Distinguished Alumna is also a Hall of Famer

On March 12, Sandra Jacobson Lerner, OT ’68, was inducted to the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. Sandye is founder, president and CEO of Comprehensive Therapeutics, a rehabilitation management, consultation and staffing company. She began the company as a home-based business in 1975 and now serves Illinois with more than 300 employees.

Despite the challenges of her active business, Sandye finds time to serve on the boards of two Chicago-area nonprofit organizations: Special Gifts Theater, a program where children with disabilities enjoy creative theater experiences while dismantling stereotypes, and Gilda’s Club Chicago, supporting people with cancer and those who love them. She also served as the president of the College of Applied Health Sciences Alumni Board for three years.

Sandye has been selected as the college’s 2008 Distinguished Alumnus. “Her commitment and passion know no boundaries,” says Dean Toby Tate, “and she energizes anyone lucky enough to be in her presence.”

The Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame was established at UIC in 1985 to honor the entrepreneurial spirit by recognizing leaders who have founded and/or grown a Chicago-area businesses and who serve as role models for UIC students. As a member of the Hall of Fame, Sandye joins the likes of Robert Abt of Abt Electronics; Robert Galvin of Motorola; Stuart Paddock Jr. of Paddock Publications (Daily Herald); Gordon Segal of Crate & Barrel; and Charlie Trotter of Charlie Trotter’s Restaurant.