Andrew Persch

Dr. Persch is an Associate Professor in the Occupational Therapy Department at Colorado State University and is the Director of the Transition, Employment, and Technology (TET) Lab. The TET Lab is focused on improving the transition to adulthood and employment among those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This work has been funded by NIH, NIDILRR, SSA, and various state and local organizations. He worked with Dr. Dennis Cleary, MS, OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA and partners in special education and vocational rehabilitation to create the Vocational Fit Assessment (VFA), providing an accurate, person-centered measure of work-related adaptive behavior that informs job placement and customized employment decision-making. Launched in 2016, VocFit.com is a knowledge translation tool designed to implement the VFA using a custom-developed web-app. Over 7 years, the registered userbase of VocFit.com has grown to more than 12,000 employment support professionals across North America and Europe.

Dr. Persch has 15+ years of experience providing pediatric occupational therapy services to children and adolescents with disabilities in early intervention settings; at all levels of the school system; and in research labs, pediatric specialty clinics, home and community settings. He has established an independent line of research focused on improving postsecondary outcomes for people with disabilities in transition to adulthood and employment. To date, Dr. Persch has authored 16 peer-reviewed publications, 10 editor-reviewed publications, 5 book chapters, 21 peer-reviewed abstracts, and has completed more than 120 scholarly and continuing education presentations at the local, state, national, and international levels. This work has been published in leading professional journals including the American Journal of Occupational Therapy, Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation. .

Dr. Persch teaches pediatrics, program development, research, and Capstone at CSU. He is the Chair of the Admissions Committee.

He served as Chairperson for the AOTA Special Interest Sections Council, a nationally-elected leadership position, from 2016 to 2020. He is a Trustee of the American Occupational Therapy Foundation an Associate Editor for AOTF's publication, OTJR: Occupational Therapy Journal of Research.