Simone Gill

Simone V. Gill, PhD, OTR is an Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences and a Graduate Affairs Faculty Fellow for Diversity and Inclusion. She is the inaugural Chair of the Standing for Research Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (STRIDE) Committee for the American Occupational Therapy Foundation. She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees for the American Occupational Therapy Foundation. From 2018-2019, she served as the Interim Director for the PhD Program in Rehabilitation Sciences. In her community, she served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the MetroWest Health Foundation (MWHF) in Framingham, MA for 3 years. She has taught and mentored students at graduate, undergraduate, high school, and early childhood levels.

In her research, Dr. Gill investigates how individuals’ bodies and environmental demands influence walking and motor functioning across the lifespan. She uses a variety of methods to examine how children and adults modify their walking patterns to navigate through the environment. She is particularly interested in understanding how childhood and adult obesity affect the ability to adapt to change.

Dr. Gill directs the Motor Development Laboratory where she investigates how people’s bodies and environmental demands influence walking and motor functioning across the lifespan. Dr. Gill uses a variety of methods to examine how children and adults modify their walking patterns to navigate through the environment: three-dimensional motion capture, computerized video coding, wearable motion sensor technology, portable spatio-temporal gait systems, and digital pressure mats. Her long-term goals are to: 1) develop novel systems approaches to optimize health outcomes in early childhood, 2) design innovative interventions that minimize fall risks associated with childhood and adult obesity, and 3) create new methods to detect fall risks linked with childhood and adult obesity. She is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, the Obesity Society, the Society for Research in Child Development, the International Society of Developmental Psychobiology, and the American Diabetes Association.

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