Faculty
Cathleen C Johnson, OTD
Fall 1980 - Fall 2120
Associate Professor I
Occupational Therapy Program - AZ
CathleenJohnson@scuhs.edu
Current Position
Biography
Dr. Johnson has worked in healthcare for 36 years. She graduated from Central Michigan University in 1987 with her Bachelor of Science degree in Recreation and Parks Administration with a therapeutic recreation concentration. She worked in mental health settings until 1996 when she received her Master of Science degree in Occupational Therapy from Rush University. Her clinical experience spans mental health, school-based practice and geriatrics. She has worked as an operational and clinical consultant and leader in post-acute rehabilitation for the past 20 years. During this time, she held lead instructor and adjunct faculty roles for multiple universities where she taught entry-level and post-professional occupational therapy courses for the past 13 years. In 2019, she received her post-professional Doctorate of Occupational Therapy degree from Bay Path University with an emphasis in higher education. She has been a juried and invited presenter for numerous organizations over her career with clinical training expertise in numerous topics. She has been actively involved in professional organizations including the National Academies of Practice (NAP), the Affiliated Association of State Presidents (ASAP/AOTA), the National Association of Rehabilitation Agencies (NARA) and holds the position of president for the Michigan Occupational Therapy Association (MiOTA).
Degrees
O.T.D., Occupational Therapy , Bay Path University, East Longmeadow , Massachusetts, United StatesDissertation: Daily Weight Monitoring an Important Instrumental Activity of Daily Living for Patients with Heart Failure.
MScOT, Occupational Therapy , Rush University , Chicago, Illinois, United StatesDissertation: Changes in leisure performance in the individual recovering from chemical dependency.
Professional Licensures (Healthcare)
Occupational Therapy, Arizona, United States, 5297001, Active, 2024, January 2026
Certifications (Healthcare)
National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy, Registered, 1005543, 02271996, 03312024
Professional Licensures and Certifications (All other/non-healthcare)
Faculty Certification in Academic Excellence, June 2024, Evidence In Motion, Texas, United States, Certification , Completed 6 month course building academic skills
Scholarly Contributions and Creative Productions
Other Scholarly Work
Completed/Published
Poster Presentation
Completed/Published
Presentation
Completed/Published
Accepted
Honors and Awards
Fall 2023 - Ongoing
Master Clinician, 2014, Michigan Occupational Therapy Association, Nominated by peer and selected be peer-reviewed committee based upon work in the field, education and training, and commitment/service to the organization.
Fellow, 2016, Michigan Occupational Therapy Association, Nominated by peer for my commitment to the profession in terms of education and advocacy.
OTR Award of Excellence, 2021, Michigan Occupational Therapy Association, Nominated by peer and selected by peer-reviewer committee to receive the OTR Award of Excellent based upon my commitment to optimal OT practice in the state of Michigan.
Fellow, 2022, National Academies of Practice , Nominated and selected by peer-review committee to receive the Fellow award based upon my inter-professional collaborative practice in clinical and educational settings.
Distinguished Service Award, 2022, American Occupational Therapy Association, Provided award based upon my commitment to the profession through my engagement in the Affiliated State Association of Presidents.
Professional Membership
Spring 2022 - Ongoing
National Academies of Practice , March 2022, Ongoing, Member and invited fellow to the organization based upon inter-professional practices and collaboration.
Hear from the Students Who’ve Been in Your Shoes
I chose SCU when looking for a PA program because of their Integrative Medicine approach. I am from Michigan, and not many programs focus on this Integrative, Holistic approach when it comes to patient care in the Midwest, and I felt that was very important for me to learn as a future provider. My transition to semi-virtual learning has been very smooth and quite enjoyable. [su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]My favorite part about attending SCU is how tight-knit and diverse the community is. Coming from a large undergrad university and moving so far, it was very important for me to have a PA program that made me feel valued and invested in my success. At SCU, they do a great job of making you feel that.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]
Brianna Hadley
MSPA Class of 2022
One of the great things about SCU is we do have a campus layout, so all your classes aren't in a single room. We have our cadaver lab. We have different specialty rooms for physical assessment classes vs. acupuncture classes. All our acupuncture-specific classes have all the herbs in the room. You can pull out the herbs and look at them, whether in class or in between classes to get that extra studying in.[su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]My favorite part of SCU is the collaboration from our beginning terms. We were working alongside chiropractor students, PA students, and ayurvedic students. It's a unique community where we get to learn about these different fields and sit in classrooms with them and work with them in the clinic. It allows you to get an understanding of all the different fields and how they can work together, and what is unique about your field. I think that is a wonderful aspect that I didn't think was going to be as prominent as it is here; even now, in my upper term classes and I am not in class with chiropractic students, I can still reach out to them about a certain aspect I may not understand or if I am working on a case. I want another perspective I know I have them to reach out to, so that has been a great networking community to have resources for.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]
Dr. Jamie Kuljis
Graduate, Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine
"There are a lot of things that I love about the program at SCU. The first one is that the faculty come from a long line of Ayurvedic knowledge deeply rooted in ancient classical text. They studied Ayurveda, but they also lived it. When you learn from people who embody this wisdom, it's much easier to grasp this knowledge. The second thing I love is the camaraderie within the cohort. The combination of the training, supportive faculty, and the support of my peers and classmates has given me the confidence I need to start my own practice."
Portia Harris
Student, Ayurveda Program
Some of my favorite courses at SCU have to be the chiropractic procedure classes; those are the classes you get to hone in on your chiro skills, your palpation skills and ultimately work on the adjustments that make you a chiropractor. Those are the classes I feel enhance my knowledge the most and are some of the reasons I chose to become a chiropractor here are SCU.[su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]On top of chiropractic procedures classes, my favorite is the cadaver lab experience. The cadaver classes opened up my perception of what the human body is made up of. It allowed me to get an in-person perspective of how the body works and looks on the inside. I am genuinely thankful for those experiences because they opened and broadened my horizons to the human body and anatomy in general.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]
Jordan Vega
Student, Doctor of Chiropractic
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