DENVER, Colo. — Massage Therapy Foundation (MTF) President Jerrilyn Cambron, L.M.T., D.C., M.P.H., Ph.D., announced Jan Schwartz from Tucson, Arizona, as the Massage Therapy Foundation Distinguished Service Award recipient during the 2014 American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) convention held in Denver, Colorado.
Schwartz was not present during the event. However, MTF Board of Trustees member Leslie A. Young, Ph.D., presented the award to Schwartz at the 2014 ONE Concept Conference in San Diego, California. Schwartz was recognized for her service to the profession and her generous and long-time volunteer efforts on behalf of the foundation.
Schwartz has worked and volunteered in the complementary and alternative health care field (with a specialty in massage therapy) since 1993. She has been an educator since 1988 and served as the director of education at the Desert Institute of the Healing Arts. Her areas of interest and expertise include injury management and rehabilitation, ethics, and entrepreneurship.
“My involvement with the Massage Therapy Foundation has been important to me and supports my work as an educator. From the very beginning of my career as a massage therapist, I understood the importance of research to the field, working within our communities that may be underserved and educating new therapists on the importance of an evidence-informed practice—even before EIP became a buzz phrase and when massage was still thought to remove toxins,” Schwartz said. “It has been an honor to volunteer with this organization, and I was both surprised and delighted to be given this award. I know that great thought and deliberation are given to the person honored, and I am extremely gratified to be so honored. The work of the foundation is essential to the discipline of massage therapy, and I will continue to support the foundation in whatever way I can.”
Schwartz completed her master’s degree at Prescott College in sustainable entrepreneurship with a specialization in e-learning. Currently, Schwartz’s primary focus is on her online education business, Education and Training Solutions, which offers customized online education services.
Following her passion for complementary and alternative health care education, Schwartz became a founding member of the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC). ACCAHC works to enhance the health of individuals and communities by creating and sustaining a network of global educational organizations and agencies, which will promote mutual understanding, collaborative activities and interdisciplinary health care education. Schwartz serves on the executive committee and also co-chairs the education-working group for the organization.
“My wish is that every massage therapist would consider donating $5 a year (that is about one latte) to the Massage Therapy Foundation so that we could do more great things! It is our Foundation—it exists for us,” Schwartz added.
Cambron said, “Jan Schwartz has been an amazing friend of the foundation for decades. She has served on the Board of Trustees and several committees. She is currently on our Advisory Council. I was so pleased to announce her as the 2014 Massage Therapy Foundation Distinguished Service Award recipient and to thank her for all that she has done for the foundation, especially for the field of massage therapy. Thank you, Jan!”
About the Massage Therapy Foundation
The Massage Therapy Foundation is a 501(c) 3 public charity, with a mission to advance the knowledge and practice of massage by supporting scientific research, education, and community service. Learn more at www.massagetherapyfoundation.org.