Oonagh personifies the qualities expected of a Bergen Medal honoree. She is rapidly emerging a health care professional who is focused on providing compassionate and evidence-based patient care as her top priority. She is committed to lifelong learning, as demonstrated by attending APTA’s Combined Sections Meeting (CSM) in Boston this past February and engaging in research. Upon returning from CSM, she remarked how the experience helped her step outside of her comfort zone and explore networking opportunities.

Leadership and Advocacy: Oonagh has been a quiet but strong and effective leader since she began the Rutgers DPT program. A key aspect of leadership is role-modeling of professional behaviors for others, and Oonagh is extraordinary in this regard. She consistently demonstrates strong professional attributes, particularly in the areas of responsibility, commitment to learning, and interpersonal communication skills. She has taken full advantage of the opportunities afforded her as a student, but more importantly, she helped her classmates and future colleagues recognize what they could gain professionally from engagement in service and through a lifelong commitment to learning. Oonagh’s leadership style, sincerity and commitment inspires and encourages others. During her time In the DPT program, Oonagh served as co-chairperson of the Professional Development Committee of the Student Physical Therapy Association, where she helped plan a number of activities that all students in the program could access.
Scholarly Activity: Oonagh is the type of student that faculty notice whether in person or in the virtual classroom setting. She is fully present, attentive, engaged, and gracious. She is committed to active learning. Oonagh has a 3.91 cumulative GPA in our demanding doctoral program.

Oonagh was chosen for a SHP Summer Research Internship in 2023. She participated with recruitment, consenting, data collection and data processing for Dr. David Kietrys’ Neuropathy Walks study. The patients involved in this study were all HIV+ from a wide array of backgrounds. Oonagh treated all study participants with respect and utmost kindness. She was trained in a wide array of data collection methods and processing, including use of an instrumented walkway, a pain pressure algometer, and an instrumented strength assessment system. Even after the summer internship ended, Oonagh continued to help with the project, leading to co-authorship on 2 platform presentations at APTA CSM 2024 in Boston. One of the platforms was nominated for an award by the Oncology Academy of APTA.

The citations are below:

Kietrys DM, Lynch AD, Barberio J, Breen O, Ferraro RA, Galantino ML, Levin T, Mullee G, Parrott JS, Reibel D, Simonds AD. Impact of Peripheral Neuropathy on Physical Performance and Pain Pressure Threshold in Persons with HIV. Presented at the Combined Sections Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association; February 2024.

Lynch AD, Kietrys DM, Barberio J, Breen O, Ferraro RA, Galantino ML, Levin T, Mullee G, Parrott JS, Reibel D, Simonds AD. Lower Extremity Physical Performance is Impaired in Persons with HIV. Presented at the Combined Sections Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association; February 2024.

Oonagh also has been participating with data extraction and consolidation for an ongoing scoping review on non-pharmacologic pain management of chronic pain in people living with HIV. Like the data collection and processing for Neuropathy Walks, the work involved with the scoping review requires tremendous focus and attention to detail, which Oonagh consistently delivers.
In addition to the scholarly activity already listed, Oonagh’s Applied Research capstone project was accepted for a Poster presentation at APTA CSM 2024 in Boston. Oonagh was present at the conference to stand with the poster, and proudly represented SHP at this high-profile national conference.

The citation is below:

MacFarlane, S., Lynch, A., Bermel, P., Breen, O., Layman, M., Pieroni, T., Quinn, P, Yang, W. Mechanical Ventilation During Early Mobilization for a Patient with Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation: A Case Study. Presented at the Combined Sections Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association; February 2024.

Co-authorship on 3 national level presentations remarkable given the rigorous demands of our DPT program. It is challenging for students to simply meet the requirements for graduation, yet Oonagh somehow managed to carve out time to gain valuable research experience. Of the research interns that I (DK) have mentored, Oonagh clearly stands out in terms of her curiosity and dedication to getting the job done effectively and efficiently.

Oonagh’s scholarship activities dovetail with her vision for her career. She aspires to work in an acute care setting with medically complex patients. She appreciates that physical therapy plays a key role in restoring mobility and function to patients in the interdisciplinary acute care setting. Given Oonagh’s background as a competitive soccer player and runner, it would not have been surprising if she gravitated toward work in outpatient orthopedic physical therapy. Instead, she is embracing the challenging and much less popular role of working with patients who have complex needs in a high stress clinical setting. She has excelled in all four of her full-time clinical experiences that are part of the DPT curriculum.

Community Service: Oonagh has engaged in community service through volunteering with New Jersey Special Olympics. In additional, she provided PT to underserved patients and clients in Camden NJ at the Cooper Rowan Clinic. There, she gained experience utilizing telephone translation services to communicate with patients and family members.
Service to the University: Oonagh served as the student representative from the Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Sciences on SHP’s Committee on Academic Integrity, Professionalism and Disciplinary Review. As a work-study study for the DPT program in Blackwood, she was instrumental in helping to inventory, organize, and pack program equipment and supplies in preparation for the move to Newark in summer of 2023.
Oonagh has made outstanding contributions to the program and the school while a student. She is emblematic of what the Bergen Medal represents. Oonagh is well positioned to take what she has learned at Rutgers and build on it. We have no doubt that Oonagh will make a significant and profound impact on the lives of her patients. In addition, we are confident that Oonagh will utilize all that she has learned at Rutgers and help grow and build the profession of physical therapy.