Dr. Batya Engel-Yeger is an esteemed Israeli occupational therapist, investigator, and educator, currently serving as the Dean of Students at the University of Haifa. With a distinguished career in academia, she previously held the position of chairperson of the Department of Occupational Therapy. Dr. Engel-Yeger is known for her dedication to advancing the field of occupational therapy through rigorous research and mentoring of trainees and young faculty.

Her substantial research contributions focus on sensory processing in various populations, including both children and adults. Dr. Engel-Yeger has an impressive track record of securing funding, having obtained numerous competitive internal and external grants to support her work. With 118 peer-reviewed publications, she has established herself as a leading figure in her field, collaborating with researchers locally and internationally.

Dr. Engel-Yeger’s commitment to research excellence was recognized with the prestigious 2024 A Jean Ayres Award from the AOTF, highlighting her impactful contributions to occupational therapy and the mentorship of future professionals.

Susan Magasi, PhD, FACRM, MS, BScOT, BSc, is an associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy and Disability Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago. Her work addresses two primary areas: improving health and participation equity for disabled individuals, particularly those in under-resourced communities, and understanding the intersection of cancer and disability. 

Dr. Magasi utilizes innovative Community Engaged Research (CEnR) to develop mHealth interventions supporting cancer survivors and individuals with new-onset disabilities.  Her research, funded by NIH and NIDILRR, has resulted in numerous publications and presentations impacting occupational therapy, rehabilitation science, medical and cancer care, and disability policy.

Dr. Magasi also serves in leadership roles at AOTF, including Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council and former Board of Trustee, further demonstrating her commitment to advancing research in the field.

Dr. Mallinson is an esteemed researcher in the field of occupational therapy, known for her innovative contributions to measuring and improving outcomes for individuals with multiple chronic disabilities. She has developed a highly productive research program focused on designing and implementing person-centered measures that address the needs of diverse rehabilitation populations. Her work emphasizes the psychometric assessment and standardization of functional status measures, applying advanced measurement theory to enhance the reliability and validity of these tools across various rehabilitation settings, including inpatient and community environments.

Throughout her career, Dr. Mallinson has investigated critical questions in rehabilitation, such as the impact of standardized measures on therapy outcomes and the relationship between therapy interventions and patient progress. Her pioneering research has led to new methodologies that incorporate interdisciplinary perspectives, significantly advancing the field.

Dr. Pfeiffer is an associate professor in the Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Temple University College of Public Health and the director of the Research, Engagement, and Advocacy for Community Participation and Health (REACH) Lab. Her research focuses on the development of interventions and outcome measures to support engagement in meaningful activities in the community for transitional-age youth and young adults with ASD and/or IDD.

In all aspects of her work in the REACH lab, she is committed to engaging stakeholders/community partners in research planning and decision-making. Dr. Pfeiffer teaches research in the post-professional and entry-level Occupational Therapy Doctorate program and mentors PhD students. She continues her clinical practice in the area of pediatrics.

Natalie Leland is Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Occupational Therapy within the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh.  Her interdisciplinary research program is focused on improving quality of care, optimizing desired patient outcomes, and mitigating health disparities.

Her research portfolio reflects the mutual integration of her health services research, implementation science, gerontology, and occupational training.  Her work is known for quantifying care delivery and patient outcomes, capturing stakeholder perspectives on best practice and interdisciplinary care, responding to evidence needs of providers, and advancing the methodology evidence-base for stakeholder engagement.  Dr. Leland’s research portfolio is recognized both internationally and nationally for championing stakeholder engagement throughout the research process to address meaningful clinical and policy-relevant questions intended to improve the lives of vulnerable older adults in post-acute and long-term care.

Dr. Liew is a tenured associate professor at the University of Southern California (USC) Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy with joint appointments in the USC Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, the USC Department of Neurology within the Keck School of Medicine, and the USC Department of Biomedical Engineering within the Viterbi School of Engineering. Dr. Liew is also the Director of the Neural Plasticity and Neurorehabilitation Laboratory, member of the USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, and a founder and co-director of the USC SensoriMotor Assessment and Rehabilitation Training in Virtual Reality (SMART-VR) Center. She is a registered and licensed occupational therapist specializing in adult neurology and physical disabilities, a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist® (CSCS), a Fellow of the American Heart Association Research Leaders Academy, and a Fellow of ReproNim/INCF Program jointly sponsored by the Center for Reproducible Neuroimaging Computation (ReproNim) and the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF).

Elizabeth Pyatak’s original and impactful research program focuses on the development, implementation, and assessment of innovative occupational therapy interventions that enhance the health, well-being, and quality of life of individuals with chronic conditions such as diabetes, particularly among medically underserved and at-risk populations.  By grounding her pioneering lifestyle interventions on the findings of her qualitative inquiries on the day-to-day issues of underserved populations living with diabetes, Dr. Pyatak has transformed how the field of occupational therapy approaches the management of medically complex chronic conditions by addressing not only the therapeutic needs of clients, but also the broader social contexts that contribute to their conditions.  She currently serves as Principal Investigator on two NIH R01 awards totaling over $6.7 million, has published 39 peer-reviewed articles in high impact journals, and has provided over 70 invited and refereed presentations to international, national, and regional audiences.
 

Professor Unsworth is Discipline Lead of Occupational Therapy at Federation University, and holds adjunct professorial appointments at Monash, and James Cook University in Australia, and Jönköping University in Sweden. Her research is supported by competitive grants from both government agencies and philanthropic organisations and focusses on promoting community transport mobility for people with disabilities including driver assessment and rehabilitation and public transport access. Carolyn’s research informs government fitness-to-drive guidelines and bus access policy. She is also known for her contributions to the fields of health outcome measurement and clinical reasoning. Her assessment tools, the Australian Therapy Outcome Measures (AusTOMs-OT) and Occupational Therapy Driver Off Road Assessment (OT-DORA) are used internationally. Carolyn is a supervisor of higher research degree students (PhD and Masters). She has published widely in leading journals such as the Journal of Transport and Health, Ageing and Society, and the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Timothy Wolf is the Associate Dean for Research, Department Chair, and Professor at the University of Missouri.  The goal of Dr. Wolf’s research is to generate knowledge that will establish the effectiveness of interventions to improve participation in work and community activities after changes in the brain (i.e., neurological injury).  He conducts research with individuals who have functional cognitive deficits after a stroke or who have chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairments.

The two primary objectives of his research laboratory are to:  1) identify and manage cognitive changes (primarily functional cognitive changes) to improve participation after neurological injury; and 2) investigate the efficacy of self-management education and cognitive-strategy training interventions to improve health and participation outcomes after neurological injury.

When people get back to activities that interest and motivate them, their quality of life increases as well; their conditions do not define them as human beings.

Dr. Wolf has collaborated with investigators at University of Missouri, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Toronto, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, University of Washington, St. John’s Rehabilitation Hospital (Toronto), and University of Illinois-Chicago.