ILOTA Communique December 2017 Communique | Page 13

October / November / December • Issue 4 • 2017
ILOTA Award Winners, continued from Page 12
fieldwork site coordinator at Alexian Brothers Medical Center
and has been the Academic Fieldwork Coordinator at UIC for
the last 12 years. After taking on this role at UIC, she saw a need
to improve the networking and information sharing among OT
and OTA academic fieldwork coordinators throughout Illinois.
She founded the Illinois Academic Fieldwork Coordinator
Consortium and led the group for 10 years. This group is now
a subsection of the ILOTA Education Special Interest Section.
She has regularly presented at ILOTA conferences regarding
fieldwork education and 15 fieldwork-related presentations at
AOTA conferences and presented internationally.
Through Dr. Preissner’s work on several research projects
and grants on the effectiveness of OT interventions for people
with Multiple Sclerosis and their lay caregivers, she has provided
OT practitioners with evidenced base research and resources
to support best practice. She has authored or co-authored 18
publications and has delivered 37 presentations about her work
with MS.
She has chaired and co-chaired the Annual ILOTA
Conference 2 years; registration chair and or manpower chair
3 years. She has co-chaired the ILOTA Archive Committee
and initiated the “Archives Corner” in the Communique and
frequently has authored articles for the Communique. She has
contributed to the preservation of the history of OT. She was
recently selected as a faculty fellow for “Securing the Common
Good: Hull House History at UIC”, a yearlong faculty institute,
funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Her
focus has been on the early beginnings of OT at Hull House,
creating a pamphlet for OT students, practitioners, and other
interested parties to serve as a supplement to the Hull House
self-guided tour, so that those interested can gain a greater
understanding of the relationship between Hull house and OT.
The Awards ceremony ended by recognizing, thanking and
bestowing the ILOTA Honorary Lifetime Member recognition
to Catherine Brady, Kathryn Melin Eberhardt, and Melanie
Ellexson. They have dedicated their professional careers to
promoting and teaching OT; making extensive contributions
to the profession. Clinically and academically they have had a
positive impact on their patients/ clients, changing lives. They
are also responsible for influencing 100s to if not 1000s of
occupational therapy practitioners.
OT Student of the Year
Marlena Mosbacher
Ryan Walsh
OT of the Year
Kathy Preissner
Honorary Lifetime Member
Catherine Brady
Kathryn Melin Eberhardt
Melanie Ellexson
Melanie Ellexson, Marlena Mosbacher, Ryan Walsh, Catherine Brady, Kathryn Melin Eberhardt, Kathy Preissner
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