Kimberly Balsam, PhD, was awarded a 2019 APA Presidential Citation for exceptional leadership as a researcher, clinician, mentor and servant to professional societies.
Over the course of several decades, Balsam has focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) psychology in societal contexts, including such topics as trauma and minority stress in ethnically-diverse LGBTQ populations, LGBTQ veterans and military personnel, comparisons between same-sex and heterosexual couples, and development of culturally relevant assessment tools for LGBTQ-specific constructs. She has applied a scientist practitioner perspective to the health and well-being of stigmatized populations, with an emphasis on ethnically diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and queer people. She has mentored many students in her research lab (RISE) and has helped to foster an intersectional perspective on gender identity/sexual orientation/race and health. She has served the profession of psychology through her leadership in Div. 44 and in APA.