2025: Shelly J. Lane, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA

Play is a lifelong occupation and key to health and well-being. To understand the “power of play” Lane will consider the constructs of play and playfulness across the lifespan and begin to unravel the neural foundations that support play as a key occupation. 

Shelly J. Lane is a professor and academic program director at Colorado State University (CSU), director of the CSU Sensory Integration, Play and Occupational Therapy Lab, and conjoint professor of occupational therapy at the University of Newcastle, Australia.

Her long research and teaching career has focused on topics linked to neuroscience foundations of childhood occupations and occupational challenges. She has mentored graduate students and colleagues for over 20 years, across five continents.  She has edited, co-authored and contributed to texts addressing sensory integration and processing, neuroscience applications to practice, and pediatric occupational therapy practice.