Daniel's video statement
Biography
I am an associate professor of psychology in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. At Boston Children's Hospital, I am director of training in psychology in the department of psychiatry and associate director of the Leadership Education in Adolescent Health Training Program in the Division of Adolescent Medicine. I also serve as an adjunct associate professor in the clinical psychology program at Boston University.
I am an APA fellow and I served as the first African-American elected to the position of member-at-large on the APA Board of Directors. I served as president of Div. 35 (Society for the Psychology of Women) and as member of the Committee for the Advancement of Professional Practice, the Council of Representatives (chairing the Women's Caucus, the Public Interest Caucus and the Education and Training Caucus), the Ethics Code Task Force and the APA Finance Committee. In addition, I have been the senior member of the Early Career Psychologist Task Force and chair of the APA Presidential Centering on Mentoring Task Force.
For many years, I have been concerned about the small number of research psychologists who are people of color. With a vision of a mentoring program for women of color, in 1999 I successfully obtained the total sum of $46,000 from the National Institute of Health, the Kellogg Foundation and Harvard Medical School for the Next Generation Program, an ethnically based mentoring program for early career women of color who are committed to research careers on adolescents. Three of these women have won K Career Awards from NIH, one obtained a highly competitive R01 award, one has earned a full professor rank, three are associate professors and two are employed at major policy-research institutions (Institute of Medicine and Centers for Disease Control).
I am a founding faculty member of the APA Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology. In 2009, 2011 and 2013, I served as a faculty member of the Diversity Leadership Development Workshop, an initiative of Div. 31 (State, Provincial and Territorial Psychological Association Affairs).
My career has focused primarily on instruction, training and mentoring. My contributions as a mentor were recognized by Harvard Medical School in 1998 when I received the prestigious A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award — the first woman, the first person of color and first psychologist to earn the honor. I received mentoring awards from the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (1999), the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues (2003) and the Society for the Psychology of Women (2006). Beginning in 2007, the latter award was re-named the Strickland-Daniel Mentoring Award. I also received the 2001 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, the 2002 APA Distinguished Award for Education and Training and the 2008 APA Committee on Women in Psychology Distinguished Leader for Women in Psychology Award. I am also a 2011 recipient of the Elizabeth Hurlock Trust Award, which honors inspirational professors.
Daniel's candidate statement
Psychology is every day in almost every way. Psychological practice, science, education and policy encompass and enhance the human experience. Consequently, when issues affecting people across the lifespan arise, the discipline of psychology must have a presence in the room, at the table and often at the head of the table. We must lead policy formulation and implementation. Having a presence entails seeking sustainable collaborations across a range of disciplines and professions. We must integrate psychological science and practice in multidisciplinary and multi-professional activities. In so doing, we must find common ground, i.e. negotiate differences and learn about different perspectives with the goal of developing viable strategies. Leadership skills and the many areas of interest as reflected in the 50-plus APA divisions will prove critical as psychologists assume roles in these collaborations.
Specifically, our three goals are the inclusion of psychological science first, in health care and in advancing human welfare; second, in education, research and social policy initiatives; and third, at the community level. The results will be the inclusion of psychology in multiple venues. Service on the boards and committees of organizations focusing on health, education, the arts, the media and the environment presents viable options for citizen psychologists. Having a presence at many tables enhances the role of psychology and supports the focus on a more nimble APA in responding to crucial societal issues. Including such service as an integral part of education and training in psychology will contribute to increasing the number of psychologists who will participate as citizen psychologists. Our field has the ability to make a difference every day in almost every way and we must take the lead in doing so.