Candidates for secretary

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Meet the candidates for Div. 54 secretary.

Cynthia Gerhardt is an associate professor at The Ohio State University (OSU), a pediatric psychologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH) and a principal investigator at the Research Institute at NCH. Gerhardt received her undergraduate degree from OSU and her PhD from the University of Vermont. She completed her internship and fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. 

 

Gerhardt’s research focuses on risk and resilience factors associated with family adjustment to bereavement and childhood illnesses, such as cancer. Gerhardt has over 85 publications and has had continuous National Institutes of Health and foundation funding for over 15 years.

 

Gerhardt is actively involved in leadership and training at NCH as director of the Center for Biobehavioral Health, co-director of Clinical Research Resources for the OSU CTSA and co-director for the Pediatric Research Fellowship Program. Gerhardt is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Pediatric Psychology ( JPP ), the JPP mentorship program, the SPP mentorship program and the SPP Hematology/Oncology SIG. She also chaired the program committee for the 2005 Regional Conference on Child Health.

 

Candidate Statement

I am delighted to be nominated for SPP secretary and welcome the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to our division. SPP has always been my professional home, and I have enjoyed being part of the tremendous growth in our field. I am committed to service and believe it is important that we promote the value of pediatric psychologists worldwide.

Organizational skill, effective writing, attention to detail and the ability to work collaboratively with others are integral to the duties of SPP secretary. Given my years as a clinician, teacher and researcher, I am confident in my ability to succeed in this role. I have also been an active participant in the APA Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology, as well as various leadership roles in my institution. Thus, I enjoy the prospect of working with my colleagues on the board of directors to fulfill our division’s mission.

I am pleased to have an opportunity to contribute to SPP and the future of our field. It has been particularly rewarding to serve as a mentor for so many new and accomplished members of SPP during my career. I hope I can continue to make a sustained and positive impact through my service to the organization.

Thank you for your consideration and support. I would be truly honored to serve you as SPP secretary.

Chambers, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Psychology & Neuroscience at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her research lab, based in the Centre for Pediatric Pain Research, IWK Health Centre, examines developmental, psychological, and social influences on children’s pain, with a focus on family factors in pediatric pain and using social media to mobilize evidence-based information about children’s pain to parents.

 

Candidate Statement

I am delighted to be nominated for the position of secretary for the Society of Pediatric Psychology. My past experiences in SPP leadership roles have been very rewarding. I am excited to hopefully have the opportunity to be a part of realizing SPP’s current goals as well as developing new initiatives and projects. I feel like I “grew up” in SPP, having been a member since I first joined as an undergraduate student over 20 years ago. I recall waiting with great excitement for the next issues of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology or Progress Notes to arrive in the mail. And I still look forward to the arrival of these items (now via email). I bring a breadth and depth of research, clinical, service and advocacy experiences in pediatric psychology. My prior involvement in SPP reflects my enthusiasm and commitment to this organization. This includes my role as an elected member at large in charge of membership on the SPP board (2009-2011), during which time I executed a very successful member survey and developed new strategies for SPP member recruitment, engagement and retention. I have also participated in SPP in many other ways, including serving as program chair for Div. 54 at the Annual APA Convention (2002-2003), participating on various task forces and committees (e.g., fellows committee, international committee), reviewing for various SPP grants, awards and conference submissions, writing a number of newsletter articles, and creating an SPP fact sheet on procedure pain in children. To this position, I bring my leadership skills, strengthened through my recent participation in APA’s Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology, as well as my organizational, detail-oriented and time management strengths, and a collaborative and collegial spirit (not to mention fast and furious typing skills). It has been wonderful, both personally and professionally, to be a member of SPP, and I look forward to the opportunity to provide additional leadership. Thank you for your consideration.