Karen Jacobs, EdD, OTR/L, CPE, FAOTA, is a past president and vice president of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). She is a 2005 recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship to the University of Akureyri in Akureyri, Iceland; the 2009 recipient of the Award of Merit from the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT); the 2003 recipient of the Award of Merit from the AOTA; and recipient of the 2011 Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Award. The title of her Slagle lecture was PromOTing Occupational Therapy: Words, Images, and Action.
Dr. Jacobs is a clinical professor of occupational therapy and the Program Director of the online post-professional occupational therapy doctorate in occupational therapy program at Boston University. She has worked at Boston University for 34 years and has expertise in the development and instruction of online graduate courses.
Dr. Jacobs earned a doctoral degree at the University of Massachusetts, a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy at Boston University, and a Bachelor of Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Dr. Jacobs’ research examines the interface between the environment and human capabilities. In particular, she examines the individual factors and environmental demands associated with increased risk of functional limitations among populations of university- and middle school–aged students, particularly in notebook computing, use of tablets such as iPads (Apple), backpack use, and the use of games such as Wii Fit (Nintendo). Karen is presently part of an interprofessional demonstration project titled, Project Career: Development of an Interprofessional Demonstration to Support the Transition of Students With Traumatic Brain Injuries From Post-Secondary Education to Employment.
In addition to being an occupational therapist, Dr. Jacobs is also a certified professional ergonomist (CPE), the founding editor in chief of the international, interprofessional journal WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation (IOS Press, The Netherlands), and a consultant in ergonomics, marketing, and entrepreneurship.
She is the proud mother of three children (Laela, Josh, and Ariel) and Amma (grandmother in Icelandic) to Sophie, Zachary, Liberty, and Zane. Her occupational balance is through travel, photography, kayaking, walking, co-writing children’s books, and spending time with her family at Wakonda Pond.
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Nancy MacRae, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA, is an associate professor at the University of New England (UNE), in Portland, Maine, where she has taught for 27 years. She has begun a 3-year process of phased-in retirement, where she teaches only one semester per school year. She is a past president of the Maine Occupational Therapy Association and a past director of the UNE occupational therapy program.
Nancy’s work experience has been within the field of developmental disabilities, primarily mental retardation, across the lifespan. Her graduate degree is in adult education, with a minor in educational gerontology. Involvement in interprofessional activities at UNE allows her to mentor and learn with and from future health care practitioners and to model the collaboration our health care system needs. Scholarship has centered around aging and sexuality, documentation, professional writing, and interprofessional ventures. She has been a member of the editorial board of WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation since its inception.
Nancy is the proud mother of two sons and a 17-year-old granddaughter. Occupational balance is maintained through participation in yoga, reading, walking, baking, and basket making, as well as volunteering within the community at a local school and working with caregivers of people with dementia. Travel plans have accelerated now that work is no longer full time.
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