2014 Members
Velma McBride Murry, PhD, chair
Maggie Chartier, PsyD
Timothy Heckman, PhD
Christina S. Meade, Ph.D
Monica Rivera Mindt, PhD
Matthew D. Skinta, PhD
Staff Liaisons
David Martin, PhD, ABPP
Cherie Mitchell, MHS
The mission of the Ad Hoc Committee on Psychology and AIDS (COPA) is to guide the development and implementation of the American Psychological Association's organizational response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Members of COPA carry out this mission each year by attending two face-to-face meetings held in conjunction with the spring and fall consolidated board and committee meetings and by participating in monthly, one-hour conference calls. Additionally, members of COPA regularly communicate with AIDS Office staff and each other by email and phone in order to plan and implement the committee's various initiatives.
COPA was established by the APA Council of Representatives for an initial three year period in 1990, reauthorized for an additional five years in 1993, reauthorized for an additional five years in 1998, with subsequent five-year reauthorizations in 2003 and 2008. A formal request for reauthorization of COPA was completed in 2013, approved by COPA's parent board, the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI) , at its November, 2013 meeting, with final approval by the APA Board of Directors, on Feb. 19, 2014.
In 2014, COPA's membership was diverse in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation — one heterosexual, African-American woman; one heterosexual Hispanic woman; two heterosexual Caucasian women; one heterosexual Caucasian man; and one Caucasian gay man.
From its formation in August 1990 until 2013, the membership of COPA consisted of six demographically and professionally diverse psychologists with extensive HIV/AIDS experience and one non psychologist with community-based HIV/AIDS experience who was self-identified as an HIV+ individual. Beginning in 2013, COPA membership was reduced to six members per term under the direction of BAPPI to be consistent with the standards for membership across APA Public interest committees.
In the fall of 2007, COPA proposed to BAPPI a revision of COPA membership that would enable community perspectives to be obtained from a variety of individuals who live openly with HIV/AIDS. The proposed revision of COPA membership was approved by BAPPI and APA governance staff in December 2008.
Instead of having just one non-psychologist member, COPA now identifies and involves people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) on various COPA initiatives. This procedure enables COPA to identify individuals with expertise related to the specific topics scheduled for discussion. This change was needed because HIV/AIDS research and practice has become highly specialized as efforts are tailored to address distinct sub-populations with each sub-population having specific needs and issues that require specialized expertise. It became untenable to expect that one person could fully or accurately reflect “the community perspective” on such a diverse array of matters. COPA has established an ongoing relationship with the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) for the purpose of recruiting PLWHAs for specific meetings and discussions. This process ensures more meaningful engagement of affected communities because those participating in such discussions are chosen for their unique capacities to offer consultation about the topic at hand. Additionally, this approach enables COPA to strengthen its relationships with the two major Washington-based national organizations representing people living with HIV/AIDS. By forging this new way of relating to these national organizations, COPA has also strengthened its HIV/AIDS advocacy work which is more effective when done in collaboration with representatives from affected communities.
In the years to come, COPA intends to fill its six formal positions with psychologists who are APA members. Participation of PLWHAs recruited through NMAC and other organizations for their specific expertise on topics slated for discussion will occur on an ongoing basis.
During the past year, COPA performed a variety of consultative functions and also was active in various initiatives. Ongoing consultations and projects are briefly summarized below:
In collaboration with the Public Interest Government Relations Office (PI-GRO) and the Office on AIDS, COPA members articulated and advanced APA's HIV/AIDS goals, including: 1) continued federal investments in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) HIV/AIDS behavioral research; 2) integration of mental health and substance use services in HIV/AIDS medical care; 3) sustained federal investments in domestic HIV/AIDS programs; and 4) global AIDS, including PEPFAR and global LGBT human rights legislation.
COPA members, in collaboration with Committee on LGBT Concerns and BAPPI members, participated in an advocacy training in preparation for Hill visits and meetings with SAMHSA officials. In meetings with congressional offices, COPA members advocated for the REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act and informed them of available APA HIV resources and expertise.
Additional policy and advocacy activities in which COPA participated include:
HIV and Aging. COPA released the Psychology & AIDS Exchange newsletter on HIV and aging (January 2014). In addition, COPA, in partnership with the Committee on Aging (CONA), developed a supplement to the APA Online Family Caregiver Briefcase on HIV and Aging. This project is still in process with a final projected release date of spring 2015.
Rural HIV. Velma McBride Murry, PhD, COPA chair, served as lead author and organizer of the Psychology & AIDS Exchange newsletter addressing fundamental issues central to preventing, managing and living with HIV/AIDS in rural communities. This project was developed in collaboration with the Committee on Rural Health, with Lisa Curtin, PhD, and Tracy Cohn, PhD, providing a brief overview of the everyday life experiences of rural residents, emphasizing the importance of social connections, family and resilience in the management of health. Several additional prominent researchers and practitioners have contributed to this issue, which will be released January 2015.
Special Issue of Behavioral Medicine . Under the leadership of COPA members Perry Halkitis, PhD, (editor-in chief of Behavioral Medicine ) and Timothy Heckman, PhD, (associate editor of Behavioral Medicine ), several papers presented as part of a COPA- led, BAPPI- sponsored symposium on health disparities and emerging biopsychosocial challenges of older adults served as the basis for a special issue of Behavioral Medicine focusing on the topic of AIDS and aging. This special issue, which includes articles by several COPA members, was published August 2014.
Disseminating COPA Publication . COPA Members disseminated the special issue of the HIV Specialist on HIV/AIDS at various meetings (e.g., Veteran's Administration Psychology Leadership Conference, American Conference for the Treatment of HIV, etc.).
COPA Blog Series. COPA developed a blog series, which was launched on World AIDS Day, 2014: “9 Things You Should Know About HIV and Aging, Psychology Benefits Society,” co-authored by Maggie Chartier, PsyD, and Monica Rivera Mindt, PhD, COPA members' blogs will be released monthly beginning January 2015.
In 2008, John Anderson, PhD, was awarded a grant to administer Cyber Mentors: A Sustainable Model for Developing Minority HIV Researchers , an innovative research mentorship program run through the Office on AIDS and designed to prepare junior behavioral scientists for successful independent research careers in HIV/AIDS and health disparities. This program was renewed in 2013 with COPA member (and 2014 COPA Chair), Velma McBride Murry, PhD, serving as co-principal investigator, and Tiffany Townsend, PhD, APA staff member (Office on Ethnic Minority Affairs), serving as principal investigator of the grant. The program incorporates the following specific aims: (1) to maintain and strengthen the Cyber Mentors Program, an innovative mentorship program delivered by the APA that is national in its scope and uses web-based technologies to prepare mentees to become independent HIV/AIDS researchers; (2) to expand and sustain the network of volunteer senior mentors who support the selected mentees in developing successful independent research careers in the HIV/AIDS arena; and (3) to recruit, train, and support mentees who are committed to independent research careers focused on HIV/AIDS in ethnic minority communities. COPA provides ongoing consultation for this program. The first cohort for program was selected in June, 2014 and mentorship activities are underway; additional cohorts will be recruited in coming years.
In October 2009, the APA Office on AIDS was awarded funding from the Center for Mental Health Services of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to continue the HIV Office for Psychology Education (HOPE) Program for another five years. In October of 2011, additional funding was provided to expand its HIV/AIDS training efforts in the 12 metropolitan areas most affected by HIV/AIDS. In 2014, members of COPA assisted by providing ongoing consultation to HOPE program staff as they develop new programs. Funding for this program ended in September 2014.
In 2014, SAMHSA released an announcement of continued funding for this federal program under a different funding mechanism emphasizing a different model for delivery of services. The result was a collaborative effort among the Educational Development Center, APA, the National Association of Social Workers and the American Psychiatric Association (ApA) to launch a national educational program emphasizing distance learning methodology, beginning in October 2014. As this program develops, COPA will provide consultation.
Since 1998, Black Entertainment Television (BET) Network has teamed up with the Kaiser Family Foundation on Rap It Up, a comprehensive and sustained media campaign to inform African-Americans about HIV/AIDS. The partnership includes targeted public service announcements, long-form documentary and entertainment programming, and free resources. The campaign also includes on-the-ground community events around the country.
In 2011, COPA chair Scyatta Wallace, PhD, initiated a relationship with BET and opened discussions regarding potential collaboration, laying the groundwork for formal partnership. The Office on AIDS and COPA worked with APA to establish a formal Memorandum of Understanding between APA and BET that continued their partnership and collaboration to develop and implement evidence-based strategies for facilitating positive communication among African-American teens and between African-American teens and their families related to the topics of sex, sexual health, dating/sexual relationships, and HIV/AIDS. In 2013, COPA members McBride Murry and Amanda Houston Hamilton, together with several prior COPA members, coordinated with the APA Office on AIDS to further develop this BET collaboration, including work on the following projects: (1) mobilization and support of psychologists to participate as panel member experts at BET-sponsored teen forums across the country; (2) development of a national survey to assess youth information sources for sexual health related topics, preferred information source and delivery modality; (3) conduct of youth focus groups to pilot test the survey and centered on learning more about youth knowledge of HIV and sexual issues and informational sources (4) launching of a national search for APA/BET Youth Advisory Board membership; and (5) establishment of a national youth advisory board to provide feedback to the APA/BET Network Partnership of ways to effectively disseminate HIV education and prevention messages to youth. The survey was developed and piloted in 2013; survey administration began in 2014. Recruitment for the APA/BET Youth Advisory Board took place in 2014; this board is now in place and holds regular conference-call meetings. Finally, in 2014, COPA in collaboration with BET and HIV/AIDS developed a webpage delineating the activities in this collaboration.
COPA members collaborated with three APA committees to present a BAPPI sponsored symposium at the 2014 APA Convention, entitled Risk and Resilience: Overcoming the Odds of Community Violence . This symposium, chaired by Laurie McCubbin, PhD, chair-elect of the Committee on Children Youth and Families, included a total of four presentations, one of which was a presentation by 2014 COPA chair McBride Murry, entitled, A risk-resilience family-based model for preventing youth violence in rural communities . McCubbin is pursuing publication outlet for the papers with Wiley Blackwell Publishers.
In 2014, COPA invited nominations for its Psychology and AIDS Leadership award . This award serves to demonstrate COPA's commitment to ensure that issues pertaining to HIV/AIDS are kept at the forefront of psychological research, education, training and practice. Awards are given in the categories of "emerging" and "distinguished" leaders in service provision, research, teaching/mentoring, and/or policy/advocacy. While no nominations were received in the Emerging Leader category, a number of highly qualified nominees were received in the Distinguished Leader category. In light of this fact, COPA decided to name two Distinguished Leader award recipients from among those nominated (Lisa Bowleg, PhD, and Charles Hinkin, PhD); in addition, COPA awarded Ellen Stover, PhD posthumously in recognition of her lifelong efforts to advance funding for HIV/AIDS while at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). These awards were formally presented at the 2014 annual APA Convention. In addition, COPA hosted a reception for the three awardees and introduced the 2014 Cyber Mentors mentees/protégés during the reception, providing a professional networking forum for the Cyber Mentor Protégés, COPA members and APA attendees. A total of 60 attended this event.
At the Fall 2014 Consolidated Meeting, COPA initiated collaboration with seven committees to develop a symposium for the 2015 APA Convention to highlight the systemic and multifaceted experiences of perpetrators, victims, bystanders and colluders that contribute to vulnerability toward the experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) and HIV/AIDS. This symposium, entitled, “Intimate Partner Violence and HIV: Intersectionality and the Accumulation of Risk,” is sponsored by BAPPI. The symposium co-chairs are two COPA members: Matthew Skinta, PhD, incoming COPA chair, and Christina Meade, PhD. Maggie Czarnogorski, MD, MPH, senior policy director, Office of National AIDS Policy, has accepted COPA's invitation to be discussant for the symposium.
COPA's reauthorization as an ad hoc committee expired in February of 2014; COPA members developed a new reauthorization request in 2013. This included the creation of a reauthorization document describing the activities of COPA over the five year period subsequent to its last reauthorization and specifying activities to be pursued by COPA if reauthorized for an additional 5 years. This COPA reauthorization request was reviewed and approved by BAPPI at the APA Fall 2013 Round 2 Consolidated Meeting and obtained final approval by the APA Board of Directors in February 2014.
Consistent with its mission, COPA is committed to the ongoing pursuit of the following objectives: (1) to educate psychologists and society at large on the various and unique roles psychology can play in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic; (2) to encourage and support psychologists in their efforts toward eliminating this epidemic through effective strategies of preventive education and intervention; (3) to stimulate behavioral research in a variety of areas associated with HIV prevention and mental health services for persons affected by HIV/AIDS; (4) to facilitate linkages between APA, behavioral researchers, medical researchers and community-based organizations for the purpose of coordinating and improving HIV-related research and mental health services; (5) to create educational resources about HIV/AIDS to APA members and the public; (6) to provide guidance and direction for APA HIV/AIDS advocacy activities at federal, state and local levels; and, (7) to serve as an oversight committee for APA Office on AIDS activities.