COTI Team

Meet The COTI Leadership Team

Tara Brock, MHS, OTR/L

Clinic Manager

Tara received her BS in Occupational Therapy from Xavier University and went on to receive her Masters in Health Science in Occupational Therapy from the University of Indianapolis. Tara completed her internship the fall of 2002 at COTI and joined COTI staff in 2003. Tara has worked in a variety of settings for COTI including the clinic, private schools, and public schools. She has concentrated her study and practice in pediatrics with an emphasis on sensory processing concerns impacting daily life for children and families. She is passionate about supporting others’ growth and understanding of pediatric occupational therapy and sensory integration. Tara is certified in Sensory Integration through SIPT certification and in Therapeutic Listening. She has provided numerous inservices and workshops for other occupational therapy professionals, teachers, and parents/caregivers.  She currently serves as an adjunct professor for Cincinnati State Technical and Community College in the Occupational Therapy Assistant Program. She has supported the development of the COTI Fieldwork Coordinator position, piloted COTI’s Intensives programing, participated in data collection for the EASI assessment, co-led occupational therapy and speech therapy summer groups, and other summer group programming. 

Linda Campbell, MS, OTR/L

Executive Director

Linda received her BS from Augustana College in Illinois and her MS in OT from Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, MO. She has concentrated her practice on pediatrics and has worked in a variety of settings including school-based programs, private clinic and home health. She is certified in Sensory Integration and Therapeutic Listening. Linda joined the staff as a supervisor at COTI in 2008 as the supervisor of community based services. She transitioned to the role of director in the fall of 2018. Linda has provided educational inservices related to sensory integration to parents, teachers, and professionals throughout Ohio and also served as adjunct faculty at Xavier University. Linda has assisted in the development of several  projects at COTI including COTI’s summer day camp, Camp OdakOTa. She is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) and the Ohio Occupational Therapy Association (OOTA). Linda is married to Jason and has four wonderful sons.

Deb Whitcomb, PhD, MBA, OTR/L

President and CEO

Beginning as a subway riding, tenement stair climbing therapist serving children in New York and Boston, Deb’s creativity and initiative drew her to ascend the management ladder at an academic health center in Boston by executing a progression of programming innovations and organizational consolidations and realignments. Upon arriving in Cincinnati, Deb joined COTI and served first as a consultant then as a business manager for five years before purchasing the practice from the four former owners. In 2007, she co-founded the Cincinnati Occupational Therapy Foundation, Inc. a 501(c) (3), not-for-profit, for which she continues to serve as president. 

Deb Has served as adjunct faculty at Xavier University and, in 2010, received their Affiliated Faculty Award.  She has gained recognition for her commitment to service through the award of the first American Occupational Therapy Foundation/Patterson Foundation Award for Community Volunteerism in 2011.  In 2013 she received the Virginia Scardina Lectureship Award from the Ohio Occupational Therapy Association and, in 2014, she received the Virginia Scardina Award of Excellence from the American Occupational Therapy Foundation for her contributions toward the evolution of sensory integration theory and practice. 

Deb’s work with individual children and their families ignited a passion for expanding our understanding of the interplay of sensory processing and attachment in child development and successful family life. This is the major focus of Deb’s publications and presentations.  As a result, she co-founded Connections for Life, a program for young children who have experienced complex trauma.

Deb holds a Doctorate of Philosophy from Nova Southeastern University.  She also has Masters Degrees from Boston University’s Graduate School of Management and its Sargent College of Rehabilitation Science. Her undergraduate degree in Occupational Therapy is from Quinnipiac University.