Candidates for APA President
What have you done and what would you do as president to demonstrate your support for scientific psychology?
As chair of Pennsylvania's Practice Research Network (PRN) for six years, I have worked to encourage a rebirth of the scientist-practitioner model in which clinicians and research scientists work together to conduct psychological research that is both rigorous and relevant (see Clinical Psychology Science and Practice). As president of APA, my primary focus will be the development of a national PRN. Such a model will provide unparalleled research opportunities for our scientific community while simultaneously validating the work of our practice community. We are, after all, one profession.
What professional issues, e.g. managed care, prescription privileges, master's training, internship requirements, will you emphasize during your term?
These are all important issues and none is to be minimized. Certainly, managed care is the most destructive and dangerous of forces because the industry is systematically dismantling American health care and its related educational systems. The other mentioned "professional" issues are really issues that pertain to our professional training model, which is in need of modernization. We are living in an era of increasingly rapid change and psychology must be prepared to adapt to this change quickly or be swept away by the tide of the future. My emphasis in one word? Technology.
