Teal W. Benevides, PhD, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA, is a wife, mother, occupational therapist, and researcher. Dr. Benevides is a tenured Associate Professor in the Institute of Public and Preventive Health at Augusta University.

Dr. Benevides is committed to fostering access to services and support for autistic people and others with intellectual and developmental disabilities through community-engaged approaches and partnerships.

Dr. Benevides is a Fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association and serves on autism, suicide prevention, and occupational therapy organizations as a board or committee member to advance scientific knowledge translation and promote community priorities.

Dr. Brent Braveman has practiced as an occupational therapy clinician, educator, researcher, and manager since entering the profession in 1984. He is the Department of Rehabilitation Services Director at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. MD Anderson Cancer Center was recently ranked as the top cancer hospital in the country by US News and World Reports. The Department of Rehabilitation Services employs over 140 occupational and physical therapy practitioners.

His volunteer service in state and national professional association activities included serving two terms on the AOTA Board of Directors as Speaker of the Representative Assembly and Secretary. He was a Board Director for the American Occupational Therapy Association Political Action Committee (AOTPAC). He served as a representative to the National Institutes of Health Working Group on Cancer Rehabilitation, as a Standing Committee Member on the National Quality Forum’s NQF) Cancer Project, and on the NQF’s project on co-designing patient-centered care. Now, he is on the Board of Trustees for the American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF).

Dr. Braveman is a Fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association and a recipient of the AOTA Recognition of Achievement Award for “Exemplary Contributions in Management and Program Development.”

Hazel L. Breland, Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA, distinguished herself as a Fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association (FAOTA, 2016) through her commitment to excellence in OT service and innovations in interprofessional leadership, advocacy, and diversity.

The focus of Dr. Breland’s scholarship during her 16-year academic career included interprofessional education and practice, health disparities, community engagement, health promotion, and secondary prevention for persons aging with chronic conditions and underserved populations. Further, she dedicates her time to professional service that prioritizes health equity, mentoring diverse leaders, and addressing societal needs to positively impact and promote independence, equity, justice, and wellness for unrepresented and underserved groups.

Dr. Breland’s professional engagement and service include membership in the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA; 1998 – present), the Association of Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR; 2015 – present), the Association of Rheumatology Professions (ARP; 2004 – present; 2019 APR President), the National Black Occupational Therapy Caucus (NBOTC; 1998 – present; 2014-2019 NBOTC Vice President), and the South Carolina Association (SCOTA; 2006 – present).

Megan C. Chang is a Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at San José State University. She holds a Ph.D. in Occupational Science, an M.S. in Applied Biostatistics and Epidemiology, an M.A. in 
Occupational Therapy from the University of Southern California (USC), and a B.S. in Occupational Therapy from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. Her expertise was further enhanced through postdoctoral training at USC and the UCLA Psychophysiology Laboratory within the G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience.

Dr. Chang leads a psychophysiology lab that explores the impact of stress on sensory processing, sleep, and mental health. Her research focuses on understanding sensory processing patterns and evaluating psychosocial and physiological risk factors associated with health behaviors and occupations across diverse populations. She investigates the effects of mindfulness practices on parents of 
children with disabilities, aiming to improve their well-being and coping strategies.

She has contributed to several book chapters, including Pedretti’s Occupational Therapy: Practice Skills for Physical Dysfunction and Case-Smith’s Occupational Therapy for Children and Adolescents. Additionally, she directs a faculty-led program in Taiwan, providing students with immersive experiences in universal healthcare systems and 
enhancing their cultural humility. 

As an army occupational therapist for more than ten years, Major Erik Johnson was instrumental in the care for service members who had sustained devastating physical, cognitive and mental health injuries during combat operations. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his work with brain injuries while deployed to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2011. Leaving the Army after 20 years, Erik now serves as an assistant professor at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas. He also serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Warfighter Engaged. As an occupational therapist, Erik specializes in the use of technology as a therapeutic medium for rehabilitation. He has used video games as a treatment tool for over 14 years and looks for opportunities to advance practice by incorporating them into the mix of traditional approaches. Erik also serves as a consultant to the video game industry as it relates to creating hardware and content that is more accessible for all gamers regardless of physical, mental, or cognitive deficits. He was on the team that worked with Microsoft to develop the Xbox adaptive controller and more recently worked with 343 Industries on their latest instalment of the Halo franchise to ensure proper representation of amputees in the game.

Lisa Juckett, PhD, OTR/L, CHT, is an Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The Ohio State University. She leverages her prior clinical experiences in physical rehabilitation and her doctoral training in implementation science to identify solutions that narrow the “research-to-practice” gap.

Dr. Juckett and her team have developed and tested strategies to expedite the use of innovations (e.g., standardized outcome measures, fall prevention interventions) in real-world practice settings, including stroke rehabilitation units, community-based organizations, and aging service agencies.

Her work has been funded by entities such as the NIH, PCORI, the Administration for Community Living, and the National Science Foundation, and she is actively involved in local and national service initiatives to improve the health outcomes of vulnerable aging communities. 

Dr. Rebecca Martin is the Manager of Clinical Research and Education at the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury (ICSCI) at Kennedy Krieger Institute and an assistant professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Dr. Martin received her Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy from Boston University and her Occupational Therapy Doctorate from Rocky Mountain University of Allied Health Professions.

She joined Kennedy Krieger in 2005 as a Senior Occupational Therapist at the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury. Since 2010, Dr. Martin has been the Manager of Clinical Research and Education and is responsible for program development, staff training, and oversight of the clinical research program. Dr. Martin speaks nationally on topics related to Activity-Based Rehabilitation; she has taught many continuing education courses for rehabilitation professionals in neurological pathology, rehabilitation, and research. She has been the principal investigator and co-investigator for grants from the Paralyzed Veterans of America Education Foundation and the Department of Defense to develop, promote, and disseminate an activity-based restorative therapy training program and curriculum.

Furthermore, Dr. Martin is the founder and primary investigator at Kennedy Krieger’s Neurorehabilitation and Recovery Lab, which focuses on the study of clinically meaningful interventions poised for rapid translation to practice.

Dr. Persch is an Associate Professor in the Occupational Therapy Department at Colorado State University and is Director of the Transition, Employment, and Technology (TET) Lab. The TET Lab is focused on improving the transition to adulthood and employment among those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This work has been funded by NIH, NIDILRR, SSA, and various state and local organizations. He worked with Dr. Dennis Cleary, MS, OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA and partners in special education and vocational rehabilitation to create the Vocational Fit Assessment (VFA), providing an accurate, person-centered measure of work-related adaptive behavior that informs job placement and customized employment decision-making. Launched in 2016, VocFit.com is a knowledge translation tool designed to implement the VFA using a custom-developed web-app. Over 7 years, the registered userbase of VocFit.com has grown to more than 12,000 employment support professionals across North America and Europe. Dr. Persch teaches pediatrics and program development at CSU. He served as Chairperson for the AOTA Special Interest Sections Council, a nationally-elected leadership position, from 2016-2020. He is an Associate Editor for AOTF's publication, OTJR: Occupational Therapy Journal of Research.

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.

Dr. Rachel Proffitt is Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Missouri. Her research focuses on developing, testing, and implementing virtual reality-based interventions for adults and older adults post-stroke. Dr. Proffitt has extensive experience working in an interdisciplinary setting with computer scientists and engineers and was previously the Director of the Game Based Rehab Lab at the Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California (USC). She has completed a T32 postdoctoral fellowship with an emphasis in rehabilitation clinical trials as well as a KL2 Career Development Award. She is currently translating effective interventions, such as LSVT®BIG, for use with the stroke population and pairing telehealth applications for remote delivery in rural areas. Dr. Proffitt is PI of an NIH R01 to evaluate a sensor system in the homes of rural community-dwelling older adults.

Shawn C. Roll, PhD, OTR/L, RMSKS, FAOTA, FAIUM, is a Professor in the Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of Southern California, where he combines his expertise as both an occupational therapist and a registered musculoskeletal sonographer to conduct impactful research. His scholarship aims to understand intersections among the built, social, and organizational environments with health, well-being, and flourishing as we engage in occupations, particularly within increasingly diverse and ever-expanding technology-enabled workplace contexts.

Dr. Roll has received over $7M in grant funding to support his research, including multiple federal grants from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the National Science Foundation; he has more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and has spoken extensively to national and international audiences.

He is a fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association and the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. He has been inducted into the American Occupational Therapy Foundation’s Academy of Research and received the Distinguished Sonographer Award from the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.