August 31, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Sherri Van Pelt, O.T., M.P.A., has been hired as development director for the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Comprehensive Cancer Center. She begins Oct. 1.

Van Pelt has been an occupational therapist for more than two decades and holds UAB degrees in occupational therapy, psychology and public administration. In her private practice, she focused on treating children with disabilities living in rural Alabama.

She most recently served as executive director for VSA Arts of Alabama, a nonprofit organization that provides art therapy for adults and children with disabilities. VSA is a sister organization to the Special Olympics and an affiliate program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Van Pelt is a Birmingham native and comes to her cancer center job with a lengthy record of service benefiting patients, students, faculty and others. She serves on UAB’s President’s Leadership Council and the School of Health Professions Dean’s Advisory Board. She is a current class member of Leadership Birmingham and received the 2006 Women of Distinction Award from the Girl Scouts of Cahaba Council.

“Sherri shares our passion in advancing cancer research and helping patients,” said cancer center director Edward Partridge, M.D. “She is a wonderful addition to our enterprise’s renewed growth and expansion.”

UAB’s Comprehensive Cancer Center is the only one within a five-state region to have the U.S. National Institutes of Health comprehensive designation.