Congratulations to the 2025 Steinhardt Graduation Award Winners from Occupational Therapy

The Department of Occupational Therapy is pleased to share that four of our outstanding 2025 graduates were honored with a NYU Steinhardt Graduation Award, and received recognition during the annual Steinhardt Graduation Ceremonies. Please join us in offering our warmest congratulations to these future OT leaders! Detailed descriptions of each award can be found on 2025 Graduation Award page.

Khalia Frazier was selected as the recipient of the 2025 Pi Lambda Theta Rho Leadership Award! This award is given to one graduate student across all of NYU Steinhardt to acknowledge and celebrate excellence in academic achievement and leadership.

During her time at NYU OT, Khalia has demonstrated these critically important values time and time again. She served as the Founder and President of The Network of Black Clinicians, a graduate student organization that connects students of color across the many health science disciplines. Khalia was also the Chair of the NYU Steinhardt Black Student Society for two years, and coordinated an NYU event with Dancing Dreams, a non-profit that provides dance programs for children with special needs. She was inducted into Phi Theta Epsilon, the National Honor Society for Occupational Therapy students and the list goes on!

Amanda Gahlot was selected as the recipient of the 2025 NYU Steinhardt School Banner Bearer Graduation Award! This award is given to one doctoral student across all of Steinhardt for demonstrating spirit through leadership and academic excellence, and bestows on them the honor of carrying the NYU Steinhardt School banner during the Doctoral Convocation.

Amanda has been both an exceptional scholar and leader throughout her time in the NYU OT PhD program. She has served for many years as an AOTA Fellowship Reviewer, a Journal Peer Reviewer, and Steering Committee Member for the MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital OT Neurologic Fellowship Program. Additionally, she has published several peer-reviewed articles in leading OT journals, led the AOTA Live Webinar Series "Power and the Profession," and became an instructor for ReproRehab, a training program that aims to create a sustainable national workforce of rehabilitation researchers equipped with data science skills.

Laboni Molla was selected as the recipient of the 2025 NYU Steinhardt Occupational Therapy Department Banner Bearer Graduation Award! This award is given to one graduate student from the Department of OT each year for demonstrating spirit through leadership and academic excellence, and bestows on them the honor of carrying the department's banner in the School Graduation Celebration at Radio City Music Hall.

During her time at NYU OT, Laboni has been an exceptional leader. She served as the Vice President of Phi Theta Epsilon, the National Honor Society for Occupational Therapy Students, collaborating with fellow officers in advancing PTE’s mission to promote OT research, leadership, and scholarship. Laboni has also been widely recognized as an unofficial peer mentor, always helping her classmates to study for exams, staying late in the library to work through difficult topics, and being a person they could count on for encouragement and support. For this, she was selected by her cohort to be a featured speaker at the annual White Coat Ceremony, a 200+ person event celebrating the end of her cohort's academic coursework.

Lily Mynott was selected as the recipient of the 2025 Samuel Eshborn Service Award! This award is given to one graduate student from the Department of OT each year in recognition of extraordinary service.

During her time at NYU OT, Lily has gone above and beyond to serve the department in her roles as the Student OT Association Co-President and Graduate Student ambassador. In these capacities, Lily led the planning and coordination of the annual White Coat Ceremony, a 200+ person event celebrating the end of her cohort's academic coursework. She was also active in supporting the admissions team to recruit new students, led a buddy program to encourage collaboration and support among the NYU OT student cohorts, and managed her cohort's Facebook page.