Dr. Roseann Schaaf is professor and chair in the Department of Occupational Therapy at Thomas Jefferson University, Jefferson College of Health Professions and Faculty at the Farber Institute for Neuroscience at Jefferson. Dr. Schaaf is a translational scientist who has devoted her career to the study of children with autism and other developmental disorders, in particular how processing and integrating sensory information impacts participation in daily occupations. Building on her training as a behavioral neuroscientist, Dr. Schaaf's psychophysiological laboratory was funded by NIH and provided insight into the neurological mechanisms of sensory difficulties in children with autism.

She has received over 35 funded grants totaling $8 million dollars including a recent $4.1 million dollar grant from the NIH to conduct a comparative effectiveness study of occupational therapy using sensory integration. This grant is in collaboration with her colleagues at Einstein Medical College and Queens University and includes a multisensory integration biomarker as an objective outcome measure of neuroplasticity. Roseann has over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles and abstracts, is the author of five books and 13 book chapters and has presented over 150 papers and presentations spanning national and international venues. She is a 2008 recipient of the A. Jean Ayres Research Award and a 1996 recipient of the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. Dr. Schaaf became an associate editor of OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health in 2017.

Q AND A

Identify three words that others have used to describe you.
Energetic, persistent, optimistic.

How do you hope to make a difference in the world through research?
My work has focused on helping children with autism spectrum disorders and their families participate fully in daily life. The data shows us that one factor limiting full participation in school, community, work and leisure activities for children with autism and their family members is difficulty processing and integrating sensation. Hence, our team studies the neural mechanisms of sensory integration (to gain insight into how better to target our interventions) and the effectiveness of occupational therapy using sensory integration to facilitate functional skills and participation. Through our research we hope to facilitate participation for these children and their families.

What is one piece of advice you have for individuals considering a career in science and research?
Love what you do, surround yourself with competent, positive people, and find a mentor! I guess that is 3 pieces of advice - all equally important.

Beside your own areas of inquiry, what is one research priority that you believe is important for the future of occupational science and occupational therapy?
I believe we must be systematic about implementing and evaluating occupational therapy interventions, measuring outcomes and publishing our work in inter-professional venues. Intervention research (from mechanism to community impact) is important and a priority for occupational science and occupational therapy!

Describe the most important role that mentors played in your professional journey.
I have had many mentors throughout my professional journey as an occupational therapist, educator and now an occupational therapy researcher who kept me focused and helped me to re-focus when things were challenging. The most important role my mentors played is supporting me in so many ways - intellectually, emotionally, and professionally. This kept me going.

Identify a favorite occupation that renews you outside of your work.
I love the outdoors - nature keeps me centered so I like to hike, bike, walk, cross country ski and explore. Currently I am learning to mountain bike and jump over tree roots as I roll through the woods -- yikes!

What has been the most surprising or rewarding aspects of a career in science and research?
Most surprising for me has been the incredible occupational therapists I have had the opportunity to collaborate with in research. They are so committed and passionate and always go above and beyond for the greater good. They are committed to occupational therapy and excited to collaborate in research.

REFERENCES

Schaaf, R.C., Benevides, T., Mailloux, Z., Leiby, B., Kelly, D., Faller, P., Hunt, J., Freeman, R., Sandecki, J., vanHooydonk, E., (2014). An intervention for sensory difficulties in children with Autism: A Randomized Trial. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44 (7), 1493-1506. DOI 10.1007/s10803-013-1983-8. PNID: 24214165

Schaaf, R. C., Burke, J.P., Cohn, E., May-Benson, T.A., Schoen, S.A., Smith Roley, S., Lane, S.J., Parham, L.D., Mailloux, Z. The Issue Is: The State of Measurement in Sensory Integration. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68, e149-e153. Doi:10.5014/ajot.2014.012526

Schaaf, R. C. & Lane, A. (2015). Toward a best-practice protocol for assessment of sensory features in ASD. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 45(5) 1380-1395 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-014-2299-z

Dr. Rogers is Professor Emeritus, Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Her research interests include functional assessment, the relationship between pathology, impairment, and disability (activity limitations and participation restrictions) in adults and older adults; and enabling dementia care.  (Retrieved on September 13, 2015 from https://www.shrs.pitt.edu/jcr/.)

In 1982, the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) awarded Dr. Rogers the Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship, its highest academic award and in 1990 AOTA’s Award of Merit.  From 2007 – 2010, Dr. Rogers chaired the newly created AOTA/AOTF Research Advisory Panel.  AOTA and AOTF recognized Dr. Rogers’ longstanding contributions to practice and research with the AOTA/AOTF Presidents' Commendation in Honor of Wilma L. West Award in 2010. Dr. Rogers was named one of the 100 People Who Influenced Occupational Therapy by AOTA.

REFERENCES

Rogers, JC. (1983). Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship, 1983: Clinical reasoning: The ethics, science, and art. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 37, 601-616.

Chisholm, D, Toto, P, Raina, K, Holm, M & Rogers, J.  (2014). Evaluating capacity to live independently and safely in the community: Performance Assessment of Self-care Skills.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 77, 59-63.

Leibold, ML, Holm, MB, Raina, KD, Reynolds, CF 3rd & Rogers, JC.  (2014). Activities and adaptation in late-life depression: a qualitative study. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68, 570-577.

Rodakowsk, J, Skidmore, ER, Rogers, JC & Schulz, R.  (2013). Does social support impact depression in caregivers of adults ageing with spinal cord injuries? Clinical Rehabilitation, 27, 565-575.

Dr. Fisher is Professor, Division of Occupational Therapy, Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Umeå University, Sweden.  "The focus of her research has been on the development of occupation-centered tools that support the implementation of occupation-based and/or occupation-focused occupational therapy services. Among them are (a) the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS) that is used to evaluate a person's quality of ADL task performance; (b) the School Version of the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (School AMPS), the only existing observational assessment of a student's ability to perform schoolwork tasks that have been assigned by the teacher and performed within the student's natural classroom milieu; and (c) the Evaluation of Social Interaction that is used to evaluate the quality of social interactions of persons when they are engaging in natural social exchanges with typical partners. She has also developed the Occupational Therapy Intervention Process Model, a professional reasoning model that enables occupational therapists to implement occupation- and client-centered services to their clients." (Retrieved on April 26, 2015 from http://www.nmota.org/newsletter/2013_newsletter.pdf.)

Dr. Fisher was awarded the AOTF A. Jean Ayres Award in 1991. In 1997, Dr. Fisher was the recipient of the AOTA Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship. She is currently living in Fort Collins, Colorado after living 10 years in Sweden, and continues to work part time as a professor for Umeå University. (Retrieved on April 26, 2015 from http://www.ot.chhs.colostate.edu/faculty-staff/anne_fisher.aspx.) She was named one of the 100 Influential People in occupational therapy by AOTA.

Selected References

Fisher, AG. (1998). Uniting practice and theory in an occupational framework - 1998 Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecture. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 52, 509-521.  

Gantschnig BE, Fisher AG, Page J, Meichtry A, Nilsson I. (2015). Differences in activities of daily living (ADL) abilities of children across world regions: a validity study of the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills. Child Care Health and Development, 41, 230-238.

Gantschnig, BE, Page, J, Nisson, I, & Fisher, AG. (2013). Detecting differences in activities of daily living between children with and without mild disabilities. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 67. 319-327.  

Zingmark, M, Fisher AG, Rocklöv, J, Nilsson I. (2014). Occupation-focused interventions for well older people: an exploratory randomized controlled trial. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 21, 447-457. 

d. 2017

Dr. Rodger was Professor, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and Director of Research and Education at Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism Spectrum Disorders (Autism CRC).

Her research interests were primarily in the areas of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), top down interventions, Cognitive Orientation for daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), early intervention, family centred practice and parent education.(http://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/133)

Dr. Rodger was the 2011 recipient of the Sylvia Docker Lecture, established in 1964 by Occupational Therapy Australia, to honor Miss Sylvia Docker who established the first training school for Occupational Therapists in Sydney in 1941. The purpose of the lecture is to encourage occupational therapists in their professional careers and to honor those who have outstanding contributions to occupational therapy. (Retrieved on September 20, 2015 from http://www.otaus.com.au/about/association-awards/award-winners.)  

Dr. Rodger received Australia's Freda Jacob Award in 2014 which acknowledges occupational therapists who contribute significantly to the profession with their vision, advocacy, and innovation.
 

Q AND A

Identify three words that others have used to describe you.
Visionary, persistent and determined, innovative.

How do you hope to make a difference in the world through research?
My research to date has focused on real world issues and real world solutions, such as through leadership in scholarship and capacity building our emerging academic leaders and researching effective mechanisms to address this challenge. My future clinical research will focus on making a difference to the lives of Australians with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) through the establishment of a Cooperative Research Centre (CRC). As CEO I will have the capacity to shape the national research agenda of the CRC over the next 8 years to be coordinated, relevant, end user focused, and embedded into the health, education ,community service sectors. and to ensure that we tackle the real world issues that are important to our end users.

What is one piece of advice you have for individuals considering a career in science and research?
You will be surprised what doors can be opened for you. In my experience by being open to opportunities, there are possibilities to make the most of situations. Mentors have provided me many opportunities and they have been astounding. You don't always know what the outcome will be but sometimes you have trust the journey (not just the destination). While it is good to be strategic and plan your future, there are times where serendipity and opportunities present themselves, so take risks and have a go! If someone opens a door for you and provides you an opportunity, seize it even if you don't know where it might lead you. What happens when you go through the door is up to you!

Beside your own areas of inquiry, what is one research priority that you believe is important for the future of occupational science and occupational therapy?
Establishing how and why occupation makes such a difference in people's lives, how it is health giving and nurturing; how its absence or limitations impacts negatively on health and well-being. I have a sense that many people (outside of OT) are beginning to see that doing, activities and being engaged in life situations are health giving. This is the essence of OT and something we need to research and develop the evidence base for, namely the engagement in purposeful and meaningful occupation. Finding the right tools, methodologies and evaluation strategies remains critical to this agenda. Much has been done but so much more is still needed, so that we can provide solid evidence for the most crucial theoretical underpinnings of our profession.

Describe the most important role that mentors played in your professional journey.
In my professional career I have been fortunate to have had access to and support from different mentors. At different stages of my career, I have needed different mentors - the right person for the right time. But some have hung in with me for a long time! Don't be afraid to ask someone really senior within the profession nationally or internationally for help or advice. My experience is that these people are extremely generous and they are keen to share their tips and mistakes with you and to assist with the development of the next generation of researchers. No one has ever turned a call for help down in my experience, so be brave and ask!

Identify a favorite occupation that renews you outside of your work.
Recently my husband and I have become dog owners thanks to our son who bought a Border Collie puppy two years ago. She has introduced us to dog parks, off-leash areas and the joys of talking to other dog owners as we walk. People stop and talk to you when you have a dog! It has been life changing! Dogs always love to see you no matter how bad your day has been, they just love to see you when you get home!

What has been the most surprising or rewarding aspects of a career in science and research?
Probably what I have learned from research participants. Any time you think you have it together as a researcher, your participants have another view, that needs to be heard, considered, and often leads to new research directions that we would never have followed had we not listened to what is important to them and what their experiences are. This has often been the most humbling and inspiring of experiences. As researchers it is a privilege that participants trust us enough to engage in our research. We owe them a debt of gratitude and we owe them the respect to listen and learn. Their expertise in their lived experience when we really listen, makes our own pale into insignificance.

REFERENCES

Rodger, S. (2012). Leadership through an occupational lens: Celebrating our territory. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 59, 172-179.

Chien, CW, Rodger, S & Copley, J.  (2015). Development and psychometric evaluation of a new measure for children's participation in hand-use life situations. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 96, 1045-1055.

Kennedy-Behr, A, Rodger, S & Mickan, S.  (2013). A comparison of the play skills of preschool children with and without developmental coordination disorder. OTJR: Occupation, participation and Health, 33, 198-208.  

Rodger, S, Coleman, A, Caine, AM, Chien, CW, Copley, J, Turpin, M & Brown, T.  (2014). Examining the inter-rater and test-retest reliability of the Student Practice Evaluation Form-Revised (SPEF-R) for occupational therapy students.  Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 61, 353-363.

More references.

1916-2012

Dr. Reilly was among the first three individuals inducted into the AOTF Academy of Research in 1983.  The other two were A. Jean Ayres, PhD, OTR, FAOTA and Elizabeth J. Yerxa, EdD, OTR/L, FAOTA, her California colleagues.  Dr. Reilly was on the faculty of the Occupational Therapy Department of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles California.  "In the 1960's, [she] redesigned the USC's master's program in occupational therapy around core theoretical and philosophical knowledge rather than merely technical skills," (Clark, 2012, p. 16).  She retired from USC in 1978 and was named Emeritus Professor.  

Many people are familiar with this quote from Dr. Reilly's 1962 Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecture:

• Man through the use of his hands as they are energized by mind and will, can influence the state of his own health. (Reilly, 1962, p. 2).

Florence Clark, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA wrote:

• The quote encapsulates what Dr. Reilly became internationally renowned for in the 1960's and 1970"s: developing a frame of reference for occupational behavior that described the biopsychosocial nature of man through the occupations of work, play, and self-care. (Clark, 2012, p. 16).

Linda Florey, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA wrote:

• Dr. Reilly is responsible for the rich resources occupational therapy now possesses in the areas of play, occupation, work, and the work-play continuum otherwise known as "occupational behavior". She did not do all of the work herself but skillfully directed and influenced a cadre of over 90 occupational therapy students pursuing graduate degrees at the University of Southern California. These students moved around the country and seeded practice, education, and organizational leadership in their areas. (Florey, 2012).

Dr. Reilly read in many disciplines and some books from her remaining library are part of the "Mary Reilly Collection" in the Wilma L. West Library.

REFERENCES

Clark, F.  (2012 Spring). Remembering Mary Reilly: an iconoclast, visionary and friend.  USC Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy Newsletter, 14-16.

Florey, L.  (2012), In memoriam: Mary Reilly.  California Foundation for Occupational Therapy Yearly Newsletter.     

Reilly, M.  (1962). Occupational therapy can be one of the greatest ideas of 20th century medicine.  1961 Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecture. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 16, 1-9.

Reilly, M.  (1969). The Educational Process. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 23, 299-307.

Reilly, M (Ed.). (1974). Play as exploratory learning: Studies of curiosity behavior. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.

Reilly, M.  (1977). A response to: Defining Occupational Therapy: The meaning of therapy and the virtues of occupation. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 31, 673-674.