Karla Ausderau PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA

Director of Community-Engaged Research and Knowledge Mobilization, and Professor of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

The intellectual thread running through the research of Karla Ausderau PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA focuses on advancing the health, development, and quality of life of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and of the families they come from. Her scholarship is grounded in developmental science, neuroscience, occupational science, and community engagement and knowledge mobilization approaches.

Since 2012, Dr. Ausderau has had academic appointments at the University of Wisconsin – Madison (UW-M), serving as the director of Graduate Studies for Kinesiology since 2023, as well as an appointment to the Wisconsin Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) since 2019. She earned her MA in Occupational Therapy (2000) and Ph.D. in Occupational Science (2009) from the USC Chan division, followed by her postdoctoral training at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill (2010 – 2012). National recognition for her work includes the American Occupational Therapy Foundation Virginia Scardina Award of Excellence (2020) and her induction to the American Occupational Therapy Association Roster of Fellows (2023).

Dr. Ausderau is working on her third PCORI grant,  a $7.3 million project entitled Comparing a Group Psychoeducational Health Intervention to Special Olympics Health Programming on Improving Access to Best Practice Health Care of Adults. This is her fifth extramurally funded study on inclusive, community-embedded interventions. Additionally, she is a multi-principal investigator on a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grant investigating the sensorimotor neurodevelopment impacts of Zika virus prenatal exposure.

As the inaugural Director of Community-Engaged Research (CER) and Knowledge Mobilization (KMb), she is developing a division-wide CER and KMb program, under which she will train and mentor faculty, staff, and students in occupational science and occupational therapy best practices to support an expanding portfolio of local to international community partnerships.

Previous leadership experience includes her roles as director of Graduate Studies for the Kinesiology Department at the UW-M and chair of the American Occupational Therapy Foundation Awards and Recognition Committee. Further, as a dedicated mentor to the next generation of impactful researchers, Dr. Ausderau’s mentees have earned Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowships, NIH F99/K00 awards, and dissertation grants.

Education

Selected Publications

Awards

In Chan News

USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy

1540 Alcazar Street, CHP 133, Los Angeles, CA 90089-9003

ACOTE accreditation | NBCOT certification

The USC entry-level doctorate in occupational therapy (OTD) degree program (cost of attendance) is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education® (ACOTE®) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). The USC entry-level master’s degree program (cost of attendance) is in Accreditation–Inactive status by ACOTE®. View our program’s ACOTE® standards public data. ACOTE® c/o the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.®, 7501 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 510E, Bethesda, MD 20814, (301) 652-AOTA, www.acoteonline.org.

Professional program graduates are eligible to sit for the national certification examination for the occupational therapist administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy, Inc.® (NBCOT®), nbcot.org. Program results from the NBCOT can be found online at www.nbcot.org/Educators-Folder/SchoolPerformance.