APA's Council of Representatives has elected a new treasurer and two new members-at-large of its Board of Directors: Next month, former board member Paul Craig, PhD, will take the reins as APA Treasurer and clinical psychologist Armand Cerbone, PhD, and pediatric psychologist Suzanne Bennett Johnson, PhD, will begin three-year board terms.
Here's what these leaders bring to APA:
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A longtime champion for social justice issues, Chicago-based practitioner Armand Cerbone, PhD, served on APA's Council of Representatives for six years representing Div. 44 (Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Issues). One priority for his term is the internationalizing of psychology-an interest he developed after organizing the first international conference of lesbian, gay and bisexual psychologists in 2001. "I saw how much people from around the world look to APA for leadership and want access to our research and resources," he says. "It's very important to keep developing our international relationships." Cerbone has served on the task force that revised APA's "Guidelines for Psychotherapy with Lesbian, Gay, & Bisexual Clients" and as president of the Illinois Psychological Association from 2004-05. He is the director of behavioral health at the Howard Brown Health Center, the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender health center in the Midwest. Little-known fact: When he taught high school at a Catholic school in Boston in the 1960s, Cerbone co-founded the Boston Archdiocese Teachers Association, a union for Catholic school teachers that is still serving teachers today.
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Clinical neuropsychologist Paul Craig, PhD, served on APA's Board of Directors as a member-at-large from 2003-05. He has a private practice in Anchorage, Alaska, and is an associate clinical professor at the University of Washington's School of Medicine. He's served three terms on APA's council for Div. 40 (Clinical Neuropsychology) and for the Alaska Psychological Association and served two terms on APA's Finance Committee. As treasurer, he aims to help keep APA on the path of financial prosperity it has experienced under the guidance of outgoing Chief Financial Officer Jack McKay (see January Monitor for more on McKay's retirement). "My primary goal will be to help make this transition within the APA's Executive Management Group as wrinkle-free as possible," says Craig, adding that his upbringing on a Nebraska farm will serve the association's finances well. "Farm families know that when they consume the seed corn, future harvests are compromised." Little-known fact: Craig once rode his bike from New York City to the coast of Oregon and continues to cycle at least 1,000 miles a year.
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Clinical health psychologist Suzanne Bennett Johnson, PhD, chairs Florida State University's department of the medical humanities and social sciences in the College of Medicine. Johnson, whose practice and research niche is working with children who have diabetes, helped establish the Health and Behavior Current Procedural Terminology codes with APA's Practice Directorate in 2000 and chaired APA's Board of Scientific Affairs in 2003 and 2004. She has served on APA's council for six years as a division and state representative and spent 2001-02 learning policy-making in Washington, D.C., as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow in the office of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y). Priorities for her term include continuing the push for more funding for behavioral science research and, within psychology, for the integration of science and practice. "The scientist-practitioner model makes our discipline so unique-no other profession is trained this way," says Johnson. "It's important to keep both sides as serious players in APA-to lose either group would seriously diminish psychology." Little-known fact: "How much I love being a mom," says Johnson, who had two daughters, now 27 and 25, when she was well into her psychology career, despite concerns from some that juggling motherhood with her time-consuming career might be too tough. "It actually introduced a lot of balance into my life," adds Johnson. "Being a mom is probably the most important thing I have done-next to marrying their father!"
-J. Chamberlin