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Core Research Areas

At USC, we recognize the benefits of building organized critical masses of faculty with overlapping research interests related to targeted growth areas, and in response have formed research cores to promote an interdisciplinary infrastructure that fosters proximity, collaboration, readiness to respond to relevant funding announcements and internal, national and global networks. The USC Chan Division’s four research cores are:

Health Promotion and Prevention

This core was established in 1993 with the implementation of the original USC Well Elderly Study to further research on relationships between daily activity, health, chronic disease management and disability prevention.

• Lifestyle Interventions for Health Promotion and Prevention (Florence Clark)
• Lifestyle Redesign for Chronic Conditions (Elizabeth Pyatak)
• Healthy Aging Research and Technology (Stacey Schepens Niemiec)

Rehabilitation, Health Services, and Brain-Body (ReHaB)

This core, founded in 2004 and reorganized in 2015, focuses on developing evidence that informs and enhances occupational performance and functional independence for individuals with medical conditions or who are differently abled.

• Musculoskeletal Sonography and Occupational Performance (Shawn C. Roll)
• Neural Plasticity and Neurorehabilitation (Sook-Lei Liew)
• Social Cognitive Neuroscience (Lisa Aziz-Zadeh)

Sensory Integration, Engagement, and Family Life for People with Autism and Related Neurodevelopmental Disorders (SIEFL)

The SIEFL core was founded in 2012 to grow a translational science research program targeting individuals with autism and related disorders, their families, and the clinicians who serve them.

• Boundary Crossings (Mary Lawlor)
• Innovations in Neurodevelopmental Sensory Processing Research (insp!re) (Grace Baranek)
• Neural Mechanisms of Sensorimotor Integration (Stefanie Bodison)
• Sensory Adaptations in Dental Environments (Sharon Cermak)

Social, Ethical, Philosophical, Political, and Historical Foundations (SEPPH)

The SEPPH core underscores the Division’s commitment to scholarship that addresses ethics, social values, and meta-theoretical issues related to occupational science. Such work produces disciplined and creative reflections that inform occupational science and articulate implications for society.

• Occupational Reconstruction and Social Transformation (Gelya Frank)

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 master's degree program is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education® (ACOTE). ACOTE c/o Accreditation Department, American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.®, 6116 Executive Boulevard, Suite 200, North Bethesda, MD 20852-4929, (301) 652-6611 x2914, acoteonline.org

Professional program graduates are eligible to apply for certification by National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy, Inc.® (NBCOT), nbcot.org. Program results from the NBCOT can be found online at https://secure.nbcot.org/data/schoolstats.aspx.