Jennifer Oshita, CCC-SLP PhD, is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Colorado, Denver Anschutz Medical Campus and a speech and language pathologist. Her research interests lie in improving healthcare quality for people with disabilities at a systems level, including those with intersectional disability and minority identities.

As a LeaRRn Scholar, Dr. Oshita will be mentored by Mary Slavin, PT, PhD (Boston University) and will partner with Spaulding Rehabilitation Network. She will measure implementation of screening for health-related social needs (HRSN) in the inpatient rehabilitation setting at Spaulding. HRSN are unmet, adverse social conditions contributing to poor health outcomes. Specifically, Dr. Oshita will examine the reach and adoption of HRSN screening at Spaulding inpatient rehabilitation sites, identify how HRSN are being used to improve patient care, and address determinants to screening. She will also explore patient and family member perspectives regarding the integration of HRSN data into their rehabilitation care, with particular focus on accommodating individual disabilities. This work is expected to identify the unique aspects of collecting and applying HRSN in the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, enabling proactive targeting of access and accommodation needs to optimize patient rehabilitation and health outcomes.