Ethnicity and Health in America Series: Featured Psychologists

Psychologists featured for Black History Month:

• Brenda A. Allen, PhD
  The first female president of Lincoln University, which is the first historically black degree-granting academic institution in the United States. 

• James Bayton, PhD
  Bayton conducted a series of research projects that focused on the self concept of Black people. He is also known for his work in consumer psychology, marketing research and agriculture.

• Albert Sidney Beckham, PhD
  Considered to be the first African American school psychologist, Beckham founded the first psychological laboratory at Howard University and published over 20 articles on the effect of counseling on high school students, childhood behavioral problems, intelligence testing and life satisfaction.

• Nancy Boyd-Franklin, PhD
  Boyd-Franklin is a distinguished professor, an internationally recognized lecturer and highly sought after practitioner.

• George Canady, PhD
  Canady was most known for being the first psychologist to study how the race of the test proctor may create bias in IQ testing.

• Mamie Phipps Clark, PhD, and Kenneth Clark, PhD
  The Clarks were the first African Americans to obtain their doctoral degrees in psychology from Columbia University.

• Jessica Henderson Daniel, PhD
  Daniel is the 2017 APA president-elect and will be the first African American woman to serve as president of the American Psychological Association.

• Carlton Goodlett, PhD
  One of the first African Americans to receive a doctorate in child psychology from the University of California at Berkeley at the age of 23.

• Robert Val Guthrie, PhD
  Guthrie’s childhood in the segregated south eventually shaped his contributions to the field of psychology.

• Carl L. Hart, PhD
  Hart is neuroscientist and psychologist studying the behavioral and neuropharmacological effects of psychoactive drugs in humans and is the first tenured African American professor of science at an Ivy League institution of higher learning.

• Martin D. Jenkins, PhD
  Jenkins' dissertation, which went unpublished, is considered a renowned seminal piece of work in educational psychology among psychologists today.

• Reginald Jones, PhD
  Jones focused his career on research and writing in two primary areas: the education of exceptional children and issues of race and psychology.

• Hope Landrine, PhD,
  Landrine focuses her research on social and cultural factors in African American disparities in chronic diseases and health behaviors.

• Howard Hale Long, PhD
  The first African American graduate of Howard University to earn a doctorate degree in educational psychology from Harvard.

• Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN
  Malone is a vocal advocate speaking to the role that nursing plays in ensuring access to safe, quality, culturally competent care to diverse patient populations, both domestically and globally.

• Vickie M. Mays, PhD
  Mays is a well-rounded professional in a variety of health fields, having obtained a Master of Science in Public Health, post baccalaureate coursework in epidemiology and decades of experience focusing on HIV/AIDs work.

• James Morton Jr., PhD
  A pioneer for blacks in clinical psychology and a strong advocate for equal education and employment opportunities for minority youth.

• Carolyn Robertson Payton, EdD
  Payton was a psychologist and the first female and African American to be appointed director of the United States Peace Corps.

• Pamela Trotman Reid, PhD
  Reid is a developmental psychologist and the past president emerita of the University of St. Joseph in Connecticut.

• Francis Cecil Sumner, PhD, and Inez Beverly Prosser, PhD
  As the first African American to receive a PhD in Psychology, Sumner is referred to as the “Father of Black Psychology.” Prosser’s work was influential in the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that later took place in 1954.

• Charles H. Thompson, PhD
  Thompson held several positions and served as an expert educational witness in many of the major desegregation cases throughout the rise of the civil rights movement.

• Henry Tomes, PhD
  In 1991, he began working with the American Psychological Association as the first full-time executive director of the Public Interest Directorate.

• Alberta Banner Turner, PhD
  Turner was the first black woman to earn a PhD from The Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio. She was also among the first cohort of African American women to be awarded a PhD in psychology in all of North America. 

• Frederick Payne Watts, PhD
  One of the founding faculty members of Howard University, in Washington, D.C., Watts published a number of professional papers throughout his tenure as a professor and researcher in clinical psychology.

• Joseph White, PhD
  White contributed to the success of many students of color and worked as an advocate to reform the education system.

Psychologists featured for Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month:

• Muninder Kaur Ahluwalia, PhD
  Ahluwalia’s work has been focused on methodological issues in qualitative research, race and racism in academia, and the experiences of the Sikh community after September 11^th.

• Alvin N. Alvarez, PhD
  Alvarez's personal and professional interests focus on Asian Americans, racial identity and the psychological impact of racism.

• Alice F. Chang, PhD
  Chang's contribution to the field of psychology has been recognized on both local and national levels.

• Jean Lau Chin, PhD
  The first Asian American psychologist to be licensed in the state of Massachusetts.

• Judy Chu, PhD
  The first Chinese-American woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress.

• Jun-chih Gisela Lin, PhD, ABPP
  Lin is a counseling psychologist and the first woman Taiwanese American psychologist to be elected president of the Asian American Psychological Association.

• Kevin M. Chun, PhD
  Research focuses on family acculturation processes and their relation to health and psychosocial adjustment for Asian American immigrants.

• Terry Gock, PhD, MPA
  Recipient of a presidential citation from APA. Honored for his work to promote multicultural psychology.

• Yih-Ing Hser, PhD
  Hser is a professor-in-residence in the Department of Psychiatry and the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs and David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

• Larke N. Huang, PhD
  Huang has worked tirelessly her entire career as an advocate for social justice and a champion for diverse and underserved populations.

• Harry Kitano, PhD
  Kitano's studies of juvenile delinquency, interracial marriages and mental health and alcohol abuse among Asian Pacific Americans were groundbreaking.

• Evelyn Lee, PhD
  Lee was widely respected and loved in the mental health field and the Asian American community – as a clinician, administrator, teacher, author, community advocate and humanitarian.

• Frederick T.L. Leong, PhD
  Leong received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Asian American Psychological Association and the APA Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science. 

• Jeffery Scott Mio, PhD 
  Jeffery Scott Mio is a professor at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Throughout his career, he has been active in six APA divisions, including Div. 45, Society for the Psychological Study of Culture Ethnicity and Race, for which he served as president.

• Kevin Leo Yabut Nadal, PhD
  Award-winning professor, psychologist, performer, activist and author.

• Sumie Okazaki
  Okazaki is a researcher and professor of applied psychology and who examines the impact of immigration, social change and race (i.e., racism, racial identity and racialization). 

• K. Patrick Okura, PhD
  Okura's career was spent working to educate Asian American mental-health and human-services professionals on how mental-health services and policies are developed.

• Anneliese A. Singh, PhD, LPC
  Singh is an associate professor at the University of Georgia's department of counseling and human development who examines Asian American/Pacific Islander counseling, LGBTQQ+ counseling and education, transgender mental health, social justice, and multicultural training.

• Derald Wing Sue, PhD
  Sue's deep interest and passion led him to becoming one of the most prominent voices in cross cultural studies.

• Stanley Sue, PhD
  Sue's work demonstrates the complications experienced by minority groups and presents guidelines for accurately providing mental health services.

• Richard Suinn, PhD
  The third ethnic minority and the first Asian American president of the American Psychological Association.

• Reiko True, PhD
  True designed mentoring initiatives to aid Asian American women as President of the Asian American Psychological Association. 

• Y. Joel Wong, PhD 
  Associate professor and researcher examining Asian and Asian American mental health, the psychology of men and masculinities and positive psychology.

Psychologists featured for National Hispanic-Latino Heritage Month:

• Patricia Arredondo, EdD
  Well-known for her work in multicultural counseling.

• Martha E. Bernal, PhD
  Helped establish the National Hispanic Psychological Association and later served as its second president.

• Glorisa J. Canino, PhD
  Canino is a professor at the School of Medicine, department of pediatrics, and the director of the Behavioral Sciences Research Institute, University of Puerto Rico, School of Medicine.

• Rachel Casas, PhD
  A scientist-activist with an expertise in the neuropsychological assessment of cultural and linguistic minorities, including patients with limited English proficiency.

• Lillian Comas-Díaz, PhD
  Comas-Díaz began at APA in 1984 as the director of the Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs. She also played a pivotal role in creating Div. 45, the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues.

• Edward Delgado-Romero, PhD
  Delgado-Romero has written extensively in the field of counseling psychology and in multicultural psychology, specifically Latina/o psychology.

• Olivia M. Espin, PhD
  The first Latina professor emerita of Women’s Studies at San Diego State University, having served the institution from 1990-2007.

• Milton Fuentes, PsyD
  Founding member and former president of the Latino Psychological Association of New Jersey, and the 2013 past president of the National Latino Psychological Association.

• Miguel Gallardo, PhD
  Gallardo's research interests include include Chicano/Latino psychology, culture and disability, and recruitment and retention of Latina/os in higher education.
  

• María del Carmen Lara-Muñoz, PhD, MD
  Lara-Muñoz has participated in numerous epidemiological projects. The most notable is the National Mexican Survey of Mental Disorders, which provides the first national estimates of mental illness and mental health service use in Mexico.

• Steven López, PhD
  López worked to cultivate literacy about psychosis and the unique development of schizophrenia in Spanish-speaking communities compared to Anglo-American communities through cultural competence, mental health interventions, clinical evaluations, and treatment in Latino communities.

• Carlos Albizu Miranda, PhD
  Miranda became one of the first Hispanics to earn a doctorate degree in clinical psychology from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.

• Marie Lucia Miville, PhD
  Miville's research interests focus on identifying needs and perceptions of international students; attitudes toward gay and lesbian students, Arab-Americans and students with disabilities; and racial and gender differences in college retention.

• Esteban L. Olmedo, PhD
  Became the first director of the Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs at the American Psychological Association headquarters in Washington, D.C.

• Manuel Paris, PsyD 
  Paris is the director of Hispanic Services for the Connecticut Mental Health Center.

• Melanie Domenech Rodriguez, PhD
  Domenech Rodriguez is the first Latina president of Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology.
  

• Dinelia Rosa, PhD
  The first Latina to serve as president of the New York State Psychological Association.

• Carmen Inoa Vazquez, PhD, ABPP
  One of New York City's most prominent Latina psychologists with more than 25 years of clinical and teaching experience working with both bilingual and monolingual families.

• Ena Vazquez-Nuttall, EdD
  Well respected for her various contributions to multicultural psychology and school psychology throughout her lifetime.

• Star Vega, PhD
  Vega was the first Latina to serve as president of the California Psychological Association. 

Psychologists featured for National American Indian Heritage Month:

• Carolyn Lewis Attneave, PhD
  Attneave's strong sense of community drove her iconic career in cross-cultural topics, counseling and psychotherapy for Native Americans.

• Annjeanette Belcourt-Dittloff, PhD
  Studies risk and resiliency in American Indians, examining spirituality, communal support, ethnic identity and other sociocultural factors that contribute to Indian American mental health.

• Dolores Subia BigFoot, PhD
  A member of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a trained child psychologist and an associate professor who directs the Native American programs at the University of Oklahoma’s Center on Child Abuse and Neglect.

• Art Blume, PhD
  Investigates substance abuse and how to intervene upon it in culturally appropriate ways.

• John Chaney, PhD
  Director of the Marriage and Family Clinic, the American Indian Into Psychology Program and the American Indian Studies Program.

• Stephanie Fryberg, PhD
  Fryberg is a proud member of the Tulalip Tribes and centers her research on how social representation of race, culture and social class influence the development of self, psychological well-being and educational attainment.

• John Gonzalez, PhD
  Gonzalez’s professional interests are in cultural psychology, multicultural psychology and community psychology, which are guided by his life experiences of growing up on the reservation.

• Jacque Gray, PhD
  Director of the Seven Generations Center of Excellence in Native Behavioral Health and the National Indigenous Elder Justice Initiative.

• Iva Greywolf, PhD
  Educates others about the variety of behavioral health issues impacting Native/Indian populations.

• Joseph P. Gone, PhD
  Gone examines cultural influences on mental health status, as well as the intersection of evidence-based practice and cultural competence in mental health services.
  

• Michelle Johnson-Jennings, PhD, EdM
  A member of the Choctaw Nation and the founding director of the Research for Indigenous Community Health Center, associate to the dean for Indigenous Research and assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Minnesota.

• Teresa LaFramboise, PhD
  LaFramboise is concerned with helping ethnic minority students survive acculturation pressure, cultural adjustment, discrimination, major life transitions and other stresses that are so typical — and so often neglected — in children and adolescents.

• Marigold Linton, PhD
  Linton was the first American Indian to earn a PhD in psychology, and she has been an advocate for American Indians in the advancement of degrees in the sciences.

• Arthur McDonald, PhD
  The first American Indian man to earn a doctorate in psychology.

• Victoria O'Keefe, PhD
  O'Keefe is a clinical psychologist and faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University Center for American Indian Health.

• Glenna Stumblingbear-Riddle, PhD
  Stumblingbear-Riddle strives to help reduce behavioral health disparities among American Indians and Alaska Natives.

• Melissa Tehee, PhD, JD
  Tehee addresses trauma across the life span with a large focus on bias/prejudice/racism, health disparities, domestic violence, and other trauma experienced by ethnic and racial minorities, especially American Indians. 

• Pamela Jumper Thurman, PhD
  Thurman has 25 years of experience in mental health, substance abuse/epidemiology research and HIV/AIDS capacity building assistance.

• Tawa Witko, PsyD
  Witko works to raise awareness in APA of the mental health needs of American Indians and to support other psychologists who want to work with the American Indian community.

• Logan Wright, PhD
  Wright is a pediatric psychologist who advocated for the use of behavioral interventions in pediatric care and specific guidelines for the administration of treatment to pediatric populations.