DETROIT, MI -- A New York Times best-selling author is part of the Wayne State University occupational therapy program's 65th anniversary celebration, Dec. 5. Jill Bolte Taylor, PhD, author of My Stroke of Insight, is the keynote speaker for the full-day OT conference.

Conference participants can attend two breakout sessions from among four topics: fieldwork updates; evidenced-based interventions for hemiplegia; household moves in late life - a gerontology study; and the driving simulator research lab tour/workshop. The conference offers continuing education credits of five contact hours, which are approved by The American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

"The faculty and staff are honored to have Dr. Taylor as our keynote speaker for our first Continuing Education Conference and at OT's 65th anniversary celebration," said Doreen Y. Head, PhD, director of the OT program. "We look forward to this conference bringing retired faculty and graduates back to the campus and drawing the attendance of other health care professionals and providers to hear this nationally known, extraordinary neuroanatomist. This anniversary celebration promises to be a day of learning, sharing and new friendships."

The OT conference is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Dec. 5 at the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, 259 Mack at John R, Detroit. Online registration and detailed information is available at www.oplearning.com or call (734) 353-4752. The registration fee is $139 before Nov. 23 or $149 after Nov. 23. There is a special rate for WSU alumni and students, which is $119 before Nov. 23 or $129 after Nov. 23. Lunch and parking are included.

Taylor was a 37-year-old Harvard-trained and published neuroanatomist who experienced a severe hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain in 1996. This rare form of stroke affected her ability to walk, talk, read, write and recall any of her life. It took eight years for her to completely recover these functions and her cognitive ability. In My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey, she shares her recommendations for recovery and insight into the unique functions of the right and left halves of the brain. She was chosen as one of TIME Magazine's 100 most Influential People in the World for 2008.

Taylor is the national spokesperson for the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center and travels the country as the Singin' Scientist. She is the consulting neuroanatomist for the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute, an active member of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and president of the Greater Bloomington Affiliate of NAMI in Bloomington, Ind.

The Occupational Therapy program is in the WSU Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. The program was first offered in 1944 as a special education program, leading to an academic certificate or to a bachelor of science degree. It was one of the first programs established in the country. Beyond its rich history, a transformation of the program occurred in spring 2003 with the beginning of the entry-level masters program, which enables students to complete OT studies within a minimum of five years.

The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, a founding college of Wayne State University, is committed to advancing the health and well-being of society through the preparation of highly skilled health care practitioners, and through research to improve health care practices and treatment from the urban to global levels.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research university offering more than 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 32,000 students.