Roxanna Bendixen, PhD, MS

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Rehabilitation Scientist, Assistant Professor, and Program Director, Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh
Represented: Researchers

Roxanna Bendixen is a Rehabilitation Scientist, Assistant Professor, and Program Director in the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh. Bendixen’s research examines assessment and intervention for infants, children, and youth with rare disease, chronic illness, and disability, as well as the family impact of raising a child with special medical needs. Her primary research interests include early-onset neuromuscular disorders focused on participation and quality of life, validity and reliability of pediatric outcome measures for rare disease, and community-based activity monitoring through portable fitness-tracking devices. Her secondary line of research focuses on community-based interventions through participation in arts and culture for families of children with a disability. Bendixen has served on numerous rare-disease work groups, such as the American Academy of Neurology Muscular Dystrophy Measure Development Work Group and has provided expert scientific review for clinical guidelines in both Duchenne muscular dystrophy and congenital muscular dystrophies. She is a clinical evaluator, scientific reviewer, and member of the Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group. Bendixen is a graduate of the University of Florida, receiving her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Occupational Therapy and her Doctorate in Rehabilitation Sciences.

Bendixen served as a member of the Advisory Panel on Rare Disease from September 2018 to September 2021.