Faculty and Staff

Ruth Ramsey, Ed.D., OTR/L

Director and Chair
Associate Professor, Occupational Therapy

BS, San Francisco State University
MS, San Jose State University
Ed.D., University of San Francisco 

ruth.ramsey@dominican.edu  

Link to Ruth Ramsey's full profile

Dr. Ramsey has been an occupational therapist since 1985 and is the founding director and chair of the occupational therapy program. Since its inception in 1996, she has led the program through three national accreditations and a transition to graduate degree-granting status. Prior to establishing the program at Dominican, she taught at San Jose State University and practiced clinically in the area of mental health with adults, adolescents and seniors.

Currently, she teaches varied courses in the program, serves as a thesis adviser, and provides academic advising for new majors. Her research interests are promoting healthy aging, community-based practice in occupational therapy, and innovative approaches to health professions education. Dr. Ramsey is active in state and national professional associations and present regularly at conferences. She is a past member of  the Commission on Practice of the American Occupational Therapy Association, and a co-founder the Psychiatric Occupational Therapy Action Coalition. 

Stacy Frauwirth, MS, OTR/L

Assistant Professor, Occupational Therapy

BS, Tufts University
MS, Boston University 

stacy.frauwirth@dominican.edu

Stacy has more than 14 years of clinical and administrative experience in pediatrics, with expertise in early intervention, NICU, and sensory integration. She has been involved in a number of innovative, grant-supported programs, including the development of a model for providing therapeutic support services in an Early Head Start program and participating in the establishment of the Compassionate Touch program in a local NICU. She is certified to administer the Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests and the Neonatal Oral-Motor Assessment Scale and is trained in Therapeutic Listening. Her ongoing professional interests include the infusion of child rights discourses into occupational therapy practice and developing models for promoting children's wellness and occupational participation within public school systems.

Stacy is currently completing studies in the PhD program in Occupational Science at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include the development of play and play styles and the use of complexity science models to understand occupation and as an organizing framework for Occupational Science. She presents frequently on sensory integration and development to family groups, foster care training programs, and early childhood mental health program staff. Stacy has served on the board of the Association of Pediatric Therapists and is currently the newsletter editor for the organization.  Stacy currently teaches Occupations of Children and Adolescents I and II, Foundations of OT, and Research in the Health Professions, courses in the OT program.

Janis Davis, ph.d., otr/l

Assistant Director, Graduate Program

Associate Professor, Occupational Therapy

BS, University of Kansas
MA, University of Missouri
Ph.D., University of Kansas

janis.davis@dominican.edu

Link to Janis Davis' full profile

Dr. Janis Davis is a full-time associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy.  Prior to coming to Dominican, Dr. Davis taught for 14 years at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri.  Dr. Davis received her Ph.D. degree from University of Kansas, and has been involved in many research initiatives, including therapeutic listening, workshops on learning and the brain, and a grant-funded community partnership program for persons recovering from stroke.

Dr. Davis teaches courses in psychosocial aspects of occupational therapy, professional development, and occupational therapy education, as well as advising master’s thesis students.

Kitsum Li, OTD, OTR/L

Assistant Professor, Occupational Therapy

OTD, Rocky Mountain University
MS, Suny Buffalo

kitsum.li@dominican.edu 

Link to Kitsum Li's full profile

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Dr. Li was the 6th Hong Kong-trained graduate entering into the profession of Occupational Therapy.  Dr. Li has certifications in both Neuro Developmental Therapy and Neuro-Ifrah for the management and treatment of adults with hemiplegia.  She has also received advance training in Bioness, Myomo and Saebo, and other contemporary interventions used in the treatment of hemiplegic upper extremities. Her areas of interest include interventions for individuals with vestibular dysfunction, low vision, cognitive and visual-perceptual impairments. In addition to being a certified FallProof instructor, Dr. Li also holds advanced practice licenses in California in hand therapy and physical agent modalities.

Dr. Li has over 20 years of clinical experience in working with adults and seniors in a variety of settings. She was one of the pioneer therapists to work with head injury in community-based program as well as onsite therapist in industrial settings in the 1990s. Currently, she teaches Occupation in Adults and Seniors I and II, and serves as thesis advisor. In addition to teaching,she maintains her clinical practice in outpatient clinic working primarily in Hand therapy and CVA rehabilitation.

Alison Virzi, MS, OTR/L

Academic Fieldwork Coordinator, Occupational Therapy

BS, Dominican University of California
MS, Dominican University of California

alison.virzi@dominican.edu

Alison Virzi is the Academic Fieldwork Coordinator at Dominican University.  In this role she is responsible for the development of fieldwork sites and placement of students.  Alison is a Marin native and a graduate of the first Dominican University of California Occupational Therapy class in 2000.  Upon graduation she worked as a hand therapist for two outpatient hand clinics in Marin.  She has taught various classes in the occupational therapy program, and supervised students for the Healthy Seniors community practice lab and Marin Brain Injury Network. She also advises freshmen in the program.

Alison received her Master's degree in Education in spring 2011.  Her Master's thesis, entitled "Preventing Dequervain's Tendonitis in Nursing Mothers," was published in the Educational Resources Information Center.  Alison continues to live in her hometown of Fairfax with her two children, Kate and Drew.

Shad St. Louis, MS, OTR/L

Assistant Professor, Occupational Therapy

BA, St. Olaf College
MS, Tufts University

shad.stlouis@dominican.edu

Shad has been an occupational therapist at both the clinical and administrative levels since 1995. He has worked primarily in the area of physical rehabilitation with a focus on neuro-rehabilitation, particularly spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries. He holds his AOTA specialty certification in Driver Rehabilitation and has presented extensively at local, regional and national levels on this topic. A leading academic point of interest for him is the effective learning of clinical reasoning skills and their application to therapeutic intervention.  

Shad maintains a clinical practice at Alta Bates Herrick Rehab Hospital in Berkeley and also at San Francisco General Hospital.  Shad currently teaches Foundations in OT, Conditions in OT, Health Policy and Management and Human Movement Analysis.

Joanne Figone, MS, OTR/L

Associate Adjunct Professor

BA, University of California, Berkeley
MA, University of Southern California

joanne.figone@dominican.edu

Joanne has been in the field of pediatric occupational therapy for over 30 years, working in acute care settings, school environments, out-patient community clinics, and private clinics. She presently has a private practice in Petaluma, California. She has extensive experience with early intervention, feeding disorders, neuro-muscular disorders, autism spectrum disorders, school intervention and sensory integration. She is certified in the Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests, Neuro-developmental Therapy, Perceptual Enrichment Program, and the Handwriting Without Tears Program.

Ms. Figone also has training in the Therapeutic Listening program, the SOS feeding program, and the Interactive Metronome Program. She has presented numerous workshops regarding child development, feeding, pediatric occupational therapy, sensory processing, and neuro-developmental therapy to therapists, teachers, mental health professionals, and parents. She is currently a workshop presenter for Handwriting Without Tears. She teaches Occupations of Children and Adolescents l and II, including clinical and community practice labs.