Jennifer S. Pitonyak, MS, OTR/L, SCFES, CIMI
Jennifer S. Pitonyak, MS, OTR/L, SCFES, CIMI
Assistant Professor, Occupational Therapy
(215) 596-8694
Email: j.pitonyak@usp.edu
Occupational Roles
Mother, Wife, Doctoral Student, Occupational Therapist, Educator, Traveler, and Outdoor Enthusiast
Occupational History
Jenny joined the faculty at USP in 2007 and teaches courses in Occupational Therapy Orientation, Developmental and Psychosocial Interventions, Therapeutic Groups, and Applied Research. She has been on the Roster of Accreditation Evaluators for the American Council of Occupational Therapy Education since 2004 and is active with POTA District V.
Outside of the classroom, she is busy pursuing a PhD in Health Policy and balancing her work and family roles. Jenny and her husband, Lou, who is also an Occupational Therapist, love to travel and spend time outdoors with their son. Jenny especially loves traveling, hiking, and camping in the Pacific Northwest.
Education
Jenny received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA and a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She has been working on her PhD in Health Policy at University of the Sciences since 2005.
Clinical Practice
Jenny has worked as an occupational therapist in a variety of pediatric and community-based practice settings, including Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore and the feeding program at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She currently maintains clinical practice in early intervention and the NICU at Phoenixville Hospital and is working with independent study students from USP to develop a new community group program for expectant parents.
Research Interests
Jenny is interested in maternal and infant health policy, family mental health, breastfeeding promotion, nutrition and preventative health-care, sensory processing and self-regulation, and clinical reasoning in occupational therapy. She is also interested in the scholarship of teaching and learning, and has recently begun to collect data on the effectiveness of various teaching methodologies that she employs in her courses.
Recent Scholarship
Pitonyak, J. (2008). Innovations in Practice: Community Health Programs for Expectant Parents. Presentation at the 31st Annual Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association Conference. King of Prussia, PA.
Kramer, P., Ideishi, R., and Pitonyak, J. (2008). Client and Family Centered Service: Step by Step. Presentation at the 31st Annual Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association Conference. King of Prussia, PA.
Pitonyak, J. (2006). Supporting Mothers in the Co-occupation of Breastfeeding. Presentation at the 29th Annual Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association Conference. Pittsburgh, PA.
Pitonyak, J. (2004). Creating Sensory Diet Programs in Early Intervention. Presentation at the 27th Annual Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association Conference. Harrisburg, PA.
Lynch, A. and Pitonyak, J. (2002). Developmental Perspectives on Feeding. A two-day continuing education course taught at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.