Mary Elizabeth Switzer (1900-1971) was Director of the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and co-winner of the Lasker Award in 1960 with Paul Wilson Brand (1914-2003), a missionary surgeon in Velore, and Gudmund Harlem, Norwegian Royal Minister of Health and Social Affairs. Switzer was known for her work on the 1954 Vocational Rehabilitation Act, which expanded services for people with disabilities