Candidates for member at large for student/trainee development

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Meet the candidates for Div. 54 member at large for student/trainee development.

Bryan Karazsia is an associate professor of psychology at The College of Wooster. He earned his PhD from Kent State University, completing clinical internship at Children’s Mercy Hospitals in Kansas City, Missouri. His research identifies psychosocial influences on mental health and health behaviors. This work includes intervention research, with particular interests in applications of advanced quantitative methods.

 

Karazsia joined SPP early in his graduate school years. Since 2004, he has volunteered at conferences, participated in the JPP’s mentorship program and he received the Lizette Peterson-Homer Injury Prevention Grant in 2008. He currently serves as an editorial board member for JPP and two other scholarly journals. He is an associate editor of Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, and he recently guest edited (with Kristoffer Berlin, PhD) a special Issue on quantitative methodology in the JPP (March 2014).

 

Candidate Statement

It is an honor to be nominated to serve as member at large for student/trainee development. A strong dedication to future generations of pediatric psychologists enabled me to develop in this field, and I enjoy training, mentoring, and encouraging current students and trainees. In fact, I dedicate a portion of my research efforts to training issues and pedagogical methods.

SPP has a tradition of devoting time, energy, finances and journal space to student/trainee issues and “spotlighting” trainees at various levels of development in our Progress Notes. SPP’s dedication to students/trainees is also reflected in the numerous research, travel and presentation awards, as well as the very recently updated core competencies in pediatric psychology.

As member at large, I would first continue the excellent foundation that is set via careful execution of ongoing initiatives. I would also promote the recent updates to core competencies and efforts to assess them. It will be important to anchor the competencies in concrete examples of formative experiences (e.g., courses, research and clinical experiences). I see these efforts as dovetailing with diversity initiatives. We need to ensure that students from all backgrounds are aware of and have access to experiences that will attract and engage them in our field. I look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with other board and division members to increase awareness of fundamental training experiences at all levels of development.

Eleanor Mackey is an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and associate director of training in psychology at Children’s National Health System in Washington, D.C. She earned her PhD in pediatric psychology at the University of Miami and completed both internship and fellowship at Children’s National. Her current position is primarily composed of grant-funded research with a focus on prevention, treatment and adherence issues in children with obesity and diabetes. Additionally, in her clinical efforts, she is the director of mental health services for the Obesity Institute at Children’s. In each of these roles, one of the main components of her work centers on training at all levels, from undergraduates and postbaccalaureate students to graduate students, clinical interns, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty. 

 

Candidate Statement

I am honored to be nominated for the member at large position for student/trainee development representing Div. 54. As a pediatric psychologist, Div. 54 has been my home since my training. I am passionate about training and have made training and mentorship a cornerstone of my career. My role as associate training director at Children’s National in D.C. has afforded me the opportunity to oversee training at all levels of career development and made me very aware of our field’s strengths and challenges. I believe this makes me well suited to this position for the division. Specifically, I believe that we can learn from our own successes in certain areas and extend their reach to training. For example, pediatric psychologists are moving towards increasing use of health tools for patient care. There is also great potential in using similar tools to provide education opportunities for trainees in pediatric psychology to learn new techniques and approaches from experts, regardless of where they are located. Such training opportunities may include free or reduced cost webinars, training videos or resource banks that trainees and early career psychologists can access could provide psychologists with the ability to enhance their skills in a variety of treatment approaches.

I would also like to enhance mentorship programs at all levels of training which can provide practical support to psychologists and psychologists-in-training with regards to applications to graduate programs, matching with clinical internships, program development, grant writing, the business side of setting up a practice and the use of technology in practice and research, to name a few.

In sum, I believe I have the experience and the enthusiasm to serve as Div. 54’s member at large for student/trainee development. I look forward to having the opportunity to serve the division and will work hard to represent pediatric psychology in the push to provide ever better training and mentorship for each generation of pediatric psychologists.

Erica Sood, PhD, is a pediatric psychologist at Nemours/duPont Hospital for Children and assistant professor of pediatrics at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. She earned her PhD from Temple University and completed internship and fellowship at Nemours. She directs a neurodevelopmental follow up program for children with congenital heart disease and conducts research on neurodevelopmental outcomes and family psychosocial interventions for this patient population. She was Div. 54 program chair for the 2014 APA convention, serves on the editorial board for CPPP, and is an active member of the Pediatric Cardiology Special Interest Group. Sood is actively involved in training externs, interns and fellows. She also provides research mentorship to fellows and junior faculty and is a member of the Nemours Institutional Review Board.

 

Candidate Statement

I am honored to be nominated for member at large for student/trainee development. Div. 54 has a strong history of supporting student/trainee development and I would be thrilled to take a leadership role in furthering these initiatives. Training and mentorship are among the most valuable activities of pediatric psychologists, and I take all opportunities to incorporate them into my work. As Div. 54 program chair for the 2014 APA Annual Convention, I organized a symposium of exemplary student research, providing a unique opportunity for students to present at a national meeting as well as a speed mentoring event. These are among the experiences I value most from my year as program chair. I also coordinate an opportunity for interested trainees to connect with psychologists working in cardiology. While pediatric psychology is well integrated into some medical specialties, involvement in other areas like cardiology is still in its infancy. I feel it is the responsibility of psychologists working in these specialties to mentor students and trainees to further emerging areas of pediatric psychology.

As member at large, I would continue the outstanding opportunities already available to students and trainees through our division. I would also work to facilitate mentorship and training of skills that are not typically taught in graduate school but are important for success in a hospital or primary care setting, such as working as part of an interdisciplinary team, writing/presenting for medical audiences and program development. I would work with the SPPAC and APA program chairs to promote opportunities for mentorship and oral presentation of student/trainee research. I feel that I have the passion for training/mentorship to succeed in the role of member at large for student/trainee development and look forward to this exciting opportunity.