Beth Fields
Associate Professor, Occupational Therapy
(608) 263-7295
2170 Medical Sciences Center
1300 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
Dr. Beth Fields is a board-certified occupational therapist and Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison whose research focuses on caregiving and geriatric health services. She develops and implements person and family-centered assessments and interventions to improve care quality for older adults and their family and friend caregivers in hospital and home settings. Actively involved in national and state-level caregiving initiatives, Dr. Fields is committed to bridging research, policy, and practice to drive meaningful systems change.
Select Publications
- Fields, B., Schulz, R., Terhorst, L., Carbery, M., & Rodakowski, J. (2021). The development and content validation of the Care Partner Hospital Assessment Tool. Nursing Reports, 11(3), 522-529.
- Fields B, Meera B, Istvanek K, Ku, T, Barton, H, Muntefering, C, & Werner, N. (2025). Using co-design to adapt the care partner hospital assessment tool for dementia. Alzheimer’s Dement. 2025; 17:e70115. https://doi.org/10.1002/dad2.70115
- Fields B, Golden BP, Perepezko K, Wyman M, Griffin JM. (2024). Optimizing better health and care for older adults and their family caregivers: A review of geriatric approaches. J Am Geriatr Soc,1-5. doi:10.1111/jgs.19061
- Fields, B. & Smallfield, S. (2022). Practice Guidelines—Occupational therapy practice guidelines for adults with chronic conditions. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 76(2), 7602397010. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2022/762001.
- Fields, B., Bruemmer, J., Gloeckner, G., & Wood, W. (2018). Influence of an equine-assisted activity program on dementia-specific quality of life. American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease & Other Dementias. 33(5), 309-317. doi: 10.1177/1533317518772052
Select Presentations
- Thompson, E., Giatras, A., Perepezko, K., Toto, P., Fields, B. (February, 2026). World Federation of Occupational Therapy Congress, Bangkok, Thailand: Oral presentation titled The world needs CAPABLE carers.
- Hays, A., Hiatt, M., Meera, B., & Fields, B. (November, 2025). Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship Intl, International Conference 2025, Denver, CO. Riding Towards Safety: Enhancing Accessibility for Older Adults.
- Golden, B., Vick, J., Scheunemann, L., Berian J., Hoel, S., & Fields, B. (November, 2024). The Gerontological Society of America Annual Scientific Meeting, Seattle, WA: Symposium presentation titled Strategies and Tools to Make the Invisible Visible in Hospital Care.
- Fields, B. University of Illinois Chicago Occupational Therapy Scholarship Day Keynote. March 2026, Advancing Geriatric Care, Caregiving and Policy.
- Fields, B. Bader Philanthropies & Oscar Rennebohm Foundation’s Aging Well Colloquium. September 2025, A Call to Action for Wisconsin’s Caregiving Future.
Select Awards and Honors
- Fulbright Scholar (2026-2027)
- REC Scholar, Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center (2024-2026)
- Distinguished Faculty Postdoc Mentoring Award, UW Postdoctoral Association (2024)
- Distinguished Interprofessional Practice and Education (IPE) Fellowship, UW Teaching Academy and Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (2024)
- IMPACT Faculty Scholar, NIA Impact Collaboratory Transforming Dementia Care (2023-2024)