Awards | School of Rehabilitation Therapy

Distinguished Alumni Awards

The School of Rehabilitation Therapy Distinguished Alumni Awards were established in 2013, thanks to the generous support of faculty member and Queen’s alumna, Diana Hopkins-Rosseel, MSc (Rehabilitation Science) ’92, and her husband, John Rosseel, BA (Artsci) ’81. The Awards recognize one graduate annually from each of the Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Rehabilitation Science, and Aging and Health programs who has made exceptional contributions to their chosen profession, field and/or community. Recipients are presented with their awards at the School's annual Homecoming Event.

Award Criteria & Submit a Nomination

The award will be presented on the basis of the graduate's exceptional contributions to their chosen profession/field and/or their community. Recipients will be recognized for their contributions in one or more of the following areas:

Distinguished themselves, at home or abroad, and made a difference to the well-being of others
Provided leadership and/or advocacy within their chosen profession
Demonstrated an ongoing commitment to the education of rehabilitation students and/or graduates
Advanced rehabilitation research and/or best practice
Continued involvement with Queen's and/or the Queen's community

Submit your nomination by completing this survey by May 31

For more information on the Distinguished Alumni Award or the nomination process, please contact:

Tim Rosillo (trosillo@queensu.ca)

Recent Distinguished Alumni Award Winners

2025 Occupational Therapy Distinguished Alumni Award Winner
Lisa Delaney, BSc (OT)’95

Lisa completed her occupational therapy degree in 1995. She has worked in a variety of clinical roles including child and family mental health, school-based therapy, children’s rehabilitation, and private practice. She has mentored over 50 occupational therapy students through their clinical and community development placements, recognized with a Queen’s Preceptor Award, and served as a Fieldwork Coordinator at Queen’s University. Lisa continues to contribute to the advancement of the profession as the Community Development Director for Garnet Families, a national network focused on the families of public safety personnel and those who study, serve, and support them.

2025 Physical Therapy Distinguished Alumni Award Winner
Laurie Freebairn, BSc (PT)’80

Laurie graduated from Queen’s with her physiotherapy degree in 1980 and after working in the public and private sector, she went back to university. She completed her master's degree in Physical Therapy at the University of Alberta in 1987 with a specialty in Sports Medicine. Laurie then began the next stage of her career as the Head Therapist of the Simon Fraser University Varsity Athletics program. As well as covering 12 varsity sports (clinic work and team coverage home and away), Laurie also coordinated a large Student Trainer program for SFU Kinesiology students. When SFU joined the NCAA in 2009 Laurie also took on the role of Senior Woman’s Administrator for the Athletics Department.

Laurie had the opportunity to travel and work with several National Teams including Women’s Basketball, the U23 Men’s Wrestling Team and she became the Head Therapist for the National and Olympic Women’s Softball Team from 2002 through 2017. Laurie was a member of the Canadian Olympic Medical Teams in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. She had the privilege to also be a member of the Canadian Medical Teams at 5 Pan American Games, the World Student Games and several Softball World Championships and World Cups. Laurie was also a Doping Control Officer with CCES (Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport) from 1990 through 2011 doing drug testing and anti-doping education for amateur athletes in Canada. She volunteered for the 2010 Winter Olympics as a Doping Control Officer. Laurie retired from SFU in 2015 and from the National Softball Team in 2017. She now enjoys watching sports from the sidelines!

2025 Rehabilitation Science Distinguished Alumni Award Winner
Dr. Michelle Villeneuve, MSc (RHBS)’00

Associate Professor Michelle Villeneuve (PhD, MSc, BSc) is Deputy Director at the University of Sydney impact Centre for Disability Research and Policy. She leads the Collaborating4Inclusion research program that advanced the Person-Centred Emergency Preparedness (P-CEP) framework and process tool and nurtured its uptake into policy and practice across Australia with rapid uptake increasing globally. Michelle is recognised for her research that brings together health, community, disability, and emergency services sectors to establish cross-sector policy and practice on person-centred and capability-focused approaches to inclusive emergency planning. Her research informs both conceptual and practical dimensions of interprofessional collaboration and resource utilisation. She brings to this research over 20 years of experience working in regions of conflict and natural hazard disaster to develop community-led programs and services and re-build opportunities for people with disability. Her partnership research and contributions to Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DIDRR) in Australia have impacted policy and practice to advance disability inclusive emergency management. Her co-produced research outputs have been recognised through 17 awards, including the 2023 National Resilient Australia Award for the P-CEP Certificate course. A/Prof Villeneuve’s contributions to transformational change in global health outcomes were recognised with the 2020 Canadian Women in Global Health Award.

Michelle has over 20 years of experience working in regions of conflict and natural hazard disaster to develop community-led services and re-build opportunities for people with disability, including those acquired by human conflict and natural hazard disasters. Examples include: the War Victims Rehabilitation Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1996 – 1999); Re-design of community-based social welfare services in post-tsunami Sri Lanka (2006- 2010). Michelle was a chief investigator on the first DFAT funded disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction research and development project (2013-2014) in Indonesia focused on the role and capacity of Disabled People’s Organisations as policy advocates for DIDRR. Michelle has been technical advisor on community-based inclusive development for the WHO (2015 – 2019) and consultant to UNESCAP on DIDRR (2023 – 2024).

Previous Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients

View past recipients

Occupational & Physical Therapy Clinical Education Awards

The Clinical Education Awards in Occupational and Physical Therapy were established to recognize excellence in teaching by clinical preceptors who are affiliated with the School of Rehabilitation Therapy at Queen's University.

The Awards are granted on the basis of demonstrated excellence in clinical teaching, to therapists who have served as clinical preceptors in any type of clinical setting.

Clinical preceptors can be nominated for this award by students, clinical/fieldwork coordinators in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy, or by colleagues or supervisors at their clinical facility. All clinical community partners and students will receive a call for nominations in the fall of each year. Awards are presented annually.

For more information on the OT & PT Clinical Education Awards or the nomination process, please contact:

Amanda Hall (hall.amanda@queensu.ca) Occupational Therapy
Melanie Law (lawm@queensu.ca) Physical Therapy

Recent OT & PT Clinical Education Award Winners

2024 Occupational Therapy Award Winner
Caroline Cardoso, MSc (OT)'04

Caroline graduated from Queen’s Occupational Therapy program in 2004. After a brief period in homecare, she has spent her career working in inpatient hospital settings with experience in Rehabilitation, Complex Continuing Care, Acute Care, and Convalescent Care. She has been at The Lennox & Addington County General Hospital in Napanee for the past 14 years. Caroline is fond of small community hospital work because of the strong and supportive interprofessional culture and commitment to local residents. She finds great value in offering clinical placements and sharing her knowledge and experience with OT students; their fresh perspectives and enthusiasm are always rewarding.

2024 Physical Therapy Award Winner
Dakshan Krishnapalan, MSc (PT)’16

Dakshan graduated with a Bachelor’s in Medical Science from Western University in 2016 before earning a Master’s in Physical Therapy from Queen’s University in 2019. Since then, he has been employed at CBI Health, Kingston, where he has practiced for five years, focusing on a diverse patient caseload. As a committed educator, Dakshan has taken on over 20 students throughout his career, finding that mentoring has been invaluable to his own learning and development as both a physiotherapist and a clinical instructor. He is extremely grateful to all the students he has supervised, who have played a significant role in shaping his practice. Honored to receive the 2023-2024 Queen’s University Clinical Education Award, Dakshan looks forward to pursuing more opportunities in the field of education in the future. He also wishes to extend his heartfelt thanks to his colleagues at CBI and everyone involved in the program for fostering a supportive learning environment.

Previous OT & PT Clinical Education Award Recipients

2023
Teresa Broers, MSc (OT)’09 - Occupational Therapy
Nicole Mills, MSc (PT)’13 - Physical Therapy
2022
Teresa Broers, MSc (OT)’09 - Occupational Therapy
Megan Sharkey, MSc (PT)’15 - Physical Therapy
2021
Sarah Thompson, MSc (OT)’95 - Occupational Therapy
Christopher Pawliuk, MSc (PT)’08 - Physical Therapy
2020
Lisa Moses, OT - Occupational Therapy
Latif Khoja, MSc (RHBS) - Physical Therapy
2019
Zanna Farmer, MSc (OT)’09 - Occupational Therapy
Timothy Burgess, PT - Physical Therapy
2018
Shannon Mills, MSc (OT)’08 - Occupational Therapy
Ashish Bharti, MSc (PT)’07 - Physical Therapy
2017
Adriana Farcas - Occupational Therapy
Karen Parks, MSc (PT)’07 - Physical Therapy
2016
Kathy Sparrow - Occupational Therapy
Stephanie Brian - Physical Therapy
2015
Dave Carmichael - Occupational Therapy
Hussein Karim - Physical Therapy
2014
Carrie Marshal - Occupational Therapy
Phil Edmunds - Physical Therapy

Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists Fieldwork Educator Award of Excellence

Each year, the occupational therapy program at Queen's University is able to nominate one preceptor for the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT) - Fieldwork Educator Award of Excellence. Nominations for this award are sought in the fall of each academic year. To be eligible for the award nominees must be a member of CAOT. The purpose of this award is to acknowledge excellence in clinical teaching, student mentorship and inspirational leadership in professional practice. The nominee is presented to CAOT and is approved by the Board of Directors. Award winners are announced annually at the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists' Awards Ceremony, published in Occupational Therapy Now and posted on the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists' website.

Recent CAOT Fieldwork Educator Award of Excellence Winner

2024 CAOT Fieldwork Educator Award of Excellence Winner
Katelyn Bridge

Katelyn graduated from the Queen's Occupational Therapy program in 2016. Katelyn has worked for Modern OT Occupational Therapy Services since 2018, where she provides services to clients through a variety of referral streams, including auto insurance, the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Workplace Insurance Safety Board (WSIB). In addition to her clinical work, Katelyn has also been involved with the School of Rehabilitation Therapy as a Teaching Fellow and Term Adjunct Lecturer in the Occupational Therapy program. She is also a Doctoral Candidate at Queen's in the Doctor of Science, Rehabilitation and Health Leadership Program. Katelyn is passionate about mentorship and fostering the development of students and new graduate OTs as they navigate the opportunities and complexities of working in community-based private practice.

Previous CAOT Fieldwork Educator Award of Excellent Recipients

Blue Star Award for Teaching Excellence

The purpose for this award is to honour faculty members of the School of Rehabilitation Therapy who by their teaching ability and concern have earned the admiration of their students. The award is considered to be the highest tribute the Society can pay to an individual for teaching excellence.

Recent Blue Star Award for Teaching Excellence Winner

2025
Sandra Fucile - Occupational Therapy
Sarah Hazelwood - Physical Therapy