Sarah McKinnon and Bridget Perry have had the "interim" removed from their titles and will serve as permanent heads of their respective departments - McKinnon has been named chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy and Perry has been named chair of Communications Sciences and Disorders. The announcement was recently made by Laura Plummer, dean of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. 

McKinnon is an associate professor of occupational therapy. She received her Doctorate from Boston University as well as a Master of Public Administration from Roger Williams University with a specialization in health care administration. McKinnon remains involved in clinical practice and scholarship with the Mass General Brigham organization. An American Occupational Therapy Association Fellow since 2022, she currently serves as the Chair of the Occupational Therapy Academy of the National Academies of Practice (NAP).  She has also recently served as the Government Representative for the Massachusetts Association for Occupational Therapy (MAOT) and on the Board of Directors for the American Occupational Therapy Association Political Action Committee (AOTPAC).

“Serving as interim chair this past year has been an incredible opportunity to collaborate with faculty, staff, and students to launch new initiatives, strengthen our curriculum, develop our department’s next strategic plan, and expand alumni engagement,” said McKinnon. “As I step into the permanent role, I am excited to build on this momentum by prioritizing department growth, student support, and faculty development, so that our department continues to thrive as a leader in occupational therapy education.”

McKinnon joined the Institute in 2019 as the founding program director for the Post-Professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy program. Along with Perry, they co-designed the Doctor of Health Sciences program, an interprofessional clinical doctoral program which launched this summer.

Perry is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, and program director of the post-professional SLPD program. After receiving her Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing and graphic design from the University of Notre Dame, she earned a Master of Science in Communication Science and Disorders from Rush University and completed a Master of Science in Clinical and Translation Sciences at Tufts University. She earned a PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences from the MGH Institute and was a doctoral fellow in the MGH Institute’s Speech and Feeding Disorders Lab.  She also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in predictive analytics and comparative effectiveness at Tufts Medical Center.

A medical SLP expert and dysphagia researcher, Perry is the Director of the Swallowing and Communication Collaborative Research Lab, with research centered around optimizing the management of swallowing and speech impairments to improve the quality of life for adults living with serious illnesses. She is currently the principal investigator for a National Institutes of Health K 23 award, and continues to practice as a speech-language pathologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“I am deeply honored to step into the role of Chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders," said Perry. "As both an alumna and faculty member, the Institute has long been my academic home, and it is a privilege to now formally serve in this leadership capacity. Having spent the past year as Interim Chair, I have seen firsthand the extraordinary dedication of our faculty, staff, and students. I am excited to continue working alongside this talented community to advance innovation in education, research, and clinical practice, and to prepare the next generation of speech-language pathologists and audiologists to meet the evolving needs of our field.”