Mary Law worked as an occupational therapist initially with adults followed by many years of clinical practice working with children with disabilities and their families.
She is a Professor Emerita in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University. She holds the John and Margaret Lillie Chair in Childhood Disability Research. Mary is co-founder of CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, a multidisciplinary research centre at McMaster University.
Mary’s research centred on client and family-centred practice, including the development of measures and evaluation of interventions. Together with others in CanChild, she has studied children’s participation and the complex array of factors that impact the participation of children with disabilities in everyday occupations. A highlight of Mary’s career has been working with the COPM author team to develop and implement use of the measure.
Mary is a Fellow of the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists, and has been elected to the American Occupational Therapy Foundation Academy of Research and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. In 2018, Mary was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of her significant contributions to occupational therapy and children’s rehabilitation.