Sharon A. Cermak, Ed.D, OTR/L, FAOTA

Sharon Cermak is Professor at the Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the Ostrow School of Dentistry, University of Southern California (USC) and Professor of Pediatrics at the USC Keck School of Medicine. She is an internationally renowned scholar, researcher, and clinician with more than 200 publications.   She is a charter member of the AOTF Academy of Research and, in 2018, she was voted as one of the 100 most influential occupational therapists in the US.  Her research focuses on autism spectrum disorder (ASD), dyspraxia/Developmental Coordination Disorder and sensory processing in different populations.  Dr. Cermak is especially interested in the daily activities of families and children.She has completed studies of food selectivity and mealtime behaviors, oral care in children with ASD, and the relationship of physical activity, participation, and obesity in children with motor coordination disorders.  Dr. Cermak recently completed a 3.7 million dollar randomized controlled trial funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to examine the benefits of adapting the sensory environment at the dentist to enhance oral care for children with ASD. She was a Co-investigator on NIH grants directed by Dr. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh to examine the neurobiological basis of social and motor deficits in ASD and dyspraxia.