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Suzanne Lynn Martin

Biography

Suzanne Martin had been heading toward a career in clinical psychology, with a double major in art and psychology when, late in her college career, she chose a new direction: occupational therapy (OT). She says, "I realized I wanted to have hands-on, daily interaction with people."

The discovery came the day she helped a young Marine who had been wounded in Iraq. He was staying in the OT division of a local hospital, where Suzanne was completing an element of her studies. Powerfully impacted by the experience in part because her own husband was serving in Iraq, Suzanne drove home in tears that day, realizing she knew what she wanted to do. She saw, she says, that she could "help others return to living their lives the way they were before the accident, illness, or other circumstance that brought them to occupational therapy."

Suzanne comes to her new goal well prepared. Psychology professor Barbara C. Routhieaux says Suzanne often pushed herself "beyond her comfort zone." As an undergraduate, Suzanne took a study-abroad program in China, created a psychology department newsletter, and was part of a three-year, five-member research team that studied how students fare in the six US work colleges.

Suzanne intends to continue drawing on her diverse background when she becomes an occupational therapist. When possible, she intends to bring to occupational therapy her artistic skills, including metal-smithing, bookmaking, painting, drawing, woodworking, and picture framing.

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