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Emily completed her occupational therapy education at James Madison University, where she was the recipient of the Karina McMullan Global Impact Award. While a student at JMU, Emily worked with Liz Richardson and a student team to author a business plan for a campus outpatient pediatric clinic which successfully launched in 2010. Emily earned her Post-Professional Doctorate in Occupational Therapy from the University of St. Augustine in 2019. 

Emily has been an occupational therapist since 2009, practicing in the skilled nursing and outpatient rehab settings. As a clinician, Emily became passionate about program development and implementing affordable, community-based programs to support active aging and aging-in-place in a rural community. She became a Certified Master Trainer in A Matter of Balance program and an instructor for Tai Chi for Rehabilitation, offering both of these programs to older adults in the community. Emily still regularly engages in clinical practice with older adults.

Emily joined the Murphy Deming Occupational Therapy team in 2020, where she served as the Director of Clinical Education until 2024. Now, Emily is a full-time teaching faculty member, and she loves instructing several foundational courses in the first year of the program, as well as population-specific intervention and experiential learning courses. Scholarship interests include assessing student readiness for clinical practice and topics in practice with older adult populations, such as supporting the work-to-retirement transition and preparing students to work with clients at end-of-life. Emily’s favorite theory is the Theory of Occupational Adaptation, which she believes informs how educators can best prepare students in the life transition from student to practitioner.

Emily lives in Weyers Cave with her husband, two children, and several animals. She is an aspiring “homesteader” and dreams of one day using land and animals therapeutically. Emily has played the piano since she was five and enjoys serving on the worship team in her faith community.