Prof. Tami Bar-Shalita next head of Department of Occupational Therapy

Prof. Tami Bar-Shalita will be the next head of the Department of Occupational Therapy at the School of Health Professions, beginning Sept. 1, 2025. 

Dr. Bar-Shalita, PhD, completed her PhD at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and her postdoctoral training at the University of Southern California. She is actively translating the knowledge evolved in her lab to the clinical field. Her research encompasses sensory modulation dysfunction. We all share the same physical environments, yet for some of us these severely attenuate our efficient function and well-being. This condition is termed sensory modulation dysfunction (SMD), characterizing about 10% of the general population. Dr. Bar-Shalita is the first to apply a unique approach by the coupling of sensory and pain domains using neurophysiology and psychophysical methods. Through this approach, Dr. Bar-Shalita found that SMD is linked to disorders such as substance use disorder and chronic pain, which further served developing novel mechanism-based therapeutic modalities, currently under testing.