Mary Warren, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy and director of the graduate certificate in Low Vision Rehabilitation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has been selected by a panel of her peers to receive Envision’s “Excellence in Education” Award for 2012. Warren was the keynote speaker at Envision Conference 2012 in St. Louis, Mo., a first for an occupational therapist.
Envision is a St. Louis-based service and employment provider for people who are blind or have low vision. “Excellence in Education” is a distinguished peer award presented to an individual or organization that has demonstrated outstanding outcomes, programs or effort in low-vision research with national or international impact for people who are blind or have low vision.
“Mary is a pioneer in the field of vision rehabilitation among occupational therapists,” says Dawn DeCarlo, O.D., an associate professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at UAB. “Her efforts have significantly affected the field, and have contributed greatly to the movement of vision rehabilitation into the medical model. Besides being a gifted educator, she is also an amazing therapist who has helped many of my patients achieve or maintain the independence and high quality of life they desire and deserve despite their vision loss.”
Warren was previously director of occupational therapy for the Visual Independence Program, one of the first outpatient programs to receive Medicare reimbursement for low-vision rehabilitation services. She is the editor of the self-paced clinical study Low Vision: Occupational Therapy Intervention with the Older Adult, published by the American Occupational Therapy Association in 2000, and authored the Occupational Therapy Guidelines for Adults with Low Vision for the AOTA. Her research has been published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy and she has contributed chapters to several rehabilitation textbooks. Warren also is the chair of the AOTA panel developing low-vision certification for occupational therapists.