Dr. Tal Keren-Capelovitch
Department of Occupational Therapy
My life before BGU:
I was born in Canada to an Israeli mother and a Canadian father, and immigrated to Israel at the age of four and a half. After a year in Tel Aviv, we moved to Rehovot, where I grew up and completed my high school studies at Amos de-Shalit High School. Following my military service and several months of travel in the Far East, I began my BA studies in occupational therapy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which I completed in 1993. In 2006, I earned an MA in occupational therapy at Tel Aviv University, and I completed my PhD at the University of Haifa in 2018.
Why BGU?
I feel profoundly privileged to be a partner, quite literally, in building the Department of Occupational Therapy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The opportunity to join a faculty that advances an academic approach centered on the student as an active, critical, independent learner, alongside current, meaningful research, a commitment to excellence, and the use of innovative teaching laboratories and advanced equipment, is deeply significant to the process of growing from student to professional.
What truly strengthened my sense that I had arrived at “my new home” happened the very first time I came to the University, even before the department opened: I didn’t know anyone, and I didn’t know the way to the Faculty of Health Sciences, yet every person I encountered greeted me with a smile, said hello, and wished me success. For me, it was a clear affirmation that this is where I should continue to the next stage of my professional development, together with a priceless opportunity to influence, and to take part in shaping the professional identity of the next generation of the field, especially here in the Negev, where the shortage is so evident.
My research:
My research has addressed a range of aspects of therapeutic intervention for children with cerebral palsy, as well as typical development. Findings from my MA research, supervised by Prof. Aviva Fattal Valevski and Prof. Tal Yaros-Hakak, yielded innovative results that still carry clinical implications today for pharmacological intervention using botulinum toxin in the treatment of spasticity in children with cerebral palsy.
My doctoral dissertation, supervised by Prof. Tamar Weiss, focused on analyzing movement profiles in children with typical development and in children with cerebral palsy. These findings provide an evidence base for differences across age groups and populations in the context of independence in eating.
An insight from my research:
My insight is not necessarily a research finding, but rather a perspective that has emerged from leading and being deeply involved in research processes. I believe that university teaching and research, when combined with clinical practice, are mutually sustaining, creating fertile ground for excellence both in academic work and in clinical practice in the field.
Something that doesn’t appear on my CV:
From time to time, I take part in half–Ironman relay competitions: I swim, and my husband cycles and runs. It’s a shared hobby.
A source of inspiration:
I remember reading Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom for the first time and feeling a wave of emotion, perhaps that is what inspiration means. The book taught me about the importance of connection and intimacy within relationships, therapeutic, romantic, and friendships, as a foundation for change. I learned what compassion is, about unconditional friendship-love, and about the beauty of asking for forgiveness. It also taught me the value of looking inward and of reflection, even before I knew those concepts or how to use them. As a therapist, encountering the book helped me understand how an authentic, honest relationship makes it possible to meet the person in front of us exactly where they are—and it also taught me something about humility, and what it can mean within therapeutic encounters with parents and children who come to me in challenging circumstances.
If you could travel through time, whom would you want to meet—and why?
I would want to meet Konstancja Brzezinina, “Aunt Tetula,” a Righteous Among the Nations—the woman who hid my mother and in doing so saved her during the Holocaust years in Kovno, Lithuania. I would want to embrace her and thank her. She acted out of pure altruism, at great risk to herself and her family.
When I grow up…
It’s hard for me to say—if not occupational therapy, then…? I do know that in the future I would very much like to study swimming instruction or Pilates, but that will probably have to wait for retirement.
If I weren’t a researcher, I would be…
Why “if”? Both. I believe that to be a successful lecturer and researcher I must bring the realities of the field into the classroom. That is why I still practice clinically, and as long as I can, I will continue meeting children and families in order to find the way forward and enable the highest possible level of function, despite complex health challenges.
In brief:
- Summer or winter? Winter.
- Steak or tofu? Steak.
- Shuk or shopping mall? Shuk.
- Instant coffee or espresso? A strong Americano.
- Trekking the beach? Beach.
- Car or train? Depends on the destination.
- Classic Europe or the Far East? Both — why choose?
- Sea or pool? Pool.
- Dog or cat? Cat. I have two.
- Fantasy or reality TV? Thrillers and action.
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