Sue emigrated from England to follow a career in mental health occupational therapy. She gained her experiences in community clinics as well as hospital-based units. Her major career focus has been working with clients experiencing chronic pain, a population that Sue sees as ideal for benefiting from occupational therapy intervention.
Following a clinical and senior management career within inter-professional team environments, Sue moved into a full time university position engaged actively in teaching, research and service projects. She is a professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada since 1998. She has been Assistant Dean OT, developing a new curriculum for a Masters entry-level degree program and also has held a leadership role in the Program for Faculty Development for almost twenty years.
She has concentrated much of her academic work on faculty development, organizational cultural change and ongoing professional competence, as well as curriculum design and development. Sue focuses her consultation work around professional competence, organizational development and innovative curricular models.
Sue was awarded the Muriel Driver Memorial Lectureship in 1988, the highest award given by the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT). She is Past President of the CAOT; was given an Honorary Life Membership by the Ontario Society of Occupational Therapists; and, currently is Vice President of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists.
Sue considers being part of the team to create the COPM was a key highlight of her career.