Occupational Therapy
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Caitlyn Foy, OTD, MOTR/L is Director of the Occupational Therapy Doctoral Program and Assistant Professor for the Occupational Therapy Masters and Doctoral programs at Salus University. Dr. Foy's clinical background is in Adult Rehabilitation and Adult Acute Care. She also specializes in Adult Mental Health and Maternal Health and Well-being. Dr. Foy earned a Doctorate of Occupational Therapy and has published her research results in the article, "Identifying Barriers and Pathways to Success for New Occupational Therapy Faculty Members: A Pilot Survey" in the journal of Occupational Therapy in Health Care. Dr. Foy has presented nationally on teaching in higher education and maternal health. She is also an active member of the Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association and served on the District V Board for 10 years.
Fern Silverman, EdD, OTR/L is an Associate Professor and director of the Occupational Therapy Masters and Doctoral programs at Salus University, and has an extensive clinical background in pediatrics, with an emphasis on school-based practice. She has been an Occupational Therapy faculty member for 10 years and was instrumental in guiding the Salus MSOT program through the new program accreditation process. Dr. Silverman’s doctoral work focused on service delivery models for children receiving occupational therapy services in schools. Current research interests center around community participation and inclusion for children with disabilities and their families. She currently serves as a consultant to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on accessibility issues. Dr. Silverman has presented nationally and internationally on various aspects of inclusion and pediatric practice, and has published numerous articles and textbook chapters on related topics.
Barbara Schwartz-Bechet, EdD, MS in Ed is a Professor and Interim Dean of Salus University’s College of Education and Rehabilitation. She has been in the field of education and disabilities for over 25 years. She has an EdD in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis from Columbia University. She is a member of Phi Beta Delta, an associate editor of the National Association for Professional Development Schools Journal and an Illinois State Board of Education program reviewer. She is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Association for Behavior Analysis, Council for Exceptional Children, the University Professional & Continuing Education Association (UPCEA), and the American Educational Research Association (AERA). In addition, Dr. Schwartz-Bechet has presented and published extensively in the areas of diversity and disability, virtual supervision and mentoring, and teaching and learning, in both the national and international arenas. She is the instructor for the Teaching in Higher Education course in the OTD program.
Dr. Mitchell Scheiman is a nationally known optometric educator, lecturer, author and private practitioner. He is the author of “Understanding and Managing Visual Deficits: A Guide for Occupational Therapists”, and Low Vision Rehabilitation: A Guide for Occupational Therapists” published by Slack Incorporated. Dr. Scheiman has a long and close relationship with occupational therapists. He works closely with occupational therapists in his practice co-managing patients and has lectured to close to 7,000 occupational therapists in the past 20 years. He has specialized in vision therapy for the past 40 years. Dr. Scheiman is currently Dean of Research at Salus University. He has written three books for optometrists covering the topics of binocular vision and vision therapy, pediatric optometry, and learning related vision problems and he has published over 165 articles in the professional literature. He is a Diplomate in Binocular Vision and Perception and a Fellow in the College of Optometrists in Vision Development.
Ruth S. Farber, MSW, PhD, OTR/L has been studying ways to facilitate participation (a key component of health) for people with chronic conditions or disabilities for over a decade. She has taught Occupational Therapy graduate students for the past 23 years and is currently an Associate Professor at Salus University (and a professor emeritus from Temple University). Her online doctoral teaching was recognized by the National University Technology Network, with the Shirley Davis Award for Excellence in Blended Learning (2010). Her research on women with multiple sclerosis (MS) or disabilities has been published in AJOT and Rehabilitation Psychology among other journals. She has specifically studied health promoting behaviors that are associated with increased health-related quality of life and participation. Her research has been presented nationally and internationally.
Marjorie Scaffa, PhD, MSOTR/L, FAOTA has a Master’s degree in occupational therapy from Virginia Commonwealth University and a PhD in community and public health from the University of Maryland. Dr. Scaffa founded the occupational therapy program at the University of South Alabama in 1993 and has chaired the department for much of the program’s history. In 1999, she received the award of Fellow of the AOTA. She has clinical experience in a variety of settings including inpatient rehabilitation, skilled nursing facilities, home health, hospice, and mental health/substance abuse inpatient and outpatient services. Dr. Scaffa is known nationally and internationally for her many contributions to community-based practice and enhancing the role of OT in health promotion and prevention, and has co-authored the central OT textbook on this topic and the AOTA official document.
Steve Whitaker, PhD, OTR/L, CLVT is a practicing occupational therapist and certified low vision therapist. For over 35 years, Steve has been teaching, doing research and providing clinical services in low vision rehabilitation. Prior to becoming an occupational therapist, Steve was a member of the faculty at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (now Salus University) where he conducted NEI, NASA and NIDRR funded research, and taught in the optometry and vision rehab programs. A research fellow of the Academy of Optometry, Steve’s paper on the Visual Requirements for reading received the Garlen Clay Award for the most influential paper over a 5 year period. He has recently co-authored (with Dr. Mitch Scheiman) An Introduction to Low Vision: A Practical Guide for Occupational Therapists, published by Slack, Inc. He currently is an outpatient occupational therapist at Moss Rehabilitation hospital and Moore Eye Foundation where he treats people with a variety of visual and neurological conditions.
Audrey J. Smith, PhD, CLVT, COMS is a certified low vision therapist and Orientation and Mobility specialist with more than 40 years of experience in teaching, personnel preparation, low vision clinical work and research in the field of Low Vision Rehabilitation (LVR). She has made low vision education and rehabilitation presentations at national and international conferences on blindness and low vision. Dr. Smith has also authored texts on enhancing visual efficiency and written several book chapters and journal articles on the topics of functional vision assessment and training, and visual access for persons with low vision.
Learn more about our Post-Professional Doctorate in Occupational Therapy Program
