Perspectives on Occupational Therapy Education

Steven D. Taff, PhD, OTR/L, FNAP, FAOTA is the Director of the Division of Professional Education and Associate Professor in the Occupational Therapy and Department of Medicine Program, and Director of the Teaching Scholars Program at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He is also co-founder of the Cross-Campus Educational Research Group, a multidisciplinary community of educational scholars and innovators at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Taff served as the Chair of the Commission on Education of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) from 2016 to 2019 and is also a member of the leadership group of the AOTA Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Program. He was a recipient of the Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award in 2017.

Lenin C. Grajo, PhD, EdM, OTR/L is the Director of the Post-Professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy Program and Assistant Professor in the Programs in Occupational Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, NY. Dr. Grajo was elected Chairperson of the Academic Education Special Interest Section (AESIS) of the AOTA and a member of the Commission on Education of AOTA from 2016 to 2019. Through AESIS, he has co-developed mentoring programs for new occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant educators and fieldwork coordinators. He is a multi-awarded educator who has taught in the Philippines and the United States.

Barbara R. Hooper, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA is the occupational therapy doctorate Program Director and Division Chief at Duke University. Dr. Hooper is the director of the Center for Occupational Therapy Education (COTE), an education research and professional development center for occupational therapy educators and programs. Barb has been involved in several national-level occupational therapy education initiatives, including the American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF) Curriculum Mentors project, AOTA Future of Education Task Force, founding committee for the AOTF (now AOTA) Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Program, co-author of the original AOTA Educational Research Agenda, and co-author of the previous AOTA Educational Philosophy Statement. She served as the principal investigator on a national study of occupational therapy education co-sponsored by the Society for the Study of Occupation-USA and the AOTF. She has received teaching awards at the University of New Mexico and Colorado State University.