Shereen Farber

Dr. Shereen Farber received her BS in Occupational Therapy from Ohio State University in 1967. She began her career in pediatrics at Riley Children’s Hospital at the Indiana University Medical Center. She came there as an OT student affiliate and had the opportunity to work alongside Anita Slominski, MA, OTR, FAOTA, Margaret Rood, MA, PT, OTR, FAOTA and Joy Huss, MS, PT, OTR, FAOTA at the IU Cerebral Palsy (CP) Clinic. Ms. Rood left Indiana University for California where she taught at the University of Southern California for many years and Ms. Huss traveled north, retiring from the Program in Occupational Therapy at the University of Minnesota. 

As an outcome of practicing alongside these established neuroscience leaders and occupational therapy educators, and a desire to provide quality services to the population and their families, Dr. Farber enrolled in a master’s in science in Special Education at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. Here she discovered the neuroscience underpinning for children with CP and other neurological conditions, like intellectual deficits and learning disabilities and learned strategies for instructing these children with special needs. During this time, she also became a mentee of Josephine Moore, PhD, OTR, FAOTA, an anatomist and occupational therapist who retired from the University of South Dakota.

Having this inquisitive mind led her to apply to the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Indiana University’s School of Medicine. She was accepted and designed a plan of study with a focus on neuroanatomy. Following her PhD in Anatomy with a neuroanatomy focus, conferred in 1985, she then was invited and began a three-year post-doctoral training in neurophysiology and neuro-transplantation and biomechanics in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at IU. 

While pursuing her doctorate and post-doctorate as a basic scientist, she taught in the Department of Occupational Therapy and was a graduate teaching assistant for the Departments of Anatomy and Physiology for the basic science and medical students. She retired from Indiana University after 25 years of service as an Associate Professor. However, she did not stop her passion for practice; she began two private practices: Ortho-Neuro Rehabilitation Services and Canine Equine Rehab Services, both based in Indianapolis. 

She taught both occupational therapy and physical therapy students at Indiana University in their required neuroscience course. These students benefited from her neuroscience expertise, research knowledge and gained an understanding of human behavior and neurology. Her PhD Dissertation title was: The Effects of Insulin Treatment on the Morphology of Peripheral Nerves in Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Rats and Their Controls, June 1985). This scientific expertise being shared with occupational and physical therapy students allowed these future practitioners to enter their respective fields with a greater understanding and appreciation of current neuroscience and the influence neuroplasticity plays in the central nervous system.

Dr. Farber became world renowned in the fields of occupational therapy, physical therapy, rehabilitation science and neuroscience, being invited to present throughout the country and abroad. She received many professional honors and awards including being inducted into the Roster of Fellows in 1978 and delivering the 1989 Eleanor Clark Slagle Lecture in Baltimore, MD. Her title was Neuroscience and Occupational Therapy: Vital Connections. Her service to the Indiana OT Association, AOTF and the AOTA was profound.

She had multiple sources of grant funding during her career and became a proprietary researcher for Johnson and Johnson (J & J) Consumer Products Division Worldwide and an advisor to the American Heart Association, Neuro-transplantation in Cerebral Ischemia. 

She has over 30 peer-reviewed publications and three books to her credit, many in high-impact scientific journals. Her most significant contribution through J & J was a pacifier for premature newborns (US patent # 5078733) allowing them to self-calm and regulate their sensorimotor performance.

Dr. Farber retired from practice in 2015. She is married to Mark O. Farber, MD, a semi-retired pulmonologist with Indiana University and Veterans Administration. They have twin daughters, Aimee Farber Bastin (Special Education Teacher) and Alison Farber Kramer (OTR/L, CHT). She and Mark reside in Indianapolis, Indiana. 

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