Sep. 8, 2025
This is part of a series of Q&As introducing faculty who have joined the College of Health Sciences for the 2025–26 academic year. Meet all of our new faculty members.
Bridget Kraus
Assistant professor, Department of Occupational Therapy
What classes are you teaching this semester?
I teach in the Department of Occupational Therapy! This fall, I am teaching Human Movement and Occupation and Concepts of Neuroscience.
Tell us about yourself. What is your background?
I am an occupational therapist specializing in spinal cord injury and neurorehabilitation. I was the lead SCI therapist at an inpatient rehabilitation hospital for several years before deciding to come back to MU to get my PhD to pursue SCI rehabilitation research because of unanswered questions that I felt impacted clinical care. I always reiterate that I left my full-time clinical role because I loved it so much that I wanted the opportunity to make a broader impact on our patients through innovation and research.
What brought you to Mizzou? To your field?
I am a very proud triple Tiger! I got my bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and PhD all from MU. I never planned it that way — in fact, I was fully committed to another university until I toured MU’s campus and completely changed up my plans! Mizzou and Columbia have truly become home to me and my family, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
I found OT (almost by accident) when I was a teenager. I described my dream job, but I didn’t know that careers existed like it. Thankfully, I was talking to someone who did know and was able to tell me, “You just described occupational therapy.” From there, I set out to become an occupational therapist and have never looked back. I feel so fortunate to have found a career I am passionate about.
What is your favorite thing about your job?
I love the permission and encouragement to be curious. Working within health care, I consider the time and resources this position affords me to be curious, ask questions and try new things within our field to be a luxury. I mean, how cool is that?!
I also really love getting to work with students who are so excited to enter the field of OT. It’s a great reminder of how great our profession is as well as the differences we make in our communities, and it keeps me motivated and excited myself!
What has you excited for this semester?
I am excited to jump back into some science-heavy content in my courses!
What is a fun hobby or activity that you enjoy outside of work?
Outside of work, my husband and I operate a nonprofit, The Beckham Bee Foundation, in honor of our son Beck who passed away from a heart condition in 2024. We support families in NICUs and PICUs facing child loss across the country. It’s never something we imagined for ourselves, but the work and families we get to interact with because of our son are so meaningful to us. We also spend a lot of time updating our (new to us) midcentury home and spending time with our pets!
Share a memorable moment from your time teaching – something funny, touching, or just downright unforgettable!
It’s not teaching-related, but it is MU-related! We had our son, Beck, while I was a postdoctoral fellow in the OT Department last year. We were in the ICU in St. Louis with him, and a lot of my colleagues sent us photos of themselves wearing MU-themed bracelets with Beck’s name on them. Just to let us know they were cheering him, and us, on.
Our nurses caught wind of this, and one night while we were sleeping on the ICU pullout couch, they decorated his entire room MU-style. His door was covered in Black and Gold, Truman, an MU jersey and more. We watched MU games from his hospital room with a handmade MU beanie that a coworker’s wife made him. It was amazing to have our littlest Tiger included in a community that means so much to us — even from afar.
What is your hidden talent?
Throwing pottery on the wheel! If anyone is interested in taking it up, I’d recommend Access Arts here in town.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received, and who gave it to you?
“You can’t save the world in one project.” —Tim Wolf, my boss and mentor
I think he told me this during my first week in the PhD program. I am a big-picture, pie-in-the-sky person by nature, and this is the piece of advice *I* needed to approach a career in science more successfully. To remember that saving the world (or at least my small corner of it) doesn’t happen all at once, but over the course of years and small, consistent actions each day.
