In recognition of her leadership in increasing our understanding of health disparities, increasing diversity in research and programming, mentorship of students and other professionals, and developing linkages with other health organizations and agencies. Beatty was Senior Director of APA’s Health Disparities Office, conceptualizing, developing and overseeing implementation of this Initiative. In addition to establishing the Health Equity Ambassadors program, she organized and facilitated the development of three major initiatives on Stress and Health Disparities, Health Disparities in Vulnerable Boys and Men, and Disparities in Tobacco Use and Substance Abuse.
The Stress and Health Disparities program included a working group and report titled "Stress and Health Disparities: Contexts, Mechanisms and Interventions among Racial/Ethnic Minority and Low Socioeconomic Status Populations", and a conference.
Health Disparities in Vulnerable Boys and Men also included a working group and report titled Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic and Sexual Minority Boys and Men as well as related materials including a blog post entitled, "Depression in Black Boys Begins Earlier than You Think" and fact sheets summarizing information from the report. She also partnered with Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and other organizations on two conferences on addressing issues facing this population.
Beatty also spearheaded a program to examine Disparities in Tobacco Use and Substance Abuse which included a conference, partnering with CDC for a Tips from Former Smokers campaign, Twitter Chats, webinars, and an APA SmokeScreen mobile app funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which provided resources for practitioners on smoking in priority populations. Beatty also represented APA in The National Partnership on Behavioral Health and Tobacco Use, a group of two dozen health groups and leaders in behavioral health and tobacco control working to reduce smoking among persons with behavioral health issues.
In all these efforts, Beatty was able to bring together numerous partners in the health disparities work from community groups, federal agencies and other professional associations.
Before coming to APA, Beatty was the founding director of the Special Populations Office at the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, where she worked for approximately 30 years. In that role she developed and implemented programs to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in sponsored drug abuse and related research.
For her leadership, commitment and years providing technical assistance and mentorship to students and other professional investigators on research and grant development as well as her contribution to APA’s health disparities efforts, I, Rosie Phillips Davis, present this presidential citation to Lula A. Beatty, PhD.