Cindy K. Smalletz, M.S., M.A., OTR/L, BCB

Cindy Smalletz is an occupational therapist, narrative medicine educator, and instructional designer who created the first online certificate program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University. She is Program Director, Division of Narrative Medicine and Narrative Medicine CPA, as well as Associate Faculty in the Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics, and Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

She completed the MA in Instructional Design and Technology at Seton Hall University in 2003, and the MS in Narrative Medicine at Columbia in 2012. In addition, she has a career background in education and technology in both corporate and medical education. Capitalizing on this unique blend of experience, she designed and launched the Narrative Medicine CPA program at Columbia in 2017, envisioned as a way to globally connect practitioners to study narrative medicine. Cindy continues to create the online coursework for the CPA program. To date, there have been 300 graduates of the program and over 100 active students. As Program Director, Division of Narrative Medicine, she represents the division at Columbia and internationally: organizing and launching new initiatives, giving talks and lectures and supporting the expansion of narrative medicine’s impact and theory across the globe.

Her work in narrative medicine drove Smalletz to complete the MS in Occupational Therapy at Columbia University in 2020. As a registered and licensed occupational therapist, she strives to bridge clinical care with community, and centers education, mentorship, and advocacy across her roles.

Smalletz currently works in multiple settings: supervising students on Level II Fieldwork clinical rotations in community and behavioral health centers, supporting geriatric and mental health patients in skilled nursing facilities, faculty co-coordinator at the CHHMP (Columbia-Harlem Health and Medical Partnership) community clinic in Harlem, speaker / facilitator for LEARN (CUIMC Leadership in Education and Advancement through Research and Networks Program), and Editorial Board Consultant for The Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation. She is co-authoring a new textbook, Innovating the Occupational Therapy Education Model: A Transformative Narrative Approach - The Student’s Guide, for occupational therapy students centered on narrative medicine in practice.