Ivelisse Lazzarini EdD, OTD, OTR/L

Associate Dean and Program Director, Occupational Therapy

Faculty School of Pharmacy & Health Professions Occupational Therapy
ilazzarini@ndm.edu University Academic Building (UAB) 004C
Ivelisse Lazzarini
This profile is currently being updated. Some information may be incomplete.

Biography

Dr. Ivelisse Lazzarini serves as Associate Dean of the School of Pharmacy and Health Professions and Program Director of the Doctor of Occupational Therapy program at Notre Dame of Maryland University. A board-certified and licensed occupational therapist with more than 25 years in clinical practice, higher education, and academic administration, she has founded, written, and successfully accredited occupational therapy programs at the master’s and doctoral levels across six institutions.
Dr. Lazzarini began her career as a clinician specializing in stroke and cognitive rehabilitation at the Salisbury VA Medical Center in North Carolina, where she was named Veterans Administration Educator of the Year. Early in her professional life she trained under Claudia K. Allen the author of the Allen Cognitive Level Screen and spent five years teaching clinicians nationwide to apply cognitive assessment in daily practice, work that grounded her lifelong interest in how the brain organizes information that transform into meaningful occupation.
After completing her doctorate at Creighton University, Dr. Lazzarini held two post-doctoral research fellowships. During the second, at Saint Louis University, she established the first Center for Rehabilitation and Complexity Sciences and served as its director. Her scholarship introduced nonlinear dynamics and complexity science to occupational therapy theory, and her framework of neuro-occupation — the dynamic interplay of intention, perception, and meaning — appeared in the British Journal of Occupational Therapy and in edited volumes from AOTA, F.A. Davis, and Slack. She later served as President of the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and the Life Sciences.
Since arriving at NDMU in 2022, Dr. Lazzarini completed the program self-study, redesigned and remapped the OTD curriculum, secured ACOTE accreditation in 2024, built the program’s capstone research infrastructure, and grew enrollment by 350 percent. She has also served as a consultant for other programmatic accreditations nationwide.
Dr. Lazzarini has been a peer evaluator for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education since 2017 and an evaluator for the American Council on Education. Her teaching spans neuroanatomy with full brain dissection, neurorehabilitation, cognition and cognitive rehabilitation, theory, and research methods. She is committed to educational access and equity, and to preparing occupational therapy practitioners whose reasoning is as rigorous as it is humane. She is currently completing a PhD at Notre Dame of Maryland University.

Education

  • Ph.D. (in progress), Notre Dame of Maryland University, Baltimore, MD
  • Ed.D., Higher Education, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Florham Park, NJ, 2022 — Summa Cum Laude
  • Dissertation: Integrating Sustainable Development in Occupational Therapy Curricula
  • O.T.D., Doctor of Occupational Therapy, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, 2002 — Magna Cum Laude – Capstone/Dissertation: The Nonlinear Dynamics of Intention, Meaning, and Perception
  • Master Hospitality Service, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 2009
  • B.S., Occupational Therapy, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, 1995 — Cum Laude

Certifications & Licensure

  • Licensed Occupational Therapist; Registered Occupational Therapist (OTR/L), NBCOT
  • Allen Cognitive Levels - Certified Expert Instructor
  • Neurofeedback Advanced Practitioner Certificate, Zengar Institute, Victoria, Canada
  • Human Systems Dynamics Master Certificate, HSD Institute, Circle Pines, MN
  • Management Development Program Certificate, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
  • Complex Physical, Biological and Social Systems, New England Complex Systems Institute, Cambridge, MA
  • Aspects of Complexity, Intensive Summer School, University of Bologna, Bertinoro, Italy
  • Lean Six Sigma - Black Belt

Research

Interests

  • Neuro-occupation: the dynamic relationship among intention, perception, and meaning in human occupation
  • Complexity science and nonlinear dynamics applied to cognition, rehabilitation, and professional reasoning
  • Neurorehabilitation, stroke recovery, and cognitive rehabilitation across the lifespan
  • Cognitive assessment and the Allen Cognitive Level framework
  • Occupational therapy curriculum design, competency mapping, and outcomes assessment
  • Integration of sustainable development and planetary health into health professions curricula
  • Access, equity, and inclusive admissions policy in health professions education
  • Qualitative and constructivist grounded theory methodology in health professions research
  • Faculty development and the transition from clinical practice into academia
  • Brain Based Learning and its applications to professional health sciences graduate education.

Publications

  1. Lazzarini, I., & Ciani, G. (2023). Academic Education. In Robin Akelruld (Ed.), Quintessential Occupational Therapy: A Guide to Areas of Practice (Ch.11). Routledge.
  2. Lazzarini, I. (2022). Integrating sustainable development in occupational therapy curricula [Doctoral dissertation, Fairleigh Dickinson University]. PQDT Open.
  3. Lazzarini, I. (2016). Nonlinear reasoning in cognition: Restoring the essence of the occupational therapy process. In M. Cole & J. Creek (Eds.), Global perspectives on professional reasoning (pp. 183–202). Slack Inc.
  4. Champagne, T., Ryan, J. K., Saccomando, H. M., & Lazzarini, I. (2007). A nonlinear dynamics approach to exploring the spiritual dimensions of occupation. Emergence: Complexity and Organization, 50(3), 58–59.
  5. Haltiwanger, E., Lazzarini, I., & Nazeran, H. (2007). Application of complexity theory to neuro-occupation: A case study of alcoholism. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 70(8), 349–357.
  6. Milius, T., Mullendore, C., Lazzarini, I., Goodman, C., Jensen, L., Hattori, O., Lavoot, P. J., Luther-Krug, M., & Padilla, R. (2007). Consideration of mobility. In S. Byers-Cannon, H. Lohman, & R. Padilla (Eds.), Occupational therapy intervention with elders: Strategies for COTAs. Mosby.
  7. Lazzarini, I. (2005). Neuroethics: A new millennium view. In R. Purtilo, G. Jansen, & C. Royeen (Eds.), Educating for moral action: A sourcebook in health and rehabilitation ethics (Ch. 14). F.A. Davis.
  8. Lazzarini, I. (2005). A nonlinear dynamic approach to cognition: A web of ability and disability. In N. Katz (Ed.), Cognition and occupation in rehabilitation (3rd ed., Ch. 11). American Occupational Therapy Association.
  9. Lazzarini, I., & Griffith, Y. (2005). A short biography of the Eleanor Clarke Slagle lecturers, 1955 to 2004. In R. Padilla (Ed.), A professional legacy. AOTA Press.
  10. Lazzarini, I. (2004). Neuro-occupation: The nonlinear dynamics of intention, perception, and meaning. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 67(8), 342–352.
  11. Katagiri, F., Lazzarini, I., Singer, F., & Shen-Orr, S. (2003). Mapping the mind. New England Complex Systems Institute.

Presentations

  • Program Director and Chair, International Nonlinear Sciences Conference (INSC), Crete, 2006
  • President, Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and the Life Sciences, 2006-2008
  • Chair, Education and Membership Committees, Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and the Life Sciences, 2003–2008
  • Invited national and international presentations in Germany, Italy, Canada, Greece, South Korea, Japan, Venezuela, Peru, Panama, and the Dominican Republic
  • Five years of national continuing-education instruction on the Allen Cognitive Level assessment for occupational therapists and allied health practitioners

Professional Affiliations & Memberships

  • American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA)
  • Maryland Occupational Therapy Association
  • Delaware Occupational Therapy Association
  • New Jersey Occupational Therapy Association
  • Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and the Life Sciences (SCTPLS), Past President
  • Human Systems Dynamics Institute
  • New England Complex Systems Institute
  • Hydrocephalus Association.

Awards

  • Ed.D., Summa Cum Laude, Fairleigh Dickinson University, 2022
  • O.T.D., Magna Cum Laude, Creighton University, 2002
  • Health Future Foundation Faculty Development Award, Creighton University, 2007
  • Life-Long Learning Award, Creighton University, 2002
  • Veterans Administration Educator of the Year, Salisbury, North Carolina, 2000
  • Helen Hopkins Award for Excellence in Occupational Therapy, Temple University, 1995
  • Pharmacy and Allied Health Acres of Diamonds Award, Temple University, 1995
  • B.S.O.T., Cum Laude, Temple University, 1995
  • Mary McLeod Bethune School Service Award, Temple University, 1994
  • Veterans Administration Health Professional Scholarship Award, 1993