AOTA president Amy Lamb keynotes 2017 commencement
April 26, 2017

By Mike McNulty

Amy Lamb OTD, OT/L, FAOTA, president of the American Occupational Therapy Association and an occupational therapy faculty member at Eastern Michigan University, will deliver the keynote address at the USC Chan Division’s 75th annual commencement ceremony on May 12.

Lamb has a valuable combination of frontline clinical practice and health care policy experience at the state and federal levels. Her areas of expertise include health care policy, health care reform, prevention and wellness and women’s roles in leadership positions.

She first became involved with public policy working with the health policy committee in the Minnesota House of Representatives. She was the paid lobbyist of the Nebraska Occupational Therapy Association from 2000 to 2008.

Her clinical experience spans school-based pediatrics, acute care and geriatrics. She also operates a private practice focused on program development and intervention in prevention and wellness.

Lamb received the 2011 AOTA Lindy Boggs Award for her advocacy and political action efforts in support of the profession. In 2012 she was selected to the AOTA Roster of Fellows, an award recognizing occupational therapists who have made a significant contribution to the continuing education and professional development of association members.

In 2012 she was elected AOTA vice president and in 2015 she was elected AOTA president-elect and began her three-year presidential term in 2016.

As AOTA president, Lamb works to enact the association’s agenda while educating occupational therapy professionals about the association’s roles within broader health care landscapes. She coordinates with AOTA staff to organize grassroots advocacy activities, inform association members about its ongoing activities and work with members of Congress and their staffers to advance the association’s interests on Capitol Hill.

Nearly 250 degrees, including nearly 70 doctorate of occupational therapy degrees and 2 PhD degrees in occupational science, will be conferred during this year’s satellite commencement ceremony which is preceded by the university’s main commencement ceremony at 9 a.m. in Alumni Park on USC’s University Park Campus.

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