About the Center for Psychology and Health

The APA Center for Psychology and Health (CPH) is dedicated to highlighting and advancing the contributions of psychology to the overall improvement of health status — both mental and physical — and health care in our nation.

Psychology is a broad and multifaceted discipline with many lenses and much scientific literature through which to look at health, behavior and their societal impact. Psychologists are uniquely positioned to contribute new and comprehensive ways of addressing health problems and to serve as leaders shaping the future of health and health care.

CPH strives to be at the forefront of the transformation of the traditional health/mental health dichotomy that will broaden how psychology, psychologists, health organizations and patients view health. An APA Center for Excellence, CPH works with all of APA and includes two offices: the Office of Health Care Financing and the Office of Integrated Health Care.

Stephen Gillaspy, PhD

Director of Health and Health Care

Gillaspy is a licensed pediatric psychologist, clinical scientist and senior administrator with extensive experience integrating psychological services into larger healthcare systems. Over the course of his career, he has worked at the national and state levels to advance behavioral health services. For example, Gillaspy has served as an APA advisor to the American Medical Association's Relative Value Update Committee (RUC), which is instrumental in setting reimbursement rates for psychological services. He also has worked with Oklahoma’s Medicaid agency to implement health & behavior codes for psychologists and develop policies on the reimbursement of clinical services provided by psychology interns and fellows. Gillaspy’ s clinical work has focused on the treatment of pediatric obesity, working with children and families to improve both their physical and behavioral health outcomes.

Gillaspy was a professor and director of pediatric psychology in the department of pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma, College of Medicine. He also worked as director of the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline. Gillaspy was president of the Oklahoma Psychological Association (OPA) in 2013 and chaired OPA’s Division for Research, Academics, and Training from 2009 to 2011. He has contributed to five book chapters and authored or co-authored 40 articles published in scientific journals.

Health Leadership Team

The Health Leadership Team is an assembly of executive directors and staff in APA's directorates, programs and APA Services Inc. whose work deals with health. The team aligns CPH's strategic priorities with existing work across the organization; provides a channel for APA-wide communication on programs, events, and literature; and fosters a collaborative approach to innovation to expand psychology's role in health.

Interdivisional Health Care Committee

APA's Interdivisional Health Care Committee is a coalition of health-oriented divisions within the association whose purpose is to establish a common agenda for promoting the professional, educational and scientific goals of health care psychology. Members of the committee include representatives from:

Div. 12 (Society of Clinical Psychology), Section 2 (Society of Clinical Geropsychology) 

Div. 17 (Society of Counseling Psychology)

Div. 22 (Rehabilitation Psychology)

Div. 38 (Society for Health Psychology)

Div. 40 (Society for Clinical Neuropsychology)

Div. 43 (Society for Couple and Family Psychology)

Div. 54 (Society of Pediatric Psychology)

CPH is playing a key role in cultivating partnerships and collaborations with a variety of organizations. Interorganizational collaboration allows for further engagement of health care stakeholders, thus promoting psychology and psychologists in these arenas.

CMS Innovation Center

Through a cooperative agreement under the Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative, CPH is working with the The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI)  to develop, share and adapt comprehensive quality improvement strategies in conjunction with other health care and professional organizations. To learn more about visit the Integrated Health Care Alliance website. 

American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 

The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine is an international society of more than 4,500 physicians and other health care professionals specializing in the field of occupational and environmental medicine.

American Heart Association 

The American Heart Association is the nation's oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke, with more than 22.5 million volunteers and supporters.

American Diabetes Association

The American Diabetes Association leads the fight against the deadly consequences of diabetes via a network of more than a million volunteers; a membership of more than 500,000 people with diabetes, their families and caregivers; and a professional society of nearly 14,000 health care professionals.

Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative

Representing a broad group of public and private organizations, the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative's mission is to unify and engage diverse stakeholders in promoting policies and sharing best practices that support the growth of high-performing primary care and achieve the "Quadruple Aim": better care, better health, lower costs and greater joy for clinicians and staff in delivery of care.

The Collaborative Family Health Care Association (CFHA)

The Collaborative Family Health Care Association is a member-based, member driven collaborative organization that promotes comprehensive and cost-effective models of healthcare delivery that integrate mind and body, individual and family, patients, providers and communities.