Winners of the Award for Outstanding Contributions to Continuing Professional Development in Psychology

BEA's Award for Outstanding Contributions to Continuing Professional Development in Psychology recognized excellence and innovation in support of the lifelong education and ongoing training of psychologists.

2025

Christopher AhnAllen, PhD, ABSMIP

AhnAllen has devoted his career to the development and promotion of educational advancements in psychology for doctoral psychology trainees and for professional psychologists. He is the director of psychology training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and founding program director of the APA-accredited BWH Clinical Psychology Internship Training Program. Under his direction, the program has offered training in general adult, neuropsychology and gender-affirming care tracks. AhnAllen previously served on the APA Continuing Education Committee  including as vice-chair and chair. As a board-certified psychologist in Serious Mental Illness Psychology, he also co-chairs the APA Division 18 Serious Mental Illness – Severe Emotional Disturbance Education subcommittee that delivers national continuing education programming. He is committed to training supervisors to develop competence and has received national funding to host a regional conference on clinical supervision, regularly provided continuing education workshops, and has received national funding for educational research to promote culturally-responsive care practices. He has received various recognitions for his educational leadership activities including at VA Boston Healthcare System and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

2024

Rosario Costas-Muñiz, PhD

Costas-Muñiz, is a leading expert in psycho-oncology, global health, and cancer disparities. As a researcher and clinician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), she has dedicated her career to improving the lives of cancer patients, particularly those from underserved communities. Her research has focused on addressing the unique challenges faced by Latino cancer patients, including cultural adaptation of interventions, access to care, and the impact of socioeconomic factors. As director of the Latino Comprehensive Psychosocial Oncology Program at MSK, she provides culturally competent care and is at the forefront of research with the Latino population. Additionally, Costas-Muñiz is the codeputy director of MSK’s T32 Psychosocial Palliative and Community Research Fellowship in Cancer. She is committed to mentoring the next generation of Latino researchers and clinicians, with a proven track record of success in training and professional development activities. Costas-Muñiz is also the founding director of FIPOL, a Latin American network of oncology supportive care professionals, expanding the reach of psychosocial oncology care and capacity building in Latin America.

2023

John Bellone, PhD, ABPP

Bellone has made significant contributions to the field of neuropsychology by spearheading an international podcast dedicated to the discipline, titled Navigating Neuropsycholog y opens in new window, together with his colleague Ryan Van Patten, PhD, ABPP. This podcast serves as a free educational resource, offering in-depth discussions with esteemed guest experts on various topics in psychology and neuropsychology. Since its inception in 2018, NavNeuro has amassed a remarkable 715,000 unique downloads, garnering widespread acclaim and international recognition. Notably, one-third of these downloads originate from outside the United States. With an impressive repertoire of 125 episodes, the podcast has consistently gained popularity over time. Continuing education (CE) credits for listening to the podcast are available through a partnership with the International Neuropsychological Society (INS).

Bellone is also the lead author of the book Becoming a Neuropsychologist: Advice and Guidance for Students and Trainees, which breaks down barriers to entering the profession by providing a step-by-step pathway and numerous resources. As a result of his efforts, Bellone has emerged as a prominent figure in the field of neuropsychology, particularly in the realm of education and training.

In addition to his contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion through the aforementioned podcast and book, Bellone serves as a founding member and advisor for the New 2 Neuropsychology Student Outreach Progra m opens in new window. This initiative aims to cultivate a path towards greater diversity and inclusivity in neuropsychology by providing structured presentations and resource dissemination to students attending historically black colleges and universities, tribal colleges and universities, and Hispanic-serving institutions.

2022

David R. Topor, PhD, MS-HPEd

Topor is a national leader in developing educational innovations and faculty programming. Topor is currently a clinical psychologist and the Deputy Associate Chief of Staff for Education at the VA Boston Healthcare System and an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. His contributions include creating a national interprofessional faculty development presentation series, initiating a podcast focused on the growth and development of educators, and developing, implementing, and assessing educational programming for psychologists and other healthcare professionals locally and nationally.

Topor was central in creating a VA Psychology Recognition Week to recognize and celebrate psychology’s clinical, research, and education contributions to healthcare, academia, and society. This Recognition Week has since spread beyond the VA, ensuring a broad appreciation for the field of psychology.

Topor has received grant funding and national awards for his educational work, including the VA 2020 David M. Worthen Innovator Award for Excellence in Health Professions Education,

He believes it is essential that psychologists actively participate in well-designed professional development programming to provide high-quality clinical care, conduct scholarly inquiry, and teach future generations of psychologists.

2021

Susan Sprich, PhD

Sprich has demonstrated excellence and innovation in the lifelong education and ongoing training of psychologists. She was appointed director of psychology training and co-clinical director of psychology at Mass General Hospital (MGH), having previously served as the director of the MGH’s Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Program, and assistant director of the MGH Pre-Doctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology.

Since 2015, she has been working tirelessly to provide continuing education opportunities to peers in her role as director of postgraduate psychology education for the MGH Psychiatry Academy, which has educated thousands of clinicians through comprehensive and innovative educational programs. Seeing the growing research-practice gap in psychology as a major challenge facing the field, Sprich spearheaded an initiative to increase training opportunities in evidence-based psychotherapy at the MGH Psychiatry Academy. She focused program development on convenient online courses for busy practicing psychologists, ensuring that continuing education credits were available for numerous professionals including psychologists, physicians, nurses, and social workers. Sprich’s new portfolio of psychotherapy courses achieved both conceptual and technological advances beyond what was previously available at the MGH Psych Academy or anywhere else worldwide in the continuing psychological education space.

2020

Samuel Knapp, PhD

Primarily through his work with the Pennsylvania Psychological Association, Samuel Knapp has been part of an informal and extensive network of psychologists, working to develop and implement educational programs and materials to improve the ethical sensitivity and behavior of psychologists. This group of psychologists eschew a legalistic or fear-based approach to ethics education and instead seek to uplift, inspire, empower, and interest learners. Although ethics codes are important, Knapp promotes the importance of ethics involving more than just learning the APA Ethics Code or any other disciplinary document. Often, the programs that he conducts and the materials that he utilizes reference the Ethics Acculturation Model, a process designed to encourage ethical self-reflection. These educational programs are designed to promote a sense of community, self-care, self-compassion, and self-reflection. Knapp’s programs and resources are grounded in an overall ethical theory and informed by scientific advances in the study of moral behavior. His impressive work spans over several decades and continues through the Ethics Educator Conference which has been running for more than 25 years.

2019

Clinton W. McLemore, PhD

McLemore made significant contributions to lifelong education and ongoing training of psychologists. His achievements span across decades of teaching, mentorship, and scholarly contributions, including serving on the full-time faculty at an APA-accredited doctoral program. Of particular impact, as a leader in the field of applied research in psychology, he founded Clinician’s Research Digest (CRD) in 1983. He established CRD with an overarching objective of providing practicing clinicians with accessible information in the form of brief summaries of empirical research, which they could apply to their practice and work. His CRD was offered with a continuing education option and filled a much-needed gap for psychologists. This publication was such a successful venture that it was eventually acquired by APA, and it remains among its catalogue of journals and CE course offerings. Alongside his broader teaching, mentorship, and scholarly contributions, McLemore has reached the lives of thousands of psychologists, and his commitment to enhancing lifelong education of those individuals remains an ongoing mainstay through the publication of CRD.

2015

Danny Wedding, PhD, MPH

Wedding has distinguished himself in the area of continuing professional development with contributions in four distinct domains. He supported the science and profession of psychology during the two decades he directed the Missouri Institute of Mental Health, providing continuing education for thousands of psychologists and other mental health professionals. He has educated hundreds of thousands of students, psychologists, and other health professionals during the 14 years he spent as editor of PsycCRITIQUES, APA’s journal of book and film reviews. He promoted evidence-based practice in clinical psychology as editor for the book series Advances in Psychotherapy: Evidence Based Practice, published by Hogrefe and supported by the Society of Clinical Psychology. He has significantly enhanced the education of a generation of psychologists with his book Current Psychotherapies, as well as both psychologists’ and the public’s understanding of mental illness and those professionals who treat mental illness through his books Movies and Mental Illness and Positive Psychology at the Movies.

2013

Bradley E. Karlin, PhD, ABPP

Karlin is a national leader in mental health care transformation and system change. As vice president and chief of mental health and aging at the Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), he has led EDC’s work with public and private health care systems to promote the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based psychological treatments and to improve mental health and dementia care for older adults. He has also served as national mental health director for psychotherapy and psychogeriatrics for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care system, where he developed and oversaw the nation’s largest implementation of evidence-based psychotherapies and transformed mental health care for older adults. Karlin is also adjunct associate professor at Johns Hopkins University. He is an APA fellow and a past president of Div. 12 (Society of Clinical Psychology).

The extent of Karlin’s efforts to promote quality continuing education and professional development is far-reaching, and his dedication to developing, training, evaluating, and improving national initiatives for this purpose is clearly evident in his accomplishments to-date. He is the recipient of numerous national awards, including the inaugural Award for Outstanding Contributions to Continuing Professional Development in Psychology from APA, a Certificate of Commendation from the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Outstanding Administrator award from the VA section of APA, the Spotlight Award from the APA Division of Psychologists in Public Service, and the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award.