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Symposia 2010 > Keynote Speakers
Page Title: Keynote Speakers
Dr Florence Clark
Florence Clark, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, is President of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). Dr Clark currently is the Associate Dean, Chair, and Professor in the Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of Southern California (USC).
A widely published and noted scholar, her research interests include the development and dysfunction of sensory integration in children, maternal role behaviour, the acquisition of independent living skills among adolescents with disabilities, health promotion in the elderly, and spinal cord injury and occupational science. Dr Clark is best known for her publication of the Well Elderly Study. Conducted by USC from 1994 through 1996, the study made a number of notable contributions to the research on occupational therapy and its effect on the ageing population. The largest outcomes research study conducted in the field to date, the results were published in October 1997 - the first occupational therapy study to appear in JAMA.
Appointed as a charter member of the Academy of Research of the American Occupational Therapy Association, Dr Clark has served as special consultant to the U.S. Army Surgeon General and on the board of the National Centre for Medical Rehabilitation Research. She also was the recipient of an Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship, AOTA’s highest academic honour. In 1999, AOTA also honoured her with its Award of Merit. Dr Clark received a lifetime achievement award from the Occupational Therapy Association of California in 2001.
Desleigh de Jonge B.Occ.Thy., M.Ph.(OccThy), Grad Cert Soc Sci (Health Practice) currently lectures in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The University of Queensland in assistive technology and environmental design.
In her 30 years as an Occupational Therapist, Desleigh has worked with consumers with a wide range of life goals and abilities. She has built on this valuable experience to develop undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum and to develop a research agenda focused on the way in which technology and environmental design can enable older people and people with disabilities to lead full lives.
She has presented at national and international conferences and published in national and international journals. She has recently published a book with Mosby (USA) on the use of assistive technology in the workplace and with SLACK (USA) on home modification practice for occupational therapists.
She has recently completed an Australian Housing and Urban research Institute (AHURI) funded research project investigating the impact of home maintenance and modification services on ‘ageing in place’ and housing adjustments in later life.
Full details of the symposia program will be published in the coming weeks, once all abstracts have been reviewed by the Program Advisory Group. The abstracts received are of a high quality which will result in an exciting and interesting program for all.