Michel Nawfal, MD, MA, is presented with this Presidential Citation for his stewardship of psychology in Lebanon and the Middle East region, as well as his ongoing leadership within the Global Psychology Alliance (GPA).
Nawfal is the 2023–26 president of the Lebanese Psychological Association and the vice president of the Middle East Psychological Association. He has additionally served as a board member of the Lebanese Order of Psychologists, the Arab Union of Psychological Science, and the mental health-focused Houna Initiative, founded by Sheikha Majda Al Sabah of Kuwait.
He is a licensed clinical psychologist and a medical doctor with wide expertise, including anxiety, depression, panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and eating disorders. He has taught at many universities in Lebanon, such as the Lebanese American University, Notre Dame University, Haigazian University, and the American University of Beirut. And his research has incorporated neurological activity in runners, with implications for depression and anxiety.
Nawfal has made valuable contributions to APA and GPA, including regularly participating in APA conventions and inviting APA participation in Middle Eastern conferences, ensuring meaningful collaborations between U.S. and Lebanese psychology. Moreover, he has been an active participant in GPA meetings, most recently including the International Summit on Psychology and Global Health: A Shared Vision for Global Psychology held in Kingston, Jamaica, where Nawfal was a key contributor in the development of a roadmap to guide the development and evolution of global psychology.
For his exceptional, widespread leadership, advancing both local and international psychology, I am pleased to present Michel Nawfal, MD, MA, with this Presidential Citation.