2022 Graduate Student Research Day and Thelma Cardwell Lecture

Ana Malfitano, PhD, presented the 2022 Thelma Cardwell Lecture. Ana Malfitano is an Associate Professor in the Occupational Therapy Department and the Post-graduate Program in Occupational Therapy at the Federal University of Sao Carlos, Brazil. Ana was involved in the creation of the Master in Occupational Therapy (started in 2010), and PhD in Occupational Therapy (started in 2015), the first one in Latin America. She teaches in undergraduate and postgraduate occupational therapy courses, including the supervision of Master’s and doctoral students.

Ana’s career is focused on social occupational therapy, which has been developed in Brazil, to deal with inequities and social injustices. Ana is part of the Metuia Network, a Brazilian inter-institutional group, which develops teaching, research and community-university partnerships in social occupational therapy. Her research focuses are on Social Occupational Therapy, Social Policies, Fundamentals of Occupational Therapy, Community, Youth, Citizenship, and Excluded Groups. She is editor of the Brazilian Journal of Occupational Therapy.

Lecture title: Social Occupational Therapy: Professional Actions in an Equal World