Maps Courtesy of:

COTF was founded in order to:

Engage in scholarship and clinical research in order to develop and disseminate occupational therapy techniques and practice for the effective treatment of occupational dysfunction.

Make the benefits of this work available to underserved populations of children and families especially those unable to pay for therapy through their own funds, through insurance, or through social benefit programs.

Officers : :

The President of the Foundation, Deborah A Whitcomb, MBA, MS, OTR/L, an alumna of Boston University at the Masters level from both Sargent College of Rehabilitation Science and the Graduate School of Management, has been at the forefront of developing programs and corporations that have successfully expanded access to occupational therapy and related services and integrated the provision of care across traditional boundaries of discipline and organizational setting.  She is the current President and CEO of Cincinnati Occupational Therapy Institute, Inc, a large private practice of occupational therapists providing services across the lifespan.  She is also adjunct faculty at Xavier University in the Department of Occupational Therapy.  She is a member of the Blue Ash/Montgomery Rotary Club as well as the Xavier University Advisory Board to the Department of Occupational Therapy.

The Vice President, Joan V. Dostal, OTR/L holds a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin. She has had a distinguished career in pediatric occupational therapy and has been instrumental in shaping occupational therapy practice in the greater Cincinnati area. She was one of the founding owners of Cincinnati Occupational Therapy Institute, Inc and has been mentoring therapists in clinical settings for many years.  Joan has served on a variety of community boards and is currently a member of the Regional Autism Advisory Council. In 2007 the American Occupational Therapy Foundation Board of Directors selected Joan to receive the Virginia Scardina Award of Excellence in recognition and appreciation of her many contributions to the profession that have helped to advance the practice of occupational therapy.  She is also the Recipient of the Ohio Occupational Therapy Association Virginia Scardina Lectureship Award in 2004 and the Xavier University Occupational Therapy Department Service Award in 2004. Joan is a frequent lecturer on sensory integration theory and practice and related topics.

The Secretary/Treasurer, Michael G.Dixon, has been serving in positions of financial leadership for cutting edge nonprofit organizations for over 30 years. He has served as the chief financial officer for a variety of organizations in Boston, Massachusetts involved in mental health, special education physical medicine and rehabilitation.  He served as the principal investigator for a grant funded project demonstrating that school aged children traditionally assigned to separate special education programs could be integrated into community schools. He was recognized by the Governor and Legislature of Massachusetts for his contributions to addressing an epidemic of adolescent suicide in Boston where he served on the Mayor's taskforce. More recently, he has served as the Director of Business Affairs for the University of Cincinnati's College of Medicine's faculty practice plan in Pathology and its Cancer Center.  He represented the University to the Ohio Partners for Cancer Control (OPCC), was elected to the Executive Board, and chaired its Resource Committee. He also served as one of the OPCC's representatives to the state's Taskforce on Chronic Disease Control.