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The Foundation’s Board comprises a maximum of seven members, elected to serve terms of four years, with the option of extending their tenure to a maximum of six years. The collaboration of CO-OPTED members with ROTOS is crucial to leveraging specialized expertise. These individuals are chosen by the Board based on their demonstrated knowledge and experience levels.

‘ROTOS was not built in a day.’ It was the hands and hard work of several people who built, shaped and grew the ROTOS Foundation.

CHAIR

Mirian Santamaría Peláez

Mirian Santamaría Peláez is a permanent lecturer in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Burgos (Spain), where she teaches undergraduate and master’s degree occupational therapy students, as well as supervising master’s and doctoral students. She also teaches occupational training and online training for health professionals. Her research is multidisciplinary in nature and focuses on health conditions and how they affect people’s lives. Currently, Mirian does research in Rehabilitation Medicine, Neurology and Geriatrics. Throughout her career she has worked as a OT especially in the field of geriatrics and physical rehabilitation; she has also been a director of nursing homes for the elderly for more than 10 years. She is currently the Coordinator of the Committee of Experts for the evaluation of the Accreditation / Reaccreditation of Educational Programmes, in the Spanish territory, of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists ( WFOT) within the General Council of Occupational Therapists’ Associations of Spain (CGCTO). https://investigacion.ubu.es/investigadores/37011/detalle

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Raised $4,407 Goal $10,000

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Our Volunteers

CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS

CHAIR

Mirian Santamaría Peláez is a permanent lecturer in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Burgos (Spain), where she teaches undergraduate and master’s degree occupational therapy students, as well as supervising master’s and doctoral students. She also teaches occupational training and online training for health professionals. Her research is multidisciplinary in nature and focuses on health conditions and how they affect people’s lives. Currently, Mirian does research in Rehabilitation Medicine, Neurology and Geriatrics. Throughout her career she has worked as a OT especially in the field of geriatrics and physical rehabilitation; she has also been a director of nursing homes for the elderly for more than 10 years. She is currently the Coordinator of the Committee of Experts for the evaluation of the Accreditation / Reaccreditation of Educational Programmes, in the Spanish territory, of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists ( WFOT) within the General Council of Occupational Therapists’ Associations of Spain (CGCTO).
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VICE-CHAIR

Dr. Margo J. van Hartingsveldt is Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy at the Faculty of Health at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam and is affiliated with the BSc OT and the European MSc in OT. Margo graduated from the Bachelor OT in 1983 and holds a Master of Science in Allied Healthcare as well as a PhD. During her career she has been committed to enhance the field of OT and OS by bridging the gap between research, education, and its practical application. She contributed to the national development of OT in the Netherlands and is the first author of the Dutch OT profile and is co-editor of the last three editions of the Dutch OT textbook. Hence, she has contributed the research field with more than 30 International peer-reviewed publications, more than 30 conferences/ seminares during the past 5 years and collaborating in 6 books for Occupational therapists. Her professorship is about Participation and Environment.

Communications Lead

Mss. Sandra Sánchez Viramalay is an Occupational Therapist graduated in 2018 from ‘Universidad Complutense de Madrid’ (Spain). Her experience as former treasure of the ‘Asociación de Alumnas de Terapia Ocupacional’ (AATO) in her University and as an Occupational therapist’s content creator on social media (@elretodelato) leaded her to join the ROTOS Foundation in June 2023. Mss Sánchez Viramalay is currently studying the Master in Research with a Major in Occupational Therapy from Jönköping University to further develop her career as an OT.

Treasurer

Dr. Marieke Rothuizen-Lindenschot is Head of the OT-Department at the Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen (the Netherlands). In 2009 she finished the European Master of Science in Occupational Therapy in where she became intestested in paediatric occupational therapy, chronic fatigue and applied cognition. Her career developement has been as practitioner and researcher in rehabilitation. She started in 2013 as lecturer and posteriory, she became head of the Bachelor of Science in OT at the HAN University of Applied Sciences. In 2022 she finished her PhD titled ‘Measuring the quality of meaningful activities in children with mitochondrial disorder’. She is an entrepreneur and organizes courses in the PRPP-System. Also, she is currently involved in OT-management, OT-practice and OT-research. The research focuses on outcome measures and personalized intervention methods in pediatric health care science and on research involving the Perceive, Recall, Plan and Perform System.

Lead of Friend of ROTOS

Annick Van Gils is a is a senior researcher and lecturer at the Department of Health & Sciences, AP University of Applied Sciences, where she teaches in the bachelor program of occupational therapy. She is also lecturer at the Master of Science in occupational therapy at the KU Leuven – University of Leuven and affiliated as researcher within the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences – Research Group for Neurorehabilitation. Alongside her research, Annick has extensive clinical expertise in neurological rehabilitation for both adults and children. In 2015, she transitioned from her clinical role at the University Hospitals Leuven to focus on research and education. Annick’s research focuses on life after stroke, the development of assessments, and rehabilitation interventions. She holds a PhD from KU Leuven and is currently involved in various research projects, including “Health Promotion via Social Media (SHARE)” and the Erasmus+ funded “Simulation-Based Learning in Occupational Therapy (SIMBA).”

Secretary

Dr Michelle Perryman-Fox is dedicated to international collaboration and networking to promote the dissemination of occupational therapy and occupational science knowledge and practice. She is a lecturer and researcher at Queen Margaret University, Scotland and an Honorary Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA. With over a decade of experience in occupational therapy, Michelle has worked internationally as a practitioner, lecturer, and researcher. Her PhD research, which explored occupational therapists’ negotiations, grounded the concept of occupational agency (Perryman-Fox, 2021). Her research continues to focus on understanding the “occupation” of the occupational therapist, promoting therapist well-being, and facilitating client voices to be heard within occupational therapy practice.

Research Interest Groups(RIGSs) lead

Dr. Farzaneh Yazdani has been an academic, practitioner, and researcher for over 30 years. Her extensive career includes leadership roles such as Head of Children and Adult Occupational Therapy (OT) Services, Head of the University OT Department, and Programme Leader. Her research focuses on the fundamental concepts of Occupational Therapy and, more recently, the sense of belonging among diverse populations, including refugees and immigrants. Her work has earned multiple awards, including Best Speaker, Distinguished Researcher, and formal recognition from the World Health Organization (WHO) for founding the first Public Wellbeing Centre integrating Occupational Therapy with counselling philosophies and theories in 1998 in Iran. Dr. Farzaneh Yazdani led the establishment of the first Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy programme in Arabic-speaking countries in the Middle East, based in Jordan in 2000 and she is the originator of the Model of Occupational Wholeness. Dr. Farzaneh Yazdani has published over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, two books in Persian, one in English, and several book chapters.

CO-OPTED MEMBERS OF ROTOS.

CCUPATIONAL SCIENCE EUROPE LIASON

María Alonso-Ferreira has been an elected member of the Occupational Science Europe Board since 2021 but has been contributing to the network since 2017 as a member of the Social Media Committee. From the beginning of her career she had an interest in subjects relating to social and occupational justice, vulnerable populations, gender studies, migrations and social policies. In the present time, she is working as an occupational therapist with asylum seekers and refugees within the Spanish national International Protection system.
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LEAD FOR THE COST-GRANT APPLICATION

Dr Sinéad Hynes.

Research in Occupational Therapy and Occupational Science in Europe.

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