Wendy Ward-Begnoche, PhD (Candidate Statement)

Office: Member-At-Large Membership 
 
Wendy Ward-Begnoche is an associate professor with tenure in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and provides services through Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Ward-Begnoche received her PhD from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She completed her predoctoral internship at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center and her postdoctoral fellowship at UAMS, both in pediatric psychology. She is currently co-director of Pediatric Psychology Training. She is also the director of Psychological Research and Services for the Child Obesity Center, the Arkansas Center for Respiratory and Technology Dependent Children, and the Cystic Fibrosis Center. She coordinates the inpatient consultation/liaison service for one of the largest children’s hospitals in the nation and an outpatient psychology consult service for a network of pediatric specialty clinics including Genetics, Chronic Pain, High Risk Newborn, Sleep Disorders, Endocrinology, GI, Obesity, and Pulmonary. Ward-Begnoche has published extensively on medical adherence and is supported by grant funding. She manages a Div 54-approved SIG on Pediatric Obesity. She currently serves as a mentor in the jointly sponsored Div 54/APPIC Mentoring Project for students and earlycareer professionals, as well as for the Journal of Pediatric Psychology mentored reviewing program.

Candidate Statement

I am privileged to have been nominated for SPP Member-at-Large for Membership and hope to be elected to serve SPP members in this role. I have been a member of SPP for 14 years, through its transition from a section of Division 12 to a separate APA Division. I am excited at the prospect of taking my passion for our field and working with others to enhance its role in national advocacy and policy-making, training initiatives for young members, supporting research endeavors, and promoting the use of evidence-based standards of practice guidelines in clinical work. I feel well-prepared for this position given my experience serving on multiple national committees/subcommittees, such as an Executive Committee member in the National Association for Children’s Hospitals Research Institute FOCUS I and II groups on Pediatric Obesity. I was also selected for Leadership training by the Association of American Medical Colleges as well as APA’s Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology (LIWP), which further prepared me for service on Div 54’s Board. Given my passion and commitment to the field of pediatric psychology, I am confident that if elected I would fulfill the role of member at large with energetic enthusiasm and cooperative collaboration with other board members to bring SPP’s initiatives to life.