About Us
April 30, 2024
Author: Lisa Lopez Snyder
Broadening and creating career opportunities for students is what the mentorship program is all about at The Ohio State University School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (HRS).
Formally launched in 2023, the HRS Mentorship Program matches students with professionals who offer support and professional connections.
In May 2023, Ananya Dhati, a junior in the undergraduate Health Information Management and Systems (HIMS) program, was matched with Marie Wurm, a data analytics consultant with the Analytics Center of Excellence at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and a 2015 HIMS graduate.
The two met weekly at the start of the mentorship, which then led to Dhati’s data analytics internship at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. Now, as she nears her last year, Dhati works full-time at the medical center as part of her Practical Professional Experience, which takes place during the last six weeks of the program.
Dhati’s analytics work includes using Tableau, a visualization tool that extracts useful information for making decisions to ensuring data security, including for use with the hospital revenue cycle, productivity and operations.
“Because of the HIMS program, I have gained a lot of skills I would not have gained otherwise, including the SQL coding language,” she says.
“That skill will serve her well, wherever she goes,” says Wurm, who serves on the board of the HRS Alumni Society.
During the time Nathan Grizenko was completing his Doctor of Occupational Therapy, the HRS mentorship led him to advocate for and create a new position with Columbus’ Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA).
Today he’s using his clinical skills as COTA’s mobility occupational program manager to advise the organization on ways to help marginalized and disenfranchised communities access public transportation.
He credits his mentor Patrick Lavelle ‘98, a private practice OT in Greenville, South Carolina, for helping walk him through the steps to advocate for the position.
“I’m so thankful for Patrick,” he says. “I learned a lot from him. He was so supportive.”
Grizenko says having the clinical background helps him guide fellow COTA staff in his work overseeing paratransit eligibility and to make the program more client-centric. He also works with a social worker to run the travel training program, helping riders learn how to ride COTA and connect with resources.
“COTA’s work signals that they understand that transportation is a gateway to participating in everyday life activities,” he says. “That resonated with me.”
Lavelle says Gizenko’s work is a perfect example of what OT can do outside the medical model. In the past, OTs traditionally worked in a nursing home, hospital or school — and the focus on mental health waned, he says.
That all has changed, he says, and OT graduates like Grizenko can work in non-traditional settings. “The options are so much more plentiful today.”
Grizenko agrees. “The HRS mentorship ended up being one of the most important experiences I’ve had in my professional life.”