a large part of my work with those caregivers was leisure education." At the completion of her doctoral training, Van Puymbroeck will be eligible for associate investigator awards, a more independent mentored award program.

For more information, please contact Laurie Jake, CTRS, ATRA Communications
Coordinator at (480) 460-1525 or the ATRA National Office at (703) 683-9420.

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