APF Recognizes Moldawsky for Life Achievement
The American Psychological Foundation (APF) has honored Stanley Moldawsky, PhD, with its 2000 Gold Medal for Life Achievement in the Practice of Psychology. APF President Joseph D. Matarazzo, PhD, presented the medal at the APF-APA Awards Ceremony during APA's Annual Convention to recognize Moldawsky's distinguished and enduring contributions to psychology.
Moldawsky was active in helping states obtain psychology licensing laws, including serving as chair
of the APA Committee on State Legislation. When he began full-time private practice in 1957, private practice was not reimbursed by insurance or licensed in New Jersey. State psychologists, including Moldawsky, began a joint effort to lobby the legislature, leading to the passage of Freedom of Choice legislation in 1968. He was subsequently elected president of the New Jersey Psychological Association and twice represented the state on the APA Council of Representatives.
Moldawsky was elected to the APA Board of Professional Affairs in 1976, later serving as its chair. As chair of the Committee on APA State Association Relations in 1980, he helped state associations develop central offices and become active in APA. In 1982, Moldawsky was elected to the APA Board of Directors; over 24 years, he represented Divs. 12 (Society for Clinical Psychology), 29 (Psychotherapy) and 42 (Psychologists in Independent Practice), and represented New Jersey on the Council of Representatives. In 1997, he was elected president of Div. 42 and also served as co-chair of the Task Force on Managed Care, a joint effort by Divs. 29, 39 (Psychoanalysis) and 42.
Moldawsky's career psychology began after serving as a line officer on a PC in the Pacific theater during World War II. He returned from the war to complete his education at the University of WisconsinMadison before entering graduate school at the University of Iowa. While chief psychologist at the Veterans Admin-
istration (VA) Mental Hygiene Clinic in Omaha, Neb., Moldawsky helped create the Nebraska Psychological Association, serving on its first board of directors. He also discovered the 1905 Nebraska Medical Practices Act, which declared psychotherapy to be a medical practice and motivated him toward a career focused on making psychological practice legal and respectable.
Among the many honors he has received are New Jersey Psychologist of the Year, Div. 42 Psychologist of the Year, APA Award for Outstanding Contribution to Psychology by a Psychologist in Professional Practice, Div. 29 Psychologist of the Year, AAP Lifetime Advocacy Award and the Carl Heiser Award.
Belar honored for contributions to health psychology
Cynthia D. Belar, PhD, executive director of the APA Education Directorate, is the recipient of the first American Psychological Foundation (APF) Timothy B. Jeffrey Memorial Award for her outstanding contributions to clinical health psychology.
The American Psychological Foundation (APF) and Div. 38 (Health Psychology) present the award in memory of the contributions of Timothy Jeffrey, PhD, who was a former Div. 19 (Military Psychology) president and director of the University of Nebraska Medical Center's clinical psychology department. His wife, Louise K. Jeffrey, PhD, established the fund with APF in 1999 to support a $2,000 annual award.
Belar received her PhD from Ohio University in l974, after an internship at Duke University Medical Center. After graduation, she developed academic and clinical tracks in medical psychology at the doctoral, internship and postdoctoral levels in the University of Florida Health Science Center's department of clinical and health psychology. Belar left Florida to serve as chief psychologist and clinical director of behavioral medicine for 10 years at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Los Angeles, where she also maintained an independent practice. She then returned to the University of Florida as professor and director of the clinical psychology doctoral program. Her research has been in the areas of pain, applied psychophysiology and reproductive endocrinology.
Belar has chaired the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers, the Chairs of Training Council Chairs, and the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology. She was president of Div. 38 and of the American Board of Clinical Health Psychology, and is the recipient of the 1996
APA award for Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology.
