Greetings! My name is Maria Khawaja  (née Bizzarro).  My love for travel, culture, family, knowledge, and pediatric occupational therapy is  bound by the invisible thread which ties all of these interests. Together, they foster my identity as an explorer and influence my professional practice. My professional practice is consistently informed by the knowledge I acquire and the application of that information in innovative ways. Cultural competence has provided me with an effective tool for interacting with individuals from diverse backgrounds. In my personal life, I integrate the values of my Italian family and my husband’s Pakistani family in a way that brings us together as one. Through my experiences in professional practice, I enjoy learning with and from fellow colleagues from across the globe. Whether I am teaching graduate students, or practitioners within a clinical context, I effectively understand and incorporate the learner’s values into the process of their didactic and clinical education. In my practice, I aim to understand and validate the concerns of the families and children I work with by investigating and respecting their culture and values. As I continue to develop and gain an understanding of myself, professionally and personally, my roles will shift but my identity as an explorer will continue inform my own personal professional development and practice in innovative ways. 

Maria Khawaja (née Bizzarro), MS, OTR/L is a pediatric occupational therapist. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, a Bachelor of Arts in Therapeutic Studies, and a Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy at Boston University's top-ranked occupational therapy program. She is licensed in New York State and certified as a therapist with pediatric emphasis by the National Board for Certification of Occupational Therapists. She is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association. Mrs. Khawaja is currently an occupational therapy practitioner in private practice.  Prior to establishing her private practice as a consultant, she oversaw the occupational therapy department ad the Director of Occupational Therapy at the world renowned McCarton Center for Developmental Pediatrics and the world renowned McCarton School. She served as the occupational therapy program director and supervisor at The Children's Academy in New York City. She served as adjunct faculty member at New York University in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development where she taught Activity and Group Process (OT-GE 2707) to professional level Masters students. She also guests lectures on various pediatric topics related to sensori-motor development and visual perceptual processing. Mrs. Khawaja's interests include functional evaluation in pediatrics, vestibular habilitation, auditory interventions, and the integration of behavior analytic principals into pediatric occupational therapy practice.