- Denise
- Chisholm
- PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA
- Vice Chair for the Department, Director of the Doctor of Occupational Therapy Program and Professor
Contact
375 Bridgeside Point I 100 Technology Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Biography
Denise Chisolm loves being an occupational therapist! She loves that occupational therapists help people engage in their meaningful everyday activities. And for her, engagement in teaching and professional activities have been her everyday activities and they are what has kept her jazzed throughout her career. Chisolm’s clinical expertise is in psychosocial rehabilitation of pediatric to adult populations and occupation-based practice. She is a co-author of the Performance Assessment of Self-care Skills (PASS) and has authored/co-authored chapters in several occupational therapy textbooks, including Willard & Spackman’s Occupational Therapy. She is passionate about professional engagement and has been honored to serve in a variety of leadership roles at both the state (Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association) and national (American Occupational Therapy Association) levels. She loves Pitt and being a member of the Pitt OT family! Denise enjoys sharing her passions with students, encouraging their professional development, staying connected with them as alumni and seeing where their career path takes them.
Education
- PhD, University of Pittsburgh,
- MS, University of Pittsburgh
Awards
- Dean’s Distinguished Teaching Award, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh
- Roster of Fellows, American Occupational Therapy Association
- Dr. Stephen L. Heater Award of Outstanding Achievement, Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association
Publications
- Chisholm, D. & Schell, B. (2024). Overview of occupational therapy process and outcomes. In G. Gillen & C. Brown (Eds.), Willard and Spackman’s occupational therapy (14th ed., pp. 282-298). Wolters Kluwer.
- Chisholm, D. (2020). Practical aspects of the evaluation process. In P. Kramer & N. Grampurohit (Eds.), Hinojosa and Kramer’s Evaluation in Occupational Therapy: Obtaining and Interpreting Data (5th ed.). Bethesda, MD: AOTA Press.
- Rogers, J.C., Holm, M.B., & Chisholm, D. (2016). Performance Assessment of Self-care Skills – Version 4.1. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
