2008 Caroline Thompson Memorial Lecture
Carolyn Baum, Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA
Director, Program in Occupational Therapy
Washington University School of Medicine
“Let’s Focus on Performance”
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
About Carolyn Baum
Baum is the
Elias Michael Director of the
Program in Occupational
Therapy and Professor of
Occupational Therapy and
Neurology at Washington
University School of Medicine
in St. Louis, Missouri. She
heads an interdisciplinary
faculty that is contributing
knowledge and training
clinicians and rehabilitation scientists to
understand the personal and environmental
factors that contribute to the performance of
everyday life.
Baum recently completed her term as
President of the American Occupational
Therapy Association and has served as
President of the American Occupational
Therapy Certification Board (now known as
NBCOT). She has received the American
Occupational Therapy Association’s two most
prestigious awards, the Eleanor Clarke Slagel
Lectureship and the Award of Merit. She was
named Occupational Therapist of the Year in
both Kansas and Missouri. In 1996 she was
awarded the University of Kansas Allied Health
Distinguished Alumnus Award and in 1995 was
recognized for her service to the community
with the Janet Ashcroft Humanitarian Award for
Community Service.
Baum’s research focuses on the relationship
of activity and function in persons with
cognitive impairment and chronic disease.
She is currently the PI on a project funded by
The James S. McDonnell Foundation to build
a translational model of neuroscience with
neuroscientists, neurologists, psychologists, and
occupational therapists working together to
understand the brain and cognitive mechanisms
that support everyday life.
Overview of Presentation
In 2017, Occupational Therapy will celebrate
its 100th anniversary. It was first developed
in the United States by visionaries who were
committed to improving the lives of people who,
because of mental illness or war injuries, were
limited in doing the things they wanted and
needed to do. We need to honor their vision
and put our work in the context of today’s needs
and possibilities. Occupational Therapists around the world are
being united in their practice and their science
that is driving the profession forward. I will
talk about the AOTA Centennial Vision and
build on the ideas of Mary Reilly, who in 1960,
challenged us to build the science that would
underpin “man’s need for action”. Our challenge is to project a clear image of
our unique contribution to the health and
function of the citizens of the World; it is my
goal in honoring Caroline Thompson to provide
context and depth to that challenge.