Y'all aren't ready. You. are. not. ready. The tomfoolery of this season finale, y'all. Channeling their inner Housewives, the thOTs welcome the sassiest guests they could find in the OT&OS world. Joined by Dr. Arameh Anvarizadeh, Dr. Jessica Kramer, and Dr. Karen McCarthy, these housewives - and their token white gay - bring the drama, the receipts, and all the opinions on who truly holds the title of "Occupation Queen." Are you team OS or OT? Both? Neither? A whirlwind of academic drama and Housewives flair, they tackle the age old question: "Who truly is the white refrigerator of the occupational world?" Tune in for a showdown that promises to educate and entertain, complete with all the sass and class you'd expect from the Dr. thOTs duo, Dr. Khalilah Johnson and Dr. Ryan Lavalley.
Highlights include: Measurement queens, building bridges, and bone collectors, oh my!
Can peer-review be sexy? Well to answer that question, the Dr. thOTs duo touch base with the thOT in Chief, Dr. Stacey Reynolds, Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT). They discuss the fabulous life as an Editor in Chief, the state of the science, peer-review processes, and the politics of trustworthy science. The three docs take research from farm to table to make sure you know where your data is coming from! Highlights include: Stacey being a nerd, Ryan starting a revolution, and Khalilah calling universities and associations to action.
Khalilah and Ryan dive into a convo with Dr. Frederick V. Engram Jr. to get real about publishing. From navigating academia to reclaiming voice and storytelling, this episode is all about truth-telling, resistance, and writing for liberation—not validation. Come for the critique, stay for the community. Highlights include: Khalilah telling yo mama jokes, Dr. Engram not letting anybody play in his face, and Academia getting put in its place.
This week on Dr. thOTs, the duo get into design and branding with Stephanie Kaczynski, a PhD candidate serving up stories and communication . After exploring her "diss" focused on community organizing, police violence, and George Floyd Square, Stephanie breaks down how storytelling, strategy, and branding shape science communication—and why humanizing research actually matters. This one is interdisciplinary, it's pretty, and it’s thOTful. Tune in to rethink how you communicate for change. Highlights include: Stephanie stanning the oxford comma and Ryan and Khalilah getting distracted by an amazing dissertation.
This week, the Dr. thOTs duo grab some time with the very busy Christine Gunningle, program director of Durham Tech's OTA program and educator extraordinaire. She pops off with personal stories and pedagogical pointers, positioning OTA programs as clear launch pads for amazing practitioners. The educators discuss classroom strategies, accessibility, and what OT programs can learn from OTA education and approaches! Highlights include: OTA programs getting their flowers, Christine getting real about occupation, and someone licking a handrail.
The thOTs are not here for your messy spreadsheets or half-baked interview guides. They’re diving into data evaluation and communication. Your favorite duo unpacks what it really means to produce knowledge that matters. Accuracy? Required. Completeness? Non-negotiable. Relevance? Don’t show up without it. Whether you’re a seasoned researcher, a grad student in the trenches, or just nosy, this convo will get your epistemo-ontological life together. Spoiler, this one's for the nerds. Highlights include: Ryan being the queen of codes, Khalilah calling out raggedy methods, and the thOTs deciding when to gate keep.
Ryan and Khalilah welcome Dr. Jen Newton onto the podcast this week to discuss intellectual and development disabilities, death row, and school systems. The three dive into a difficult conversation about the realities of our justice system, the ways ableism and anti-blackness are leveraged to dehumanize in the US. They also talk about ways occupational therapy practitioners can step up in advocacy to mitigate the school to prison pipeline. Highlights include: A necessary conversation
Content warning: discussion of state death
Happy Pride thOTs! This week, the Dr. Duo is queering the convo exploring the who, what, and why when it comes to gay bars, tea rooms, lesbian hangouts, queer spaces, and more. From bachlorettes to Maggie Clapp, from 1700s to 2019, Ryan and Khalilah cover it all. They’ve got hot takes and cold truths when it comes to the messiness of who is welcome and who isn't, and why knowing the history is part of the homework. From the dance floor to the discourse, it’s giving intersectional, intentional, and unapologetically queer. Highlights include: Khalilah getting an A+ on her queer vocabulary, Ryan clarifying which Molly, and the thOTs making a legal disclaimer.
Hold onto your gait belts, y’all—this episode is serving up tech tea with a side of clinical realness. Khalilah and Ryan are joined by the brilliant Sarah Lyon of OT Potential to unpack where occupational therapy meets artificial intelligence. We’re talking AI scribes, clinical decision support, and the big ol’ ethical elephants in the room. The trio dives into how AI is shaking up healthcare, what it means for future OT practitioners, and why we need to stay alert about who’s designing these systems—and who they’re serving. The crew keep it real about the promise and the pitfalls of tech in care work.
Highlights include: Physicians having egos, Sarah fearing for our children, and Ryan and Khalilah flip flopping on AI.
Whew, chile. This episode gets into the thick of it—the Dr. thOTs duo are back at it, peeling back the layers of identity, advocacy, and the messiness of inclusion. From classroom to community, they’re asking hard questions: Who gets to be included? Who should be excluded? Are we all just inside a bush? They kiki about critical pedagogy and managing discomfort while learning. You know these two love a good boundary! But even in research? Racial caucusing, coalition-building across difference, and, yes, occupation as a tool for liberation - you know they couldn't leave her out. Highlights include: Khalilah joining Michelle Obama in saying FAFO and Ryan deciding "clusion" is somehow a word.
This week, the Dr. thOTs duo welcome a guest from 17 time zones away. Dr. Isla Emery-Whittington joins Ryan and Khalilah in a warm conversation about decolonizing practices. With a true auntie vibe, Dr. Emery-Whittington names and frames the importance of building communication, building movements, and building concrete strategies in the work of reconnecting our separated world, including looking deeply into ourselves. Highlights include: Nova making a keynote, Isla publishing in a circle, and Ryan being called out for being the youngest
In this homegrown heart-to-heart, Khalilah and Ryan get all up in their feelings (and their plants) to talk about what makes a space feel like a place. We’re talking aesthetics, sensory vibes, cultural grounding, and the divine chaos that is cohabitation. From Khalilah’s sacred order to Ryan’s plant-based messages of care, this episode unpacks how our environments reflect our identities, values, and that fine line between "intentional design" and "creative clutter." Highlights include: Ryan thinking dusting is stupid and Khalilah taking a plant off life support.
This episode is a LONG time coming! Ryan and Khalilah wanted to make sure this one got its due. Spurred by a calling in, the duo invite Dr. Emily Grullón and Dr. Alondra Ammon to discuss complex racial identities. History, age, geopolitics, and learning are the hot topics of this episode, unpacking Latinidad, Blackness, and the relationship between the two. Highlights include: Emily giving historian realness, Ryan challenging clients, Alondra bringing the data, and Khalilah proposing a situationship.
Content Warning: This episode discusses violence against Black people
Beaten, bruised, but they are back! The Dr. thOTs duo is up to good trouble yet again, launching their 5th season of the podcast with spicy nicknames, real talk to the front, and some self care resolutions! Khalilah and Ryan give you the run down on what they've been up to the last few months and what they are excited about in the upcoming season. Join the duo as they launch the next season of the Dr. thOTs podcast! Highlights include: Khalilah talking q-tips and thermometers and Ryan singing for the first time on the podcast (don't quit your day job).
That very important time of 2024 is approaching y'all! November 5th is election day and the Dr. thOTs want to make sure you are ready to vote! On this special election episode, the thOTs duo interview Dr. Victoria Garcia Wilburn, Occupational Therapist, Associate Professor, and State Congresswoman of Indiana! She is doing it all! She discusses life in the state house, leadership, and working to make change she believes in. Highlight includes: GET OUT THE VOTE!
What a season! The 4th epoch of the Dr. thOTs podcast has come to a close. Khalilah and Ryan recap the topics and conversations of the last 14 episodes, thanking their guests, listeners, and team along the way. They discuss the deep conversations of the summer but also the importance of reclaiming time care of self. If you want to get a taste of the topics and guests for Season 4 before diving in, this is the episode for you. Highlights include: Khalilah rejecting two monitors, Ryan failing at being a rocket scientists, and the duo synthesizing another great season of making conversations together.
The Dr. thOTs duo are joined by Trey Washington (@whatsonemorepothos) who occupies "the intersection of fried fish / porch sitting / Fantasia’s barefoot antics / communalism / anti-carceral, anti-capitalist politics and doing the chicken-head to every song like it’s still 2001" (WhatsOneMorePothos.com, 2024). The trio digs into Trey's journey to occupational therapy, community organizing, and plant care, exploring the everyday roots of justice and injustice. To close, Trey highlights some concrete ways to engage in radical communities of care. Highlights include: Ryan needing a fungus gnat solution, Trey helping a housing bond pass, Khalilah leaning into joy and imagination, and monsteras getting a movement.
We all know these two thOTs can't chart a straight path across an open field, but at least they try. Khalilah and Ryan talk professional boundaries and wandering scopes. What makes occupational therapy? They've got opinions on research, capstone, and policy impact on practice roles and identities. Lines are drawn and lines are crossed but not a single one is straight. Werk. Highlights include: Khalilah asking for an alien abduction, Ryan being occupationally blasphemous, and hell freezing over.
The Dr. thOTs duo is excited to offer this special mini episode to introduce you to a mini-diva! Chanel Jackson, niece of non other than Dr. Khalilah Johnson joins the Drs. on the podcast. In just 30 minutes, this 9 year old fashionista lets us in on her future plans, opinons on other nine-year-olds, and some advice for her Auntie Kiki - the little one reads above her grade level on this one. Y'all, the library is open. Highlights include: Ryan being analog, Khalilah lacking a family discount, and Chanel dropping some wisdom for her peers.
Kahlilah and Ryan are joined by the one and only Raheleh Ghasseminia, an up and coming doctoral student but long-time experienced occupational therapy practitioner. Raheleh leads these thOTs into the wonderful world of intimacy, sex, and occupation. The hosts discuss how she arrived in the intimacy area, how sex sits in practice, and where fingers should be pointing when it comes to talking about this ADL. Theory, socio-cultural contextualization, and sex puns abound. Highlights include: Ryan getting a new responsibility, Khalilah can't keep a straight face, and Raheleh is a bull in a sex shop.
