Heather Johnson, OTD, OTR/L, is the academic fieldwork coordinator and an RMU OTA-MOT Bridge program assistant professor. In her commitment to non-pharmacological interventions, she has trained in several CHAIHs. She has a special interest in addressing health-related quality-of-life issues for persons with autoimmune disorders, dementia, and mental illness. She just completed the RMU Health Practitioner Education Certificate Program. Her current research interests include topics related to higher education (healthcare, clinical education, ipe, hybrid learning), assessments and interventions related to clients with autoimmune or functional cognitive performance difficulties, the arts in medicine, and CHAIHs with occupational therapy. Dr. Johnson earned her BSOT from UNH (Durham), and her PP-MSOT from SJSU with an innovation project of nurse assistant dementia care training. She completed her PP-OTD work through the MGH-IHP with an innovation project of a GVHD intervention toolkit.
Dr. Johnson is a nationally recognized dementia specialist and has presented/created IPE content across the country since 2008 on topics ranging from dementia management, functional cognitive assessments, therapeutic use of exercise for older adults, evidence-based e-stim protocols, sensory impairments across the lifespan, non-pharm interventions, authentic use of AI in student assessment, and the therapeutic benefits of humor.