Rate My Professor Shelly Lane

Professor Shelly Lane is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Newcastle, Australia, where she joined in July 2015. She earned a Bachelor of Allied Health in Occupational Therapy from The Ohio State University and a PhD in Anatomy and Cell Biology, with an emphasis on neuroscience, from the University of Texas Health Science Center. Lane began her career as an occupational therapist clinician working with young children in public schools in the United States. Following her PhD, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, examining the startle reflex in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Subsequent roles included a joint clinical-academic position as Director of Occupational Therapy at the Sparks Centre, University of Alabama at Birmingham; research positions at the University of Edmonton and State University of New York at Buffalo focusing on developmental outcomes in preterm infants, prenatal substance exposure effects, and assistive technology for play; and at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy for nine years and Assistant Dean for Research for five years from 1996 to 2015.

Lane's research investigates neural mechanisms of sensory integration and processing disorders, autonomic nervous system responses in children with autism, ADHD, and sensory processing challenges, as well as interventions like sensory diets, father-child playfulness, and supports for fussy eating and developmental trauma. She established the Sensory Processing and Stress Evaluation Laboratory and has co-authored influential books including Kids Can Be Kids: A Childhood Occupations Approach (2011), Sensory Integration: Theory and Practice (2002), and chapters such as 'Fathers, children, play and playfulness' (2020). Key journal articles encompass 'Neural foundations of Ayres sensory integration' (2019), 'Sensory processing in children with Paediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome' (2024), and 'Occupational performance patterns in children with paediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome' (2025). Lane has supervised 13 completed PhD and Masters students, secured over $1.1 million in research funding, and collaborates on projects with clinical and community partners.