Education

OTD, Virginia Commonwealth University

MSOT, Virginia Commonwealth University

BS Occupational Therapy, Boston University

Kate Barlow is an Associate Professor at American International College. She is also the current ambassador for the CDC’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program for the state of Massachusetts. She has over 20 years of clinical experience that includes public school practice, early intervention, and pediatric hospital-based outpatient clinic and management. Dr. Barlow’s area of clinical expertise is the early identification of delays in pediatric feeding.  

Since May 2019, she has been acting as the MA CDC Act Early Ambassador, providing training across the state on developmental monitoring. In addition to the formal state-wide training, she has also provided local and online training to state agencies such as Head Start, Early Intervention, and Special Supplemental Nutrition Programs for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Dr. Barlow has supported Leadership in Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) Fellows to promote early identification of delays through advocacy. Dr. Barlow is chair of the MA Act Earl board and serves on the national WIC Developmental Monitoring Advisory Board. Dr. Barlow has been the principal investigator to two CDC grants and has presented her work on developmental monitoring at local, state, national, and international conferences. 

In the area of pediatric feeding, Dr. Barlow is a member of the Feeding Matters Research pillar and AOTA Community of Practice. She received the 2020 Feeding Matters Grant with Dr. Rabaey, and that research will be published in the AJOT in the summer of 2023. Dr. Barlow was also the lead author of the AOTA CEU article (2021) on pediatric feeding, “Evaluation of Feeding, Eating and Swallowing for Children with Cerebral Palsy.” Dr. Barlow was described as an “internationally renowned feeding expert” by Feeding Matters (2021). She has presented her research on pediatric feeding for Feeding Matters, WFOT, AOTA, ASHA and more. By Invitation, she has also presented twice for Therapro® on oral motor strategies for intervention.

For volunteer work, Dr. Barlow founded the International Interprofessional Mentorship Program which provides monthly mentorship to therapists in low- and middle-income countries across the globe (https://libguides.aic.edu/OT_Resources). She received the 2022 Innovation Award from NBCOT for this work. She is currently working on an OT ECHO® and researching pediatric education in WFOT-approved programs across the globe.