“We are living in a racism pandemic, which is taking a heavy psychological toll on our African American citizens. The health consequences are dire.”
-- American Psychological Association President Sandra L. Shullman, PhD.
Racism is associated with a host of psychological consequences, including depression, anxiety and other severe, sometimes debilitating conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorders. Moreover, the stress caused by racism can contribute to the development of cardiovascular and other physical diseases.
The following psychology experts are available to talk to journalists about the mental health consequences and research on racial discrimination, prejudice, racial profiling and the impact of police misconduct.
Brian Smedley, PhD
Washington, D.C.
Contact: Kim I. Mills, APA Communications
Phone: (202) 336-6048
Email
Website
Expertise: Smedley is APA’s chief of psychology in the public interest and acting chief diversity officer, where he leads APA's efforts to apply the science and practice of psychology to the fundamental problems of human welfare and social justice. He can speak on the negative effects of racism on health, health disparities in minority populations, and the need for diversity in health care professions.
Phillip Atiba Goff, PhD
New York
Phone: (203) 803-8778
Email
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Expertise: Goff is the inaugural Franklin A. Thomas professor in policing equity at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He is the co-founder and CEO of the Center for Policing Equity and an expert in contemporary forms of racial bias and discrimination, as well as the intersections of race and gender. Goff serves as one of four principal investigators for CPE’s National Justice Database, the first national database on racial disparities in police stops and use of force.
Erlanger Turner, PhD
Los Angeles
Phone: (310) 568-5563
Email
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Expertise: An assistant professor of psychology at Pepperdine University, Turner can speak about the psychological effects of violence and racial trauma, the perception of police bias in communities of color, and talking with children about racism.
Wizdom Powell, PhD
Farmington, Connecticut
Phone: (860) 679-3990
Email
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Expertise: Powell is director of the Health Disparities Institute and associate professor of psychiatry at UConn Health. Her community-based research focuses on the role of modern racism, trauma, and gender norms on African American male behavioral and physical health outcomes and health care inequities.
Helen Neville, PhD
Urbana, Illinois
Email
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Expertise: Neville is a professor of educational psychology and African American studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on the ways in which people interpret racial information and the consequences of this interpretation, particularly around challenging and/or maintaining the status quo. She can also speak to the subject of racial trauma, and how the cumulative effects of racism can affect physical and mental health.
Jennifer Lynn Eberhardt
Stanford, California
Phone: (650) 725-2449
Email
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Expertise: Eberhardt is a professor of psychology and the Morris M. Doyle Centennial Professor of Public Policy at Stanford University. She conducts research on race and inequality, specifically the extent to which racial imagery and judgments suffuse our culture and society, and in particular shape actions and outcomes within the domain of criminal justice. Eberhardt is the author of the book “Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice that Shapes What We, See, Think, Do,” and is considered an expert on implicit bias.
Jack Glaser, PhD
Berkeley, California
Phone: (510) 642-3047
Email
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Expertise: A professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, Glaser focuses his research on stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination. He is working with the Center for Policing Equity as one of the principal investigators on a National Science Foundation- and Google-funded project to build a national justice database of police stops and use of force incidents. Glaser works with legal groups, police departments and government agencies to better understand and reduce the impact of racial bias in policing. He can speak about racial profiling, especially as it relates to the psychology of stereotyping, and the self-fulfilling effects of such stereotype-based discrimination.
Patricia Devine, PhD
Madison, Wisconsin
Phone: (608) 262-2815
Email
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Expertise: Devine is a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she researches how people manage the intrapersonal and interpersonal challenges associated with prejudice in contemporary society. She can discuss the relationship between explicit and implicit biases and the processes that regulate the use of stereotypes. Her most recent work consists of combating bias at both the individual and institutional level using evidence-based interventions to empower adults to regulate their use of stereotypes and break the prejudice habit.
Laurence Miller, PhD
Boca Raton, Florida
Phone: (561) 392-8881
Email
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Expertise: Miller is the police psychologist for the West Palm Beach Police Department, mental health consultant for Troop L of the Florida Highway Patrol, a forensic psychological examiner for the Palm Beach County Court and a consulting psychologist with several regional and national law enforcement agencies. His latest books are “The Psychology of Deadly Force Encounters: Science, Practice, and Policy,” and "Practical Police Psychology: Stress Management and Crisis Intervention for Law Enforcement."
Michael Broder, PhD
Philadelphia
Phone: (215) 545-7000
Email
Expertise: Currently in private practice, Broder has served as a chief psychologist in the Philadelphia Police Department. His role there was to modify and oversee all psychological and counseling services, the department’s stress management training programs at all levels and various policies regarding stress. The department's employee assistance program, with a brief peer counseling component, is seen as a model for law enforcement agencies.
Ellen Kirschman, PhD
Redwood City, California
Phone: (650) 365-5794
Email
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Expertise: Kirschman has spent the last 30-plus years as a police and public safety psychologist. She currently spends her time writing, teaching and volunteering as a clinician at the West Coast Post Trauma Retreat for first responders. She is the author of the book “I Love a Cop: What Police Families Need to Know” and a co-author of “Counseling Cops: What Clinicians Need to Know.”
The American Psychological Association also has useful resources available on its website, including:
Stress in America: The impact of discriminationopens in new window (March 2016)
Black lives matter: Psychological research findings offer ways to foster justice
Discrimination: What it is, and how to cope
Talking to kids about discrimination
Speaking of Psychology: Understanding your racial biases. (APA Podcast)
Something Happened in Our Town: A Child's Story About Racial Injustice (Magination Press® children’s book)
Training helps police officers overcome racial bias
APA efforts to improve police-community relations
King's challenge to the nation's social scientists
People See Black Men as Larger, More Threatening Than Same-Sized White Men