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FOR RELEASE: 4:00 PM (EDT), SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2003

U.S. SURGEON GENERAL RICHARD H. CARMONA, M.D., TO SPEAK AT APA CONVENTION

TORONTO – Dr. Richard H. Carmona, the Surgeon General of the United States, will speak to attendees of the American Psychological Association’s 111th Annual Convention on the topic of “Building Resilience: Psychology’s Role in Emergency Preparedness,” on Saturday, August 9.

Dr. Carmona will discuss the psychological challenges that war, the continuing threat of terrorism, and emerging public health concerns like SARS create for the public.

Because uncertain fears like terrorism exploit our negatives responses to uncontrolled situations, we all need to develop coping strategies that will allow us to reassert control over our daily lives, Dr. Carmona told the California Psychological Association meeting this past April.

Before assuming the office of Surgeon General, Dr. Carmona held a variety of positions both in and out of medicine. He has been a paramedic, a registered nurse and a physician. He has also been a police officer, a professor of surgery, a public health officer and the chief medical officer and chief executive officer of a large medical system.

Dr. Carmona’s address will be immediately followed by an address by APA Past President, Philip G. Zimbardo, Ph.D., on the significant difference psychology makes in daily life.

Presentation: “Building Resilience: Psychology’s Role in Emergency Preparedness,” Session 3265, 4:00 – 4:30 PM August 9, 2003, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building, Meeting Room Level, Meeting Room 701B.

The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world’s largest association of psychologists. APA’s membership includes more than 150,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 53 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.

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