Faculty Highlights

2021-2022

Nancy Baker has been a core member of the committee charged with developing the recently released 2022 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Guideline for Exercise, Rehabilitation, Diet, and Additional Integrative Interventions for Rheumatoid Arthritis. This guideline is the first in ACR history to provide recommendations for non-pharmacological treatments for rheumatoid arthritis. Occupational therapy and interventions routinely provided by occupational therapists is a cornerstone of many of the rehabilitation recommendations. Dr Baker recently presented the results of these guidelines along with her fellow Core Team Members at the National Conference ACR Convergence in Philadelphia. View the summary. 

Congratulations to Nancy Baker on receiving a 2022 AOTF Meritorious Service Award. Nancy Baker has served on the AOTF Board of Trustees since 2018 and was elected Secretary in 2020. While on the Board, Dr. Baker served on the Executive Committee and Investment Committee, all while chairing the Governance Committee. She has given generously of her time and other personal resources to advance the mission of the Foundation. Dr. Baker also served on the Scholarship Selection Committee, where she devoted hundreds of hours reviewing applications and recommending candidates to receive scholarships through AOTF and its scholarship program partners. 

Keren Ladin is featured in the Podcast titled, A Health Podyssey and discussed "Why Medicare's Advance Care Planning Payment Is a Work in Progress."

Keren Ladin recent publication has been released: Keren Ladin, Olivia C. Bronzi, Priscilla K. Gazarian, Julia M. Perugini, Thalia Porteny, Amanda J. Reich, Phillip E. Rodgers, Stephen Perez, and Joel S. Weissman (2022) Understanding The Use Of Medicare Procedure Codes For Advance Care Planning: A National Qualitative Study. Health Affairs  Vol. 41, No. 1. 

Keren Ladin was inducted into the American Journal of Kidney Diseases’ Reviewer Hall of Fame. She said that “It’s a nice acknowledgement because many of us conduct peer reviews purely as part of the scientific enterprise- these reviews take a lot of time and are voluntary and unpaid. It’s kind of a pay-it-forward type of thing- and writing constructive and kind reviews is often thankless work- but vital for the sustainability and trust in scientific research. Hoping that this encourages everyone- this work is important and appreciated! Thanks to each of you for all the reviews that you do- I hope more journals start this trend of acknowledging reviewers!”

Beth Marfeo was nominated by AOTA to represent the OT profession on the CMS Technical Expert Panel (TEP) for the Refinement of Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH), Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF), Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF)/Nursing Facility (NF), and Home Health (HH) Function Measures. Beth’s nomination was approved by the CMS TEP panel committee and she will serve on this panel in July. As a member of the TEP she will be providing guidance to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) related to  the development of post-acute care (PAC) quality measures related to function.

Beth Marfeo had a recent manuscript accepted and is ‘in press’ at the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation journal. Marfeo, E., Ni, P., Wang, C., Weiss, D., & Cheville, A. L. (2021). Identifying Clinically Relevant Functional Strata to Direct Mobility Preservation among Patients Hospitalized with Medical Conditions. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Karen Ladin was featured in National Kidney Foundation's press release regarding her collaboration and recent manuscript.

Linda Tickle-Degnen, Karen Ladin and Megan Gately were recently published in : JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies; Citation: Gately, M.E., Tickle-Degnen, L., Voydetich, D., Ward, N., Ladin, K., & Moo, L. (2021). Video Telehealth Occupational Therapy Services for Older Veterans: National Survey Study. JMIR Rehabil Assist Technol, 8(2):e24299. DOI: 10.2196/24299.

Gary Bedell, along with international colleagues, just published an early on-line version. D. Anaby, M. Khetani, B. Piskur, M. van der Holst, G. Bedell, F. Schakel, A. de Kloet, R. Simeonsson & C. Imms (2021): Towards a paradigm shift in pediatric rehabilitation: Accelerating the uptake of evidence on participation into routine clinical practice, Disability and Rehabilitation, DOI: 10.1080/09638288.2021.1903102. 

Nancy Baker presented at AOTA: Driscoll M, Baird J, Baker NA. Virtual Reality: Intervention for Chronic Pain Management. Short Course. Inspire American Occupational Therapy Association Annual Conference, April 6, 2021.

Gary Bedell has a new publication. Allonsius, F.; de Kloet, A.; Bedell, G.; van Markus-Doornbosch, F.; Rosema, S.; Meesters, J.; Vliet Vlieland, T.; van der Holst, M. Participation Restrictions among Children and Young Adults with Acquired Brain Injury in a Pediatric Outpatient Rehabilitation Cohort: The Patients’ and Parents’ Perspective. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 1625. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18041625.

The Faculty Research Awards Committee awarded Jasmine Mote funding for her project, “Skip the Small Talk: Assessing a community-based virtual event to improve social connection and reduce loneliness during a global pandemic.”

Jasmine Mote's Faculty Research Fund (FRF) application titled “Cardiovascular regulation through social contact: Examining the impact of loneliness on heart rate variability in schizophrenia.” was funded by the Faculty Research Awards Committee!

Congratulations to Professor Emerita Linda-Tickle Degnen for her recently published research database for use by qualified researchers: The de-identified data collection for the quantitative data of a mixed-method longitudinal study of social living with Parkinson’s disease was funded by National Institutes of Nursing Research (NIH, NR01352201, PI: Tickle-Degnen). The data were deposited at University of Michigan ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research), which was funded by University of Texas Medical Branch Center for Large Data Research & Data Sharing Rehabilitation (CLDR) Pilot Project Program (P2CHD065702). This program is a collaboration of National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research), National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and National institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. The qualitative data for this longitudinal study are being curated for publication at ICPSR in 2021: Tickle-Degnen, Linda. Emergence and Evolution of Social Self-management of Parkinson's Disease, Greater Boston Metropolitan Area, 5 states, 2013-2019. ICPSR37631-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2021-01-25. (Quantitative Database) 

Congratulations to Ryan Whitney and her OTD committee on publication of her OTD Whitney, R. E., Morris, M. L., & Harney, J. (2021). Perspectives on the Professional Communication Profile and Needs of Emerging Occupational Therapists of the Millennial Generation: A Comparison Study. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 9(1), 1-16.

2020 and Earlier

Professor Emerita Linda-Tickle Degnen was recently published in two journals:

1. Tickle-Degnen, L., Stevenson, M. T., Gunnery, S. D., Saint-Hilaire, M., Thomas, C. A., Sprague Martinez, L., & Naumova, E. N. (2020). Profile of social self-management practices in daily life with Parkinson’s disease is associated with symptom severity and health quality of life. Disability and Rehabilitation, 1-13.
2. Wilson, J. R., Tickle-Degnen, L., & Scheutz, M. (2020). Challenges in designing a fully autonomous socially assistive robot for people with Parkinson’s disease. ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction (THRI), 9(3), 1-31.

Congratulations Jasmine Mote on having her paper accepted in the Journal of Psychiatric Research this week! Citation: Fulford, D., Mote, J., Gonzalez, R., Abplanalp, S., Zhang, Y., Luckenbaugh, J., Onella, J.-P., Busso, C., & Gard, D. E. (In press). Smartphone sensing of social interactions in people with and without schizophrenia. Journal of Psychiatric Research. DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/qya7b

Congratulations to Jasmine Mote on her recent publication in JAMA Psychiatry: Now Is the Time to Support Black Individuals in the US Living With Serious Mental Illness—A Call to Action.

Congratulations to the Tufts Team Mary Barnes, Sharan Schwartzberg, Gary Bedell, and Elizabeth Marfeo on their recent publication: The Group-Leader Self-Assessment (GLSA) Tool: Preliminary Study of Reliability and Validity

Gary Bedell just received a two-year Deborah Munroe Noonan Memorial Research Fund grant titled, "Social Participation And Navigation (SPAN): Adaptation, Usability And Implementation For Youth and Transition-age Young Adult Brain Tumor Survivors."  He will be collaborating with the Children's Brain Tumor Foundation on this two year grant project.  The primary purpose of the grant is to initially obtain feedback from young brain tumor survivors to inform adaptations to SPAN, an app-based virtual coaching intervention originally designed for teenagers with traumatic brain injury, and then test its usability and preliminary effects on social participation outcomes.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Keren Ladin on her promotion to Chair of the Ethics Committee for UNOS (United Network on Organ Sharing). The United Network for Organ Sharing is the private, non-profit organization that manages the nation’s organ transplant system under contract with the federal government (HRSA, Dept. of Health and Human Services). Dr. Ladin will be working with the Ethics Committee to advise UNOS and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network on all ethical matters in transplant policy.

Jasmine Mote is an incoming Assistant Professor in Occupational Therapy and Psychology for the fall 2020. She was selected as a Neubauer Faculty Fellow for the upcoming academic year, an endowed fund that assists Tufts in hiring exceptional scholars whose work will elevate the University’s academic stature and reputation. This prestigious award provides resources for salary and start-up packages to promising new faculty members in the humanities and social sciences. A clinical psychologist by training, her research focuses on understanding and addressing the emotional difficulties and social lives of people with serious mental illness. Congratulations, Dr. Mote!

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Beth Marfeo and Lecturer Meredith Grinnell! Both have been accepted as Tisch College Social-Emotional Learning & Civic Engagement (SEL-CE) Faculty Fellows 2020-21 this upcoming year.

Professor and Chair Gary Bedell receives Third Annual Jim Hinojosa Distinguished Alumni Award. 

Professor Sharan Schwartzberg receives New England Occupational Therapy Education Council, Retired Fieldwork Educator Award, June 11, 2019.

Mary Barnes, doctoral experiential coordinator, and Meredith Grinnell, lecturer, present panel at AOTA: Dooley, N., Murphy, L., Grinnell, M., Hanson, D., Briggs, K., Simon, R., Barnes, M. A., & Davis, J. (2019). "Using Video Cases as Simulation to Develop Clinical Reasoning and Prepare Students for Live Client Interactions," AESIS Panel Presentation, AOTA Conference, New Orleans.

Professor and Chair Gary Bedell receives Tufts CTSI grant: Adaptation and Usability of Social Participation and Navigation (SPAN) for Adolescent Speakers with Dysarthria, Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) Pilot Study Award (Grant # NIH913). Co-Principal Investigator. Dr. Kathryn Connaghan, Principal Investigator, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northeastern University (2018-2019).

Associate Professor Nancy Baker and Professor Linda Tickle-Degnen recently published Evidence-based practice: Integrating evidence to inform practice. In Schell, Gillen, Scaffa editors. Willard & Spackman's occupational therapy. 13th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins; 2019. p. 498-512.

Associate Professor Nancy Baker recently published: Chambers A., Robertson M, Baker NA. The effect of sit-stand desks on office worker behavioral and health outcomes: A scoping review. Applied Ergonomics. 2019, 78:37-53. DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2019.01.015 (Impact Factor: 2.435)

Tufts Daily: Senior Lecturer Peggy Morris weighs in on CELT's Fellow Program.

Assistant Professor Keren Ladin was recently featured in Bloomberg Law: Organ Transplant Disability Bias Gets Second Look Under Trump.

Assistant Professor Keren Ladin was recently featured in The New York Times: Dialysis Is a Way of Life for Many Older Patients. Maybe It Shouldn't Be. 

Associate Professor Nancy Baker was recently featured on Tufts Now: Are Standing Desks Healthier? A review study by Nancy Baker, an associate professor in the Tufts Department of Occupational Therapy, in conjunction with colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh, found mixed results from the desks' use.

Assistant Professor Keren Ladin was recently featured in Tufts Now: Restricting Who Gets an Organ Transplant - Current requirement for social support disproportionately affects people of color, low-income, and rural patients.