Valerie Hill Hermann, MS, OTR/L
Valerie Hermann is a Research Occupational Therapist in the Neuromotor Recovery and Rehabilitation Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati. Valerie graduated from Indiana University (Indianapolis) in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy. She concurrently pursued her Master of Science in Health Sciences Education and graduated from Indiana University in 2005. In college, Valerie was named a Top 100 Student as well as awarded the Carol D. Nathan Leadership Award in the Indiana University Occupational Therapy program. Prior to her position at the University of Cincinnati, Valerie was an Occupational Therapist on the rehabilitation unit at The Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, OH. She currently provides stroke interventions for subjects in various research studies, as well as assisting with the entire research process for other studies the lab provides. Valerie is trained and proficient on the therapy devices utilized for each study, and provides lectures and inservices on cutting edge, evidence-based stroke interventions.
Throughout her therapy career, Valerie has been involved in research at multiple levels. She has co-authored articles published in peer-reviewed journals (e.g., The Journal of Hand Therapy and The American Journal of Occupational Therapy) as well as Advance for Occupational Therapists. She has also presented at local, state, and national conferences for occupational therapy, including the Ohio Occupational Therapy Association, American Occupational Therapy Annual Conference, Indiana Hand Group and multiple hospitals in the Midwest. Valerie has chaired and served across the spectrum on multiple research councils at The Christ Hospital including the rehabilitation department, the nursing research council and the hospital’s research review council. Valerie currently serves on the Ohio Occupational Therapy Association’s Board as the Rehabilitation Member Services Coordinator and locally as the Cincinnati District Co Chair. She also serves on the University of Cincinnati’s OTA-MOT Advisory Committee and is adjunct faculty at Cincinnati State for the Occupational Therapy Assistant Program.
Valerie is very involved in supervising/mentoring students participating in research projects at the lab. Students are of utmost importance to Valerie, as she sees the future of occupational therapy through them. Valerie’s special interests lie in furthering research for the field of occupational therapy by “doing”. Valerie is passionate about advocating for Occupational Therapy by expressing the true value of occupation and Occupational Therapy. She is immersed in the lab’s research while developing her own studies of sensation and occupation for individuals with stroke. She is also interested in furthering her studies of functional electrical stimulation from an “occupation based” perspective and developing studies related to functional splinting for stroke and validating assessment measures used in the stroke population.
Example Publications:
Page S., Levine P., and Hill V. (2007) Mental practice as a gateway to modified constraint- induced movement therapy: a promising combination to improve function. American Journal of Occupational Therapy; May-Jun 61(3): 321-7.
Barth, E., Hill Hermann, V., Levine, P., and Page, S. (2007) Effects of EMG- Triggered electrical stimulation on gait and balance in chronic stroke: a case study. OPTA Fall conference.
Hill, V. (2006) Stroke of Genius. Advance for Directors in Rehabilitation, 15(4): 51.
Borkholder, C., Hill, V., and Fess, E. (2004) The efficacy of splinting for lateral epicondylitis: a systematic review. Journal of Hand Therapy;17(2);181-99.
Boustani, M., Beitman, C., Moyers, P., Chase, C., Bowman, W., Emel, H., Hill, V., Jolly, S., and Stansberry, J. (2003) Curriculum design for systematic evidence review: connecting students to geriatric practice. The Gerontologist, 111.