About Your Presenters
Mary Jo McGuire, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA
Mary Jo McGuire is in private practice in Akron, Ohio, serving traumatic brain injured clients in the home and community. She has over 30 years of clinical experience including work in acute care, in-patient rehab, out-patient rehab, skilled nursing facilities, home health care, and in the home and community. She was employed by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, first as a Clinical Supervisor and then as the Clinical Education Specialist, and was on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has served on many AOTA task forces including expert panels for issues related to cognition; she also co-authored the AOTA paper on the Role of Occupational Therapy in Vestibular Rehabilitation. She has presented courses on Occupational Therapy Management of Clients with Cognitive-Perceptual Impairments in WI, ND, CO, PA, VA, ME, NH, NC, OH, CA, IN, TN, and MD: she taught on this topic at Stanford University Medical Center in 2005, and presented at OTAC in 2006. She enjoys teaching on this topic almost as much as she enjoys providing direct patient care. She is a member of the Summit County Traumatic Brain Injury Collaborative, an interdisciplinary, inter-agency group in Akron, Ohio, that serves clients and educates the community about issues related to the prevention and treatment of brain injury. Mary Jo is credentialed by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services as an Occupational Therapist in Private Practice (OTPP) and directs a team of six other OTRs in home and community based practice in Ohio.
Thais Mazur, MS, OTR/L
Thais Mazur is a practicing OT for over 15 years using expressive arts as a therapeutic modality for people with a wide variety of disabilities. She has lectured worldwide on healing and expressive arts, she is known internationally as the director of AXIS Dance Company, and she is the founder of Pathways to Healing at Mendocino Coast District Hospital.
Marilee Ford, MA, RN
Marilee Ford is an adjunct faculty member in Dominican's MSN Integrative Health Practices program and the undergraduate nursing program. She has also led healing arts groups for over 10 years, engaging nurses, the public, hospice workers and breast cancer "thrivers."
Joanne Figone, MA, OTR/L
Joanne Figone received her M.A. in Occupational Therapy from the University of Southern California. Further training has involved certifications in Neurodevelopmental Therapy, Perceptual Enrichment Program, and administration of the Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests. She has over 30 years of pediatric experience with 20 years in private practice. She presently has a private clinic serving children in Petaluma, California and she consults with schools in the area. In addition to her private practice she is an adjunct faculty at the Dominican University of California Occupational Therapy Department. Besides teaching at the University, she had provided numerous workshops regarding child development, pediatric occupational therapy, and handwriting programs to medical personnel, therapists, teachers, and parents.
