GOLD Speakers

Bobbi Pineda, PhD OTR/L, CNT

• Speaker Type: 2025 Main Presentations
• Country: USA

Biography:

Bobbi Pineda served in NICU OT clinical roles from 1992-2006, where she gained expertise with early therapy to fragile infants. The premature birth of her first child, in addition to her interest in transforming practice, motivated her to pursue her PhD. She then spent 14 years doing research at Washington University exploring factors that can impact the lives of high-risk infants and families. She joined University of Southern California's faculty in 2020 and continues her research within the NICU Therapy Lab, while mentoring graduate students. Her research largely aims to understand modifiable factors within the NICU environment that can improve outcomes. Targets are the early sensory environment, early therapy service delivery, and early oral feeding. She is an author of the Supporting and Enhancing NICU Sensory Experiences (SENSE) program and the Neonatal Eating Outcome Assessment.

She also has the inventor of the Preemie-Pacer bottle, which is under development and testing. She serves on the Neonatal Therapy National Certification Board, which aims to validate the experience and knowledge of those practicing in the NICU. She has also authored more than 60 peer reviewed publications and speaks internationally on the topic of the early NICU environment.