| RESEARCH SUMMARY
Dr. Shirley K. Behr, formerly from Saint Louis University, has joined the Program to lead the development of our community initiatives as a Senior Scholar in Residence. She will build the community programs which will be developed to meet service, teaching and development goals. She serves on the Management Team and the Faculty Council. Dr. Behr brings a long history of working with community programs and she also brings her scholarship from work in family dynamics and caregiving.
Dr. Behr's teaching responsibilities will include coordinating the neurology course with physical therapy in the fall, as well as leading two problem based learning groups. In the spring she will teach several modules in her area of expertise (ethics, health policy and aging). Her work with families will offer opportunities for graduate students to complete their masters or doctoral projects under her mentorship.
Dr. Behr developed and served as chair of the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at Saint Louis University. Last year she had a sabbatical year as a visiting professor at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago where she worked with the occupational therapy staff to implement the OT Practice Framework. Before coming to SLU Dr. Behr was a Research Scientist at the Schiefelbusch Institute for Lifespan Studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. In this position she directed the Cognitive Adaptations Research Project and served as faculty at the Beach Center on Families and Disability. She held a fellowship at the Bush Center for Policy Studies at the University of North Carolina, and has held many consultation roles: at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Resource Center in Washington, D.C.; also in DC a consultant to the United States Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, Handicapped Children's Early Education Programs and the National Association for Retarded Citizens, Office of Governmental Affairs. Her practice was in pediatrics. She served as an occupational therapist and then executive director of the Children's Development Center in Rockford, Illinois and as co-director of the Growth and Development Clinic at the University of Illinois School of Medicine. She also practiced at the Therapeutic School for Emotionally Disturbed Children; Southwell Institute, Olympia Fields, Illinois; the Good Shepherd Center for Exceptional Children in Park Forest, Illinois and United Cerebral Palsy in Chicago, Illinois.
In her role at SLU she built community initiatives for older adults and is well recognized for her commitment to older adults by many community agencies. She currently serves on the National Stroke Council.
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