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Female, she/her/hers, ally, first-generation, Iranian
Occupational roles: mother, sister, daughter, aunt, educator, occupational therapist, friend, carer, and community member
Occupations: shared activities with my family, trail and road running, CrossFit, cooking, time with our family’s dogs, cozy reading, time with friends and family, pursuing a PhD degree
Raheleh graduated in 2006 from UNC Chapel Hill with a master’s in occupational therapy. She worked in adult physical rehabilitation practice settings until 2015 when she began her academic career. Raheleh served as an associate professor at UNC in the Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy until 2024 when she joined the Duke OTD program.
Raheleh’s areas of occupational therapy practice include occupation-centered rehabilitation with adults living with neurological conditions, sexual occupations, toileting functions, and complex rehabilitation technology.
She is also a PhD student in the department of Public Health and Community Health Education at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Her dissertation work centers around disparities in sexual health education practices in settings serving individuals with spinal cord injury and will employ institutional ethnography methodology. Pursuing a doctoral degree in public health is reflective of her experience in and commitment to interprofessional work as she has served extensively on interprofessional education and practice committees and collaborated with interprofessional groups for spinal cord injury practice and research-related scholarship.
Raheleh was the recipient of the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professional's first Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access Committee Award for her work in the critical examination of rehabilitation health education practices.
Raheleh is committed to integrating critical equity and inclusion frameworks and occupation-centered practice across her occupational therapy practice, teaching, and research. She serves as Master Educator on faculty, working to strengthen occupation-centered teaching and learning, refine courses and learning assessment, expand inclusive teaching practices, and create a culture of connection, care, and belonging among faculty, students, and staff.