Melissa Kandel, OTR/L, BCPR is a 1996 graduate of Indiana University School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Occupational Therapy program. She has experience as an OT in a variety of settings including acute care, subacute care, outpatient, pediatrics and home health care. She has been with Duke University since 2007 as a clinical services coordinator in the Acute Division of the Department of Physical and Occupational Therapy supervising a team of OTs who provide hospital-wide services. Melissa participates in research projects including the impact of early rehabilitation on patients in the hospital’s intensive care unit in the CYCLE study and the impact of intensive rehabilitation on patients with congestive heart failure in REHAB-HF. She served as a transitional care manager with the BETTER study to research how to best support patients with a traumatic brain injury in their transition back to the community. The Build Stamina intervention is investigating the impact of physical activity on cognition and quality of life for patients with acute leukemia. She worked to establish the Acute and Critical Care OT Fellowship through AOTA in 2015. Melissa also serves as a member of the AOTA Roster of Fellowship Reviewers since 2017.