RBWH Occupational Therapist Andrea McKittrick received the Andre Zagame Rehabilitation Prize at the International Society of Burns Injuries Congress in Mexico

As a world-class tertiary hospital, RBWH’s expertise and research frequently helps shape health systems across the globe.

RBWH Advanced Occupational Therapist Andrea McKittrick was recently invited to attend and speak at the International Society of Burns Injuries (ISBI) Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico from 28 August to 1 September.

Andrea presented four oral presentations at the conference, two of which were studies from her PhD, one on virtual reality and one follow-up study using a person-centred outcome measurement. She also organised and moderated the Rehabilitation Symposium which involved multiple international speakers from USA, Chile and Costa Rico who work in the adult and paediatric burns space.

Andrea said attending and presenting at the conference was a great opportunity to disseminate research findings from both her PhD and Metro North studies to an international audience.

“My role as Chair of the ISBI Rehabilitation Committee also played an integral part of my role at the conference,” Andrea said.

“I was privileged to be awarded the Andre Zagame Rehabilitation Prize for my abstract, as judged by the ISBI Scientific Committee and ranked in terms of scientific merit.”

Working as an Occupational Therapist has been an incredibly rewarding career path for Andrea, who has been working in Burns Occupational Therapy for more than 16 years.

“As an occupational therapist, I look at how people return to everyday activities they want to, need to, or are expected to do,” she said.

“I love that every person is different, and no two goals are the same, so each treatment intervention is personalised to the individual receiving care.”