Meet the experts

Dr. Dunn is Distinguished Professor of the Department of Occupational Therapy Education at the University of Missouri. Internationally known for her studies about sensory processing in everyday life. She also writes and studies about strengths-based, authentic context interventions. She has published more than 120 research articles, book chapters, and books, and has spoken around the world about her work. She is the author/co-author of all of the Sensory Profile measures, which capture people’s responses to sensory events in everyday life; these assessments have been translated into dozens of languages and are used for both professional practice and in research programs. The Sensory Profile 2 has been released with new standardization and validity testing for children from birth to 15 years. She has received the top honors in her field, including the Award of Merit for outstanding overall contributions, and the Eleanor Clark Slagle Lectureship for outstanding academic contributions; she is a member of the Academy of Research for the American Occupational Therapy Foundation and has received the A. Jean Ayres research award. She has also received awards for innovative and engaging teaching, including the Chancellor’s Excellence in Teaching Award, the Kemper Teaching Fellowship and in 2011 she received the Chancellor’s Distinguished Professorship from the University of Kansas. She has written a book for the public about her research entitled, Living Sensationally: Understanding Your Senses, which has been featured in Time magazine, Cosmopolitan magazine, Canadian Public Radio and the London Times newspaper among others. In July 2009, Living Sensationally received the Seal of Excellence from the Children of the New Earth magazine for parents, professionals and other caregivers. Dr. Dunn has most recently become a Certified Positive Psychology Coach, conducts research about the effectiveness of coaching interventions and is Co-Founder of Dunn & Pope Strengths-Based Coaching ( www.dunnandpopecoaching.com ).

Dr. Page’s team develops and tests approaches that increase function and independence after stroke and other neurologic diseases. He has held uninterrupted extramural funding to support his rehabilitative trials for over 15 years, and has produced many "firsts" in neurorehabilitation, developing and showing efficacy of mental practice, portable robotics, modified constraint-induced therapy, functional electrical stimulation, brain stimulation in moderately impaired individuals, and several other innovative strategies in people with acquired brain injuries. This includes 8 NIH grants and 5 grants from the American Heart Association, as well as funding from multiple private organizations and subcontracts. He has also published well over 120 peer-reviewed articles and has served as guest issue editor for 14 special issues of rehabilitative and neurological journals since 2001, including The Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, The American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation. He was named a "fellow" by the Research Consortium of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, the American Heart Association, The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, and The American Occupational Therapy Association, and a standing panel member on NIH's Function, Integration, and Rehabilitation Sciences Panel. Previously, he was named Outstanding Graduate Student at both Ball State University and the University of Tennessee and was named “Outstanding Occupational Therapy Student” in the State of Ohio by the Ohio Occupational Therapy Association. As a result of his high level of research activity, Dr. Page was recently ranked as the field’s most impactful researcher in terms of publication intensity (Y-index) during the period 1991-2014.

Finally, he has mentored well over 60 students, with almost all of them at least publishing a paper and/or presenting the results of their work at a professional meeting. His mentees have won multiple awards for their work, including 4 "Outstanding Poster" Awards in the past 2 years alone at the annual, international, meeting of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, and 4 capstone awards, won by mentees in engineering over the past 4 consecutive years. In 2008 Dr. Page was co-awarded the "Outstanding Mentor" Award from Xavier University.

Pamela Toto, PhD, OTR/L, BCG, FAOTA is an Associate Professor and Program Director for the Doctor of Clinical Science in Occupational Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh. She is Board Certified in Gerontology and a Fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association. Dr. Toto has over 26 years of clinical, teaching and research experience focusing on productive aging for older adults. Dr. Toto’s research focuses on client-centered interventions to promote independence, participation and healthy aging in older adults. She has completed research examining the impact of physical activity on ADL/IADL performance in older adults and research exploring the feasibility of client-centered goal setting with older adults in primary care. Dr. Toto’s most current research explores the impact of behavioral interventions to reduce frailty and frailty-related disability in older adults. Dr. Toto’s service to the profession has included elected leadership positions within the American Occupational Therapy Association including Gerontology Special Interest Section Chairperson, Chairperson of the Special Interest Section Council, and Board of Directors.