Meet the candidates for 2026 APA president

Member nominations are in. Following are the president-elect candidates known at the time of publication. Read on for more information on each candidate’s experience and priorities. Find additional information on the candidates on the President-Elect Ballot by visiting MyAPA.

The winning psychologist will serve as APA’s 2025 president-elect and 2026 president.

Psychologists, because of our extraordinary education, training, and experience, have an impact every day on the lives of those who are suffering in our local/national/international communities. My vision for APA includes:

• Promoting clinical practice and working closely with SPTAs to ensure the necessary resources to pass critical legislation and address developments in state legislatures that might erode the privacy rights of patients and/or psychotherapists’ privilege.
• Appreciating the significance of the psychologist’s role in primary care/primary prevention/academic institutions/military arenas/applied science arenas.
• Using our effective scientific evidence to contribute to the eradication of global health disparities; the dismantling of systemic racism/antisemitism/homophobia/transphobia; and the achievement of health equity.
• Facilitating greater access to comprehensive, integrative, compassionate, and the highest level of quality mental health care, including prescriptive authority.
• Identifying and disseminating essential information on evidence-based/evidence-informed treatments for the sequelae of Covid-19 and substance abuse and addiction disorders.
• Promoting global initiatives, reducing the existential threats to our environment, and meeting the needs of climate refugees.
• Emphasizing the critical importance of scientists and psychological science, infused with EDI initiatives, fulfilling our APA mission to impact our world.
• Providing for telehealth growth and use of big data.
• Accentuating the “disruptive” role of the psychologist in creating transformative change.
• Training our youngest generation of psychologists to work in ever faster-paced/complex environments with diverse populations.
• Ensuring the growth of a broadly representative/inclusive/multidisciplinary/multicultural/multinational APA.

Psychology plays a critical role in shaping our collective future and wellness. As we face various challenges—health, educational, financial, climate crisis, and geopolitical tensions—it is difficult to focus on positive growth amid messages that create a pervasive sense of hopelessness. During these complex times, I often reflect on our role in addressing these multifaceted crises. I am frequently reminded of the dedicated members of APA—people like you, who continue to use their skills and talents to improve the lives of people and communities. You are our hope; you are APA. I am convinced that our collective strength is enhanced when we come together. This stance is a fundamental pillar of my presidential campaign and my ethical, professional, and personal values.

My goal as president of APA will be to help enhance and amplify the goodwill of our field. We are scientists, practitioners, advocates, and teachers, but more than anything, we are leaders. The world needs us, and we need a healthier world. As president of our association, I will co-create pathways for us to come together and elevate our voices. We have the knowledge, skill, and expertise. We need only to match them with the challenges we face. We are doing incredible work in our communities, locally and globally. A new vision for psychology will enable us to meet human needs and enhance the overall human experience.

Our campaign’s slogan “Radically Well Together” refers to the application of scientific methods to promote wellness in our world. Throughout my career, I have engaged in this work as a counseling psychologist, educator, leader in professional organizations, and in service to APA. It would be my honor to continue this journey as the next president of our association.

We can do this. We will do this. Radically well, together!

APA has not paid enough attention to the concerns and needs of its professional members in recent years. The authority of APA comes from the work of professional psychologists who create, teach, advocate for, and apply psychological science. I am running for APA president to raise the voice of professional psychology, and to ensure the interests of the profession and the membership are heard and addressed in APA.

These are essential issues APA needs to address in the next 3 years:

• Reimbursement: Psychologists are under-reimbursed and underfunded. APA needs to be more aggressive in addressing reimbursement and funding issues nationally and in helping state associations in their jurisdictions.
• Regulation: APA is seriously considering endorsing licensing people with master’s degrees in health services psychology, but the association has not given adequate consideration to the potential unintended consequences for the profession and for those who may come after us. It is essential that the Board of Directors have at least one member who has been closely involved in these issues as I have led the membership through this important discussion.
• Corporate Health Care: APA needs to give practicing psychologists the support they need to compete in communities dominated by large health care systems, where investor-owned entities are assimilating independent practices, and with mental health app companies.
• Student Debt: No one entering the profession should be burdened by student loan debt. We need to find ways to fund education without debt so that everyone can enter the field.

I have been advocating for the profession of psychology and for practitioners for more than 30 years in state and national associations, and I have 20 years of experience as a regulator. I want your voice to matter at APA. Please give me your #1 vote.

The issues facing psychologists today are many. As APA president, I will aim to build unity with diversity to achieve our shared goals by:

• Encouraging excellence & representation in research & practice. Psychology is stronger when we work together effectively. Support for both those in academia & those in private practice/organizations (e.g., government/business/health facilities/hospitals).
• Creating meaningful opportunities for students/early career, mid- and senior-career psychologists.
• Examining best practices for effectively/efficiently integrating primary care & behavioral health. Social issues today require psychologists to partner with colleagues in other disciplines on such issues as climate change, poverty, health equity, prejudice, discrimination, & decolonization (e.g., race/ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, national origin, age, LGBTQAI+). Promoting a worldview of living peacefully/cooperatively through greater international scholarship exchange.
• Ensuring ample/appropriate dissemination of psychology to health care providers & the public through effective use of media/technology. Making psychoeducation proactive, not just reactive crisis responding. Publications/policy briefs should be affordable/accessible in the USA & internationally.
• Working together with the profession & public toward positive social change. To succeed, psychology must partner with behavioral health professionals, policymakers, & insurance & advocacy groups. Respectfully engaging with both ends of the political spectrum, better communicating our shared mission & building a system where diverse stakeholders can meaningfully engage.

As APA president, to achieve these ambitious goals, I bring 30 years of extensive experience managing organizations/projects in APA, state government, & academe, including life/work in diverse settings (e.g., Alaska/Cambodia/India).