Surya Shah

           Surya Shah has a PhD fromEngland, an OTD from India.  He is the only Indian and an Australian to be placed on the "Roster of Fellows" by the American Occupational Therapy. He is currently a professor of occupational therapy and has a rare distinction of holding joint professorship in neurology with the college of medicine at the University of Tennessee, Memphis.  He is a Visiting Professor in Neurorehabilitation, at Leeds, Met.  Prior to this, he was appointed the first professor of occupational therapy in England.  He has been an occupational therapist, educator, leader, and a researcher for 50 years.

            Following three years as a paediatric occupational therapist, he was the first occupational therapist to be seconded to the armed forces of India as the honorary organizer and in-charge occupational therapist at the elite Bombay Naval Hospital following the first major Pakistan-India conflict.  After nine years as a clinician in India, he relocated to study in the US receiving the World Rehabilitation Fund Fellowship and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust Fellowship.  After four years in the US, he spent 27 years in Australia, five years in the UK and has been in the US for the past five years.

           His funded research has resulted in generating and publishing new knowledge.  The multinational interest in his measurement tool for functional outcome has resulted in translations and enquiries from around 40 counties. His modification to the original Barthel Index is now used in many countries including the UK. In 2005-2006, Merck & Co. funded new translations for an 11 nation multi centre trial.  The translations to Hebrew, Swedish, Danish, Swiss, German, French, Italian, Austrian, and others were completed collaboratively with the linguistic department of a research institute in France. Many hold that his sensitized functional outcome measure is superior to the Functional Independence Measure.

          His research has been accepted in Age and Ageing; American Occupational Therapy Journal of Research; Archives of Neurology; Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; Australian Medical Journal; Australian Medical Record Journal; Australian, British, New Zealand, Singapore, and Indian Journals of Occupational Therapy, British and Australian Physiotherapy; Gerontology; International Journal of Clinical Epidemiology; International Journal of Neurosciences; International Journal of Paraplegia; International Journal of Physical Therapy Theory and Practice; International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation; Italian Journal of Neurological Sciences; Neurology; Polish Rehabilitacja Medyczna Wybrane; Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience; Stroke?A Journal of Cerebral Circulation; and others. His published work can also be found in conference proceedings and chapters in the books he shared with neurologists, orthopaedic surgeons, and other health professionals.  He has published more then 100 manuscripts and conducted 100 or so workshops around the world, including New Zealand, Australia, Wales, England, Scotland, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, the United States, Germany, and others.  He has been a reviewer for eight journals.

           
           He has received many accolades and honours.  Among the highlights of the past five years include the "Roster of Fellows" from the American Occupational Therapy Association, Excellence in Research Leadership from Tennessee, Outstanding Teaching and Genuine Concern for Students Award, A title of "Kentucky Colonel" by the Governor of Kentucky, a special invitation by the Ministry of Health and Neurological Society of Malaysia to present stroke updates, and being on the Wisdom Council of the Mindful Occupations.