Monica S. Clark, OTD, OTR

Assistant Professor

Dr. Monica Clark is an Assistant Professor for the Doctorate in Occupational Therapy program. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a double minor in biology and art from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, TX in 2004. Two years later, she earned her Master’s in Occupational Therapy from Texas Woman’s University in Dallas, TX. After eight years of clinical experience, she went back to Texas Woman’s University for the inaugural class of their Doctorate in Occupational Therapy program. She earned this degree in 2016 with a focus on Stroke Rehabilitation.

With 16 years of clinical experience, Dr. Clark has worked in a variety of settings: acute care, inpatient and outpatient mental health, outpatient adults and pediatrics, skilled nursing, home health, and inpatient rehab. However, her niche is working with the acute neurology population. Early in her career, she worked as a travel therapist where she worked in Seattle, WA, Machias, ME, and San Antonio, TX. This made her flexible and knowledgeable about a variety of payment systems, the effect of regional culture on therapy goals, and alternative methods of treatment. Additionally, she started numerous occupation-based and psychosocial programs at a local hospital, including vision, cardiac, oncology, and antepartum.

Demonstrating her commitment to the professional development of others, Dr. Clark has supervised more than 20 fieldwork students in the clinical setting, including doctoral capstone students. She started a mentorship program for new graduates and continues to mentor past students and team members. She has also developed an on-site clinical fieldwork program to ensure flexibility based on student learning styles.

As previous adjunct faculty, she has taught a multitude of classes to include professional communication, theory, neurology lab, adult service delivery, OT process, and scholarly inquiry. Dr. Clark was nominated by past students and rewarded the Clinical Educator of the Year Award from the Texas Occupational Therapy Association for her enthusiasm for growing and mentoring students. Additionally, she has presented at numerous conferences on leadership and management techniques as well as program development.

Currently, Dr. Clark is the chair for the Alamo South District of the Texas Occupational Therapy Association where she serves the occupational therapy community in South Texas. Finally, she founded the Occupational Therapy Benevolence Endowment, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping OT practitioners in need after a significant life event.