2 AOTA Award of Merit Virginia C. Stoffel, PhD, OT, FAOTA University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Wisconsin Leadership and Development of Mental Health Practice Dr. Virginia “Ginny” Carroll Stoffel, is an outstanding leader and an exemplar for our profession in the area of mental health and substance abuse disorders. She served AOTA in many key roles, including President, Vice President, and currently as AOTA’s Alternate Delegate to the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. Most notably, in enacting the AOTA Centennial Vision, she served a pivotal role as program developer and faculty of AOTA’s Emerging Leaders De- velopment Program and Leadership Development Program for Middle Manag- ers. In both programs she mentored and inspired many future leaders, including current Board members, state association presidents, and chairpersons of AOTA committees and task groups. Building on her doctoral work, Dr. Stoffel presented throughout the U.S. and worldwide to develop servant leaders and promote the concept of “heart-felt” leadership. She exemplifies the belief that leadership occurs in life roles as family and community leader, occupational therapy practitioner, public advocate or as a volunteer within one’s profession. Dr. Stoffel is co-editor of the seminal text Occupational Therapy in Mental Health: A Vision for Participation, published by F.A. Davis. In its second edition, this book reflects a culmination of her practice experience, political advocacy, research, grantsmanship, teaching, and leadership in mental health practice. In her 37th year associated with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she has established a rich legacy. Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Award Sharon A. Gutman, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA Columbia University New York, New York Advancing the Scholarship of Occupational Therapy Dr. Sharon Gutman is a prolific scholar who has substantially contributed to the occupational therapy literature through a career spanning 28 years that produced 65 peer-reviewed journal articles, 6 books, 12 book chapters, and 24 editorials as editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy. Her body of 65 peer-reviewed journal articles has been cited over 1000 times and uniquely addresses interventions with marginalized populations that have not been well examined in the occupational therapy literature—including housing programs for sheltered homeless adults, supportive education and employment for adults with chronic mental illness, and life skills for women who became homeless after domestic violence. Many of these publications are intervention effective- ness studies, and Dr. Gutman has been one of the most contributory scholars to the evidence supporting the profession’s role in mental health practice. Dr. Gutman has also made substantial and innovative contributions to the education of occupational therapists through her six textbooks which are heavily used in occupational therapy programs throughout the country and internationally, and have been translated into several languages. She is perhaps best known for her 6-year editorship of AJOT (2008–2014), through which she significantly increased the journal’s impact factor and Journal Citation Report rank.

3 Lindy Boggs Award Mary Johanna McGuire, MS, OTR/L, OTPP, FAOTA Rehab Educators, LLC Fairlawn, Ohio Policy Leadership Advocating With American Medical Association Ms. Mary Johanna McGuire is the founder of Rehab Educators, a group of occupational therapists in private practice in Akron, Ohio, that provides home and community-based occupational therapy to clients across the lifespan. This model of practice is built upon the vision of U.S. Representative Lindy Boggs whose work established coverage of OT under Part B Medicare services. Ms. McGuire’s work over the past 40 years includes service in acute care, outpa- tient facilities, home health care, skilled nursing facilities, and inpatient rehab. She was a clinical supervisor and then the clinical education specialist at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (now the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab) and spent over eight years as a full-time faculty member at two different universities. She co-owned and operated a continuing education company that was one of the first AOTA Approved CE Providers in the nation. Since 2012, she has served as AOTA’s representative to the American Medical Association’s Healthcare Professional Advisory Committee on Current Procedural Terminology. In that role, her understanding of and commitment to the power of evidence-based OT has provided a firm foundation for promoting the distinct value of occupational therapy to colleagues, researchers, and policymakers across the nation. Award for Excellence in the Advancement of OT Michael Pizzi, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA Dominican College Orangeburg, New York Innovations in Health/Wellness, Advocacy, Mentoring, and Scholarship Dr. Michael Pizzi has been a pioneer and innovator in the areas of hospice, HIV/AIDS, health, wellness, and quality of life and childhood obesity, envi- sioning since the early 1980s that occupational therapy should be addressing not just client or community needs, but societal and global needs. Since grad- uating from Elizabethtown College and publishing his first American Journal of Occupational Therapy article three years later on hospice, Dr. Pizzi has ded- icated his career to promoting the profession through teaching, service, schol- arship and community programming. He has published over 60 peer reviewed articles or chapters within and outside the profession, with 75% published as a practitioner due to his commitment to making the power of occupation more visible. He created assessments in emerging practice areas including the Pizzi Health and Wellness Assessment (PHWA), the first assessment directly linking occupation with health, and the Pizzi Healthy Weight Management Assessment (PHWMA) both of which have caregiver versions. Dr. Pizzi is also an Equity actor and created an annual Special Broadway Camp for children with special needs and The Wellsongs ProjectTM working with Broadway composers to compose songs for children with special needs and people with mental health/ mental illness. “Given Opportunity, Always Able” is the motto of his not-for- profit organization, Touching Humanity, Inc.