Faculty announcement: Bachelani and Hoyt

Salma Bachelani, OTD, OTR/L, joined the Program in Occupational Therapy faculty on April 1 as an instructor in occupational therapy and pediatrics (PDA). She will teach the Pediatric Evaluation and Intervention, Professional Immersion and Case-Based Learning courses to master’s and doctoral students. Previously, Bachelani taught occupational therapy assistant students at St. Louis Community College and serves on the Advisory Board of Project Downtown St. Louis.

Bachelani earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Missouri State University in 2013 and her doctorate in occupational therapy from Washington University in 2016. Her research interests include examining best practices for therapy service provision in school settings. Bachelani is also interested in researching and developing community-based programs such as youth development workshops and parent education sessions.

Catherine Hoyt, PhD, OTD, OTR/L, was appointed to Program in Occupational Therapy faculty on April 1 as an instructor in occupational therapy, neurology and pediatrics (PDA). She is a research mentor for graduate students in occupational therapy and teaches the pediatric Case-Based Learning courses to master’s and doctoral students.

Hoyt earned her bachelor’s degree in social science from Juanita College in 2007 and her doctorate in occupational therapy from Washington University in 2010.  She earned her PhD in rehabilitation science in 2019 and completed her postdoctoral training in 2021 at Washington University. Hoyt’s research focuses on identifying methods to screen children with sickle cell disease for developmental delays and developing a referral program to early intervention so that more children can be referred to, and take advantage of, beneficial therapeutic interventions during critical years of neural development.