In recognition of his commitment, dedication, and leadership in advancing strategies to disarm and dismantle racism in psychology, Joseph Patrick Gone, PhD, is awarded a Presidential Citation.
Gone, an expert on mental health and psychological processes impacting Indigenous peoples, is professor in the faculty of arts and sciences (anthropology) and in the faculty of medicine (global health and social medicine) at Harvard University.
Gone’s extensive list of scholarship reflects more than 90 articles and chapters and more than 160 invited presentations exploring the cultural psychology of self, identity, personhood, and social relations with respect to Indigenous community mental health. In his interdisciplinary scholarship, Gone examines the intersection of culture, coloniality, and well-being in Indigenous communities. An enrolled member of the Aaniiih-Gros Ventre tribal Nation of Montana, he has investigated these issues through collaborative research partnerships in both reservation and urban American Indian settings. Gone’s extraordinary contributions have elaborated promising new approaches to making mental health services more accessible, culturally appropriate, and demonstrably effective for alleviating debilitating distress among American Indians.
Gone has served on the editorial boards of numerous journals, including, American Journal of Community Psychology, Journal of the Society for Psychological Anthropology, Clinical Psychological Science, Psychological Services, Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, and Training and Education in Professional Psychology.
Gone is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and seven of its divisions. In 2012 he was a member of the Multicultural Guidelines Writing Group, APA Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists. He served on the Committee on Professional Practice and Standards. He served as member-at-large for the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues (Div. 45) 2012-14 and was a member of the Council of Representatives (2018 – 20), representing Div. 45. Gone received the 2021 Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Applied Research, given to a psychologist whose research has led to important discoveries or developments in the field of applied psychology.
Gone is the 2021 president of the American Indian and Alaska Native Society of Indian Psychologists. In 2007, Gone was elected to the board of directors of the national First Nations Behavioral Health Association and he remains an international collaborator for Canada’s Network for Aboriginal Mental Health Research. Gone was recently elected to the National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest honors in health and medicine.
Gone is co-chair of the Task Force on Strategies to Eradicate, Racism, Discrimination, and Hate, which oversaw APA’s review of psychology’s history with respect to racism and racist ideologies; provided oversight for the completion of an apology for this history; advised on actions needed to address this history; and is responsible for recommending a set of evidence-based resources for dissemination to psychology and others to use in efforts to prevent and address racism, discrimination and hate.
Gone is a military veteran, having served in the U.S. Army 1986-88.
Because of his extensive scholarship, research, dedication to eliminating bias and discrimination, and his commitment and service to APA and the profession of psychology, it is my honor to award Joseph Patrick Gone, PhD, with this 2021 Presidential Citation.