Biography

As APA President, I will build unity through diversity to achieve our shared goals of encouraging excellence and representation in both research and practice domains. A past APA president has described me as the “Compleat Psychologist”, a tall order indeed, but I hope the depth and breadth of my experience, as described below, demonstrates my knowledge, skills and abilities to lead our 150,000 member Association.

I received my Ph.D. in Psychology from U. Chicago and am an elected Fellow of APS and APA  and five of its divisions (D1 General, D2 Teaching, D46 Media, D48 Peace, and D52 International). I have over 25 years of extensive experience in managing organizations and projects in APA divisions, state government, and academe. I am the 2024 President of APA’s Society for Media Psychology and Technology (D46). I served D48 for three years as Convention Program Chair (2020-2022), and, for four years was Editor of D52’s International Psychology Bulletin, receiving its President’s Award for Extraordinary Service. Among other honors, I received the Academic Service Award from the American University of Phnom Penh, was twice a NEH Fellow (for projects on Black Resistance and on Maya Worlds), am an honored listee in Marquis Who’s Who in America, and received the 2023 Frances Mullen Award for Distinguished Contributions to International Psychology (ICP: International Council of Psychologists).

I’ve published over 300 peer-reviewed scholarly works (peer-reviewed articles/book chapters/reviews) in such flagship journals as American Psychologist, Journal of Positive Psychology, Humanistic Psychologist, Professional Psychology, and Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma. I am lead editor of 11 academic books, including Pathfinders in International Psychology; Internationalizing the Teaching of Psychology; Human Strengths and Resilience; Teaching Psychology Around the World, Volumes 4 and 5; Psychology in Southeast Asia; Psychology in Oceania and the Caribbean (2022); Psychosocial experiences and adjustment of migrants (2023); and Handbook of Media Psychology: The Science and the Practice (2024). The Handbook of Media Psychology was endorsed by three past presidents of the APA.  I authored an extensive textbook supplement for a best-selling Allyn & Bacon Abnormal Psychology text and have a sole-authored book in contract (Resilience and Post- Traumatic Growth). I’m co-editor of Springer’s book series International and Cultural Psychology. I’ve served on several editorial boards (e.g., PLOS One, APA’s Traumatology, and APA’s Peace & Conflict). I have offered over 110 professional presentations including APA, AERA, AAA, APS, IAAP, and ICP, from Africa, Australia, and Europe, to Mexico, the USA, South America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East.

I have an abiding interest in behavioral health technologies (e.g., prescription digital therapeutics (PDTs) and Experience Sampling Methods [ESM]). I have expertise in online and global education with many publications focused on diversifying psychology education via online technologies (e.g., MOOCs), I have over 20 years of experience teaching courses in psychology, research design/methods/mathematics to undergraduate and doctoral students, at institutions in the USA and abroad and have lived and worked in South Asia and Southeast Asia. I have taught university courses in clinical and abnormal psychology, as well as graduate courses in disaster, trauma, and crisis, and child, lifespan, and cultural and international psychology. I am a strong advocate for professional psychologists in terms of appropriate regulation (including telehealth/apps), fair reimbursement, student debt elimination, and optimal integration with larger healthcare systems/organizations. I am a strong advocate for professional psychologists in terms of appropriate regulation (including telehealth/apps), fair reimbursement, student debt elimination, and optimal integration with larger healthcare systems/organizations. 

I’ve served on medical missions internationally and traveled to over 33 nations and lived and worked in South and Southeast Asia. I also have worked as a chemical dependency counselor for court referred clients, as a licensed social worker, as a MHRTC, as a teacher therapist for at-risk youth, with adults with several and persistent mental illness, and with African refugees. I am a member of the Green Cross Academy of Traumatology, am PFA certified in psychological first aid by both Johns Hopkins University and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and have published scholarly work on trauma and resilience in developmental and cultural context. 

I am committed to diversity and combatting racism, homophobia, transphobia and antisemitism and Islamophobia. I have taught courses for many years in stereotyping and prejudice as well as cultural and international psychology. I have served on a state board of GLSEN (antibullying organization on behalf of TSPGBTQAI+ youth) and have fought both Islamophobia (e.g., in my work with East African refugees) and antisemitism (e.g., my work documenting, reporting, and resisting antisemitic elements in some APA divisions, such as towards suspending listservs with inflammatory language).

Social issues today require psychologists to partner with colleagues in other disciplines on such issues as climate change, poverty, health equity, prejudice, discrimination, & decolonization (e.g., race/ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, national origin, age, LGBTQAI+). As reflected in my career and life, I actively promote a worldview of living peacefully/cooperatively through greater international scholarship exchange

I am also a certified and licensed massage therapist, and served a term as elected national Board Member of the NCBTMB, which certifies massage therapists, and have written on psychological effects of massage therapy on depressed mood, anxiety/stress, trauma, and pain as well as scope of practice and appropriate integration of this healing modality as part of evidence based holistic care in a health care team setting. My quantitative book of massage therapy research was endorsed by a past president of the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) and featured on the websites of University of Chicago Medical School and Harvard Medical School.

For the past seven years, at the State of Alaska, I am an analyst with Alaska’s Behavioral Health Division.

Here, I was the primary grant writer for several major federal SAMHSA grants for Alaska (e.g., $2 million and $2.8 million SAMHSA COVID-19 emergency grants; $7.9 million ARPA and $7.3 million Appropriations Act Mental Health/Substance Abuse Block Grants), the $2.4 Million FEMA/SAMHSA DTAC crisis grant, and the National Governor’s Association (NGA) grant on Improving Outcomes for Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder on Community Supervision. I also served as Project Evaluator for SAMHSA grants including 988 and GLS suicide prevention efforts. I am cochair of Alaska’s State Epidemiological Workgroup (SEW), and I wrote the 52 page evaluation design for Alaska’s 5 year CMS 1115 Medicaid waiver and also wrote Alaska’s report on integration of primary care with behavioral health. I reside in Juneau, Alaska. As a “Compleat Psychologist,” I look forward to serving your interests. My focus will be “Unity through Diversity,” and your vote will help me actualize that vision.