Answers to Divison Questions
The following are Dr. Rozensky’s answers to questions
put forth to the 2008 APA Presidential Nominees by the following
APA’s Divisions, associations, and organizations.
Division 1, Division
3, Division 18, Division
20, Division 29, Division
31, Division 35, Division
42, Division 44, Division
50, Division 53,
Division 55, Division 56 and ABPP
and AUCCCD and NCSPP
and Michigan Psychological Association.
Response
to
APA's Division 1, The Society for General Psychology
As prepared by Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP
Candidate for President of the American Psychological Association
[500 words]
2008
Division 1 Question: What is the importance of unity
within psychology and how you would encourage unity as president
of APA?
From the first day I decided to seek the APA Presidency my
central theme has been “The Family of Psychology.”
Psychology’s future will be strong only when that entire
“Family” works together and recognizes our cultural,
ethnic, educational, philosophical, and work place diversity
while at the same time emphasizing that we all are Psychologists
– each of us linked to the other by our shared educational
and scientific heritage -- with a collective professional
history --- and an intimately entwined future. I believe that
it is our broad and general education and training as psychologists
that prepares us then to focus our careers on the specific
area[s] of our day-to-day work as psychologists.
I have two overarching Presidential goals that are built upon
this tradition: first, “All Psychologists must work
together to have a strong, coordinated, articulate approach
to advocating for Psychology,” --- no matter whether
that advocacy is for science, practice, education, or for
the public good; and, “All Psychologists must work together
to strengthen our field in order to build the best future
we can build for all of Psychology.”
My unity-based initiative as President will be “Celebrating
our Past, Enjoying our Present, Building Our Future,”
bringing together the many “communities of interest”
within Psychology. During my year as president:
• We will all work together to build an online family
tree to illustrate how each of us, all Psychologists are interrelated
– this will help bring us together in an entertaining
way to celebrate our collective past.
• To focus on enjoying the present, I will appoint a
"Task Force on Ensuring Healthy Psychologists and a Healthy
Profession.” That group will be charged with bringing
together information to help each of us balance our work and
personal lives and to assist us in planning how to make our
lives as enjoyable, stress-free, and healthy as we can.
• Third, we must reinforce APA’s commitment to
a strong Psychological Science as the foundation of professional
practice. I will appoint a Task Force to highlight Psychology’s
contribution to the science and the practice of Public Health.
This topic is broad in scope and involves basic and applied
psychological science underlying many new and emerging research
opportunities, professional practice opportunities and the
best in public service. It is a theme that will unite us and
help build our future.
As a member and Fellow of Division 1, I appreciate the importance
of unity across all of Psychology. Thus, I am a scientist-practitioner
who has integrated the roles of funded researcher, practitioner,
teacher, and academic administrator whose service to Psychology
includes chair of both APA’s Boards of Educational Affairs
& Professional Affairs and serving on the APA Council
and APA Board of Directors. I have received APA’s Heiser
Award for Advocacy, Division 52’s International Psychologist
of the Year Award, and Division 12, Section 8 -- Association
of Psychologists in Academic Health Centers -- Outstanding
Educator Award. My presidential goals and background can be
found at <www.RozenskyforAPAPresident.com>.
Request for Statement
from
Division 3 – Experimental Psychology
2007 Presidential Candidates
Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D.
Division 3: Provide a statement describing how your
election as President of APA would be of specific benefit
to members of Division 3.
There are four specific benefits to Division 3.
(1) With me as your President, you would have someone in
that office who, on a day-to-day basis, subscribes to the
Division’s mission to “promote scientific inquiry
through teaching and research." I have spent the past
eight years as chair of a university department making certain
that our departmental mission focused on a culture of science
and that faculty had the opportunity to successfully expand
their research portfolios and external funding http://www.rozenskyforapapresident.com/FundedResearch.pdf.
I am a classroom teacher as well. My two graduate courses
are structured around critical thinking and the evidenced-based
approach to treatment and I have responsibility for the undergraduate
research honors seminar focused on philosophy of science,
methodology, and proposal preparation. While many people tend
to see only the applied aspects of research in psychology,
I believe that the basic experimental science of psychology
reflects our historical core and defines the philosophical
foundations of our field. There would be no opportunity to
do “translational” research without the basic
tenets of experimental psychology.
(2) I have carried out my own research [including an animal
model study looking at state dependent learning for my masters
thesis with a committee that included one of the Division’s
past presidents]. I have been involved directly with local
IRB issues impacting faculty research and I support APA’s
national efforts to bring about IRB review and reforms. I
have been the APA Board of Directors’ liaison to the
Board of Scientific Affairs, The Federation of Behavioral,
Psychological, & Cognitive Sciences, and The Consortium
of Social Science Associations, and have attended CARE [Committee
on Animal Research and Ethics] – thus, as President,
you would have in place someone who understands the workings
of the academy, has first-hand appreciation of life in the
research lab including what is required to support faculty
scholars, and someone who has direct experience with policy
issues supporting Scientific Psychology.
(3) I am in absolute agreement with Division 3 President
Egeth’s concern: "More important is the next step,
coming up with concrete suggestions for overcoming the negative
image psychology has in many, although fortunately not all,
quarters."
In that spirit, as part of my presidential platform, I have
called for APA to expand its Public Education Campaigns, Congressional
Fellowship Programs, and overall "media footprint"
as a science so that policy makers and the public understand
that we are truly a scientifically based profession.
- APA must educate the public about the breadth of Psychology
and go beyond "pop-press" images of Psychology.
We must communicate that psychological principles underlie
every aspect of the human condition and that scientific
inquiry into those issues will help answer a myriad of
basic and applied questions.
- APA must assure policy-makers understand:
- effect-sizes for psychological treatments equal
those in Medicine;
- current scientific findings inform our practices;
- investment in psychological research and
service yields high returns;
- funding for basic science is as important as funding
of applied research.
A core theme for my presidency is --- all psychologists belong
to “The Family of Psychology” with a shared scientific
heritage. As President, I want us to work together to create
an online “family tree” to illustrate how we are
related whether one is a lab-based scholar or an independent
practitioner. Taking this positive approach to our shared
scientific history will remind all of us that we have a common
cause -- to make the future the best it can be for all of
Psychology. While I know that this one activity is not sufficient
to cure all disagreements within our field, it is necessary
to take some active steps to bring the family together.
I believe this will be good for the Division and for Psychology.
(4) And, as another advantage to the Division, and
in the spirit of parsimony, I have kept my response as brief
as I could, and invite you to visit my website at www.RozenskyforAPAPresident.com
.
President-Elect
Nominees’ Questions
As requested by
APA’s Division 18: Public Service Psychology
2008
Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP
1. In your opinion, what is the single most important issue
facing public service psychologists?
The single most important issue facing public service psychologists
is limited funding for services and the impact of that upon
patient care and training the next generation of public service
psychologists. Information from the US Census Bureau (August
2007) indicates that the number of uninsured Americans has
topped 47 million, including 9 million children, and these
numbers continue to grow. Increasing need for psychological
services and decreasing funding highlights a growing problem
for those of us who provide care in public service, public
health, and institutional practice. Publicly funded services
have been put in place to provide care for these individuals,
but public funding, beyond private and governmental insurance,
continues to be first in line to be cut when resources decline.
Public service psychologists combine our personal commitment
to provide quality services and our ethical responsibility
to be available to provide care thus we feel the squeeze then
between our commitments and the pressure of decreasing dollars
and time available for each person seeking care. This squeeze
then puts limits on training opportunities for the next generation
of psychologists and a sense of foreboding can result. Stabilization
of funding and then increased resources should be a major
goal. No matter who wins the White House in the fall, universal
health care will be a major issue and APA must advocate for
our inclusion in that system and speak loudly that public
service-based health care must be supported within that system.
2. Much of the treatment for persons with serious mental
illness (SMI) is provided by Division 18 members. What can
we do, and what can APA do, to improve care for these individuals?
First we must vigorously get the word out to the media, industry
& government policy makers, and the next generation of
psychologists that there is very successful, excellent clinical
work going on with this patient population; that dollars spent
on SMI care are well spent and a career in this field of psychology
is rewarding. Basically, stories of success will lead to more
support for ongoing success.
• APA must redouble its efforts advocating for federal,
state, and local dollars for SMI psychological care. Mental
health parity and universal health care funding must include
dollars to care for this population. We must use our assessment
and research skills to continue to provide data illustrating
that dollars spent on services for those with SMI actually
saves dollars in hospitalizations, emergency department visits,
and lost wages. Again, many successful rehabilitation programs,
medication adherence services, case management and treatment
programs that are run by psychologists should be highlighted
and results utilized to advocate for enhanced funding.
o This focus on advocacy can only be enhanced with an increased
voice [number of representatives] for the division on APA
Council and direct advocacy within APA and its four Directorates,
Practice, Science, Education, and Public Interest Asking directly
for increased focus on this area should be a priority.
? We must come forward with a strategic plan and seek funding
for specific projects and taskforce activities that focus
on enhanced care, evidence-based practice in SMI, and public
education campaigns to highlight existing good work being
done within SMI and workforce needs in SMI treatment.
• APA’s Commission on the Recognition of Specialties
and Proficiencies in Professional Psychology (CRSPPP) has
recognized the proficiency in the “assessment and treatment
of serious mental illness.” I would challenge the field
to make certain students considering careers in psychology
understand the research and practice opportunities in this
field and that they understand what it means that SMI is a
recognized proficiency within Psychology. Promulgating competency-based
curriculum ideas for SMI research and science will help improve
care and attract more students to this field.
3. Do you see public service concerns as underrepresented
in APA and in SPA's? If so, what should be done to remedy
the problem?
APA’s public policy arm and advocacy activities through
the APAPO and the Educational Advocacy Trust do a great job
representing the interests of most psychologists with policy
makers and on “the Hill.” However, when those
“in practice” talk about advocating for practice,
the majority of the discussion and time seems to focus on
“independent practice” and those in “institutional
practice” tend to have less of a voice. I have heard
this point repeatedly over the years and especially this past
year. Increased Council representation would help, of course.
While it is not the purview of governance to direct activities
within the APA central office, advocating for programs, thus
staff, specifically charged with programming for “institutional
and public service concerns” may be a role the Division
might embrace to seek more resources being targeted for our
public service concerns. All areas of practice, science, and
education are important within professional psychology. But
it is APA governance that sets priorities and speaks to strategic
planning for the future of the Association and the field.
Given the large number of public service psychologists across
a wide array of venues, I think the voice could be enhanced.
My answer to Question 6, below details my presidential initiative
on public health, public service, and public policy that should
help give greater voice to these concerns.
4. What are your plans for increasing diverse representation
in APA governance?
I think we have made great strides by including the minority
psychological associations’ representatives on the APA
Council as well as continuing to fund all minority Council
members to attend the meetings. The fact that the recent bylaws
amendment to give the vote to these associations was not successful
speaks to the need to better educate our members as to the
importance of assuring that Council reflects the diversity
of our overall population. This is just one level of involvement
and I see the importance of actively mentoring psychologists
representing diversity to seek positions on APA boards and
committees. Membership on those board and committees lead
to other leadership roles and is route is often the place
that each of us started in our governance activities. As President
I would continue to support Dr. Anderson’s overall diversity
planning including the hiring of a diversity officer with
association-wide responsibilities to look to continuing the
growth of diversity in our field, our association employee
group, and within governance. We also must do a better job
understanding the workforce issues in psychology. I have been
very involved in helping attain additional funding for APA’s
new Center for Workforce Analysis and Research. This center
should help us better analyze the education, training and
career pipeline in Psychology and identify hurtles to increasing
diversity within our field. While the recent CEMRATT2 findings
suggest increased minority student involvement in the field,
the number of minority faculty has not kept pace. Thus, we
need to routinely study this issue as part of ongoing workforce
analysis; only then can we establish interventions on a data-based,
ongoing basis to increase diversity. My presidential initiative
and goals have been based upon bringing together the entire
“Family of Psychology” to help build our future.
That clearly includes actively building diverse representation
within all levels of APA governance and throughout the field.
5. What contributions can/should public service psychologists
provide to correctional systems?
Correctional system should be seen as the habilitation and
rehabilitation system. Helping understand how to effectively
help others learn new behaviors and bring about behavior change
are, of course, the core science and practice of psychologists.
Psychological services, from assessing basic learning problems
through learning new job skills, to the psychological treatment
& rehabilitation needed for drug abuse, psychological
problems and the effects of abuse & poverty, and traditional
mental health services should be been seen as the key roles
of the correctional system and the psychologists working in
that system. While many in the general public see that those
remanded to the correctional system are being “sent
away” for punishment, the most important issue is to
assure that those individuals do not RETURN to the system
once released. Public service psychologists within the correctional
system are the ones to make certain the system attends to
those issues and that public policy makers understand that
funding of adequate psychological services supports society
by assuring that fewer people have to return to “the
system.” Also, current discussions about psychologists’
roles in interrogation in the military have implications within
organized psychology for those psychologists working within
the correctional system. It is key that our field recognize
the important role that psychologists play in the correctional
system in assuring the ethical treatment of individuals remanded
to the system and that information obtained from those individuals
is factual and useful.
6. What is your position at this point on any of APA’s
financial ties and/or contracts with departments or agencies
of the federal government?
APA has applied for and received funding from various independent
foundations as well as government agencies and departments
to help support the efforts of the association on behalf of
its membership and the public. The government funds come from
the National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], Centers from
Disease Control [CDC], Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service
Administration [SAMSHA], National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development, to name a few. The range of programs
within APA funded by these agencies include our various Minority
Fellowship and educational programs, programs for preventing
child maltreatment, advanced training institutes, HIV/AIDS
education programs, and work stress conferences, again, to
name just a few. Clearly these federally funded programs are
important to the mission of APA and to the growth of the field
of psychology. These grants and contracts are transparent
to our membership and are presented each year within APA’s
annual budget that is reviewed, vetted, and voted upon by
APA’s Council of Representatives. They also are published
in the American Psychologist. For the fiscal year 2007 the
APA budget shows that some $23 million dollars in grants and
contracts from federal and private agency were received by
APA. Thus, APA’s “financial ties” are transparent
and open to APA Governance oversight, thus membership review.
These funds provide the dollars necessary to carry out these
important activities that support education and training conferences,
fellowships, diversity initiatives, and projects and initiatives
across many areas of psychology. Dollars needed for these
programs do not have to come from our dues yet are “value
added” to our Association, field, and society at large.
With membership oversight, and transparency, and with the
expertise of APA’s talented professional staff who receive
and manage these grants and contracts, our Association is
able to do more for our members and society. I am proud of
our Association’s ability to receive this funding and
with how this funding is utilized to support the mission of
our Association and our profession.
7. On what other issues would you like Div. 18 members to
know your positions?
I would like the members of the Division to know that I received
the bulk of my clinical training during graduate school and
on internship in the VA system [ah, the days of graduate student
funding via the VA] and my first job was in the VA. Since
then I have directed a state and city funded community mental
health program in Evanston, Illinois and received $1 million
from SAMSHA to found the National Rural Behavioral Health
Center at the University of Florida. That Center does research
and provides direct psychological services via community health
clinics and rural extension agent offices for underserved
populations in rural and frontier counties in Florida. We
also have collaborative relationship with our local VA hospital
and students from our program have an opportunity to receive
training in rural-based VA facilities. We also provided, via
a Graduate Psychology Education grant, education and training
for all our graduate students in rural, primary care psychological
services. This training has continued even though that grant
has ended. Thus, I have first hand experience as a provider,
educator, and administrator in public service psychology.
As APA President my theme will be “Celebrating our Past,
Enjoying our Present, and Building our Future: Educating Psychologists
for Science, Practice and Serving the Public.” My goal
is to bring together the many communities of interest within
the family of Psychology to collaboratively build the best
future we can build for Psychology. The APA President has
a unique opportunity to be a true catalyst to help make that
happen. Thus, To Build Psychology’s Future we must reinforce
APA’s commitment to a strong psychological science as
the foundation of professional practice. I will appoint a
Task Force on Public Health and Health Policy: Opportunities
for Psychologists in Research, Practice, Advocacy, and Public
Service. We will highlight Psychology’s contributions
to basic & applied science underlying future professional
practice and public-service opportunities within public health.
This has been one of my key areas of focus since I declared
my interesting in serving as your APA President. I hope that
the Division sees my focus on public health, public policy,
and public service as directly reflecting the mission of Division
18. My other initiatives and goals as President can be reviewed
at < www.RozenskyforAPAPresident.com
President-Elect
Nominees’ Questions
As requested by
APA’s Division 20: Adult Development and Aging
2008
Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP
Division 20 Question #1: Briefly describe your interests
and any previous involvement in Division 20. Our members would
be interested in knowing if you are a member or fellow of
the division and if you have been active in any way in Division
20.
Division 20 serves as a model within APA because it so fully
demonstrates the integration of a strong focus on research
interests in aging, a commitment to education & training,
and clinical practice and practice-relevant research. Division
20 is also a model for collaboration, most notably in the
long-standing partnership with Section II of Division 12 on
issues of geropsychology and professional credentialing. Because
of my leadership roles on APA’s Board of Educational
Affairs and Board of Professional Affairs, geropsychology
has been a place where I have interacted most with Division
20.
While I am not currently a member of the Division, I have
felt closely connected with the Division for some time. I
served as an active member of the working group from Division
20 (and Section II of Division 12, led by Dr. George Niederehe)
that helped prepare the final draft of the “Guidelines
for Psychological Practice with Older Adults” (http://www.apa.org/practice/adult.pdf)
and then helped to advocate for their passage through my role
on the APA Council of Representatives. Similarly, as a member
of the APA Board of Directors, I met with APA’s Committee
on Aging during their discussion of training in geropsychology
and encouraged them to seek funding from APA to help support
the “National Conference on Training in Professional
Geropsychology” (which occurred in June 2006 in Colorado
Springs) Indeed, closer to home, as departmental chairperson,
I provided encouragement and time for one of my department
faculty, Dr. Christina McCrae, to attend that important meeting.
I was particularly interested in the Conference’s focus
on developing “competencies in training in geropsychology”
rather than being hidebound to outmoded models of counting
hours, cases, or courses. So, while not a formal card-carrying
member, I have been very involved in two important events
for the community of scholars - practitioners in aging during
recent years. Further, I am supportive of the interest of
APA’s Committee on Aging in moving forward to address
issues of cultural diversity in geropsychology.
.
Division 20 Question #2: Briefly describe any professional
or scholarly interest you have in issues related to the psychology
of aging. Naturally, we are interested in a wide range of
professional activities, including practice, consulting, supervising,
research, teaching, and involvement with any other organizations
devoted to aging and/or the psychology of aging.
Scholarly Interest:
I have published five textbooks on health psychology including
Health Psychology through the Life Span and Psychology Builds
a Healthy World; each of the five had key chapters on various
aspects of aging and, in the edited texts, several well known
scholars from the Division were contributors. I was the founding
editor of The Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings
and served as editor for 13 years. The Journal published peer
reviewed research articles with clinical applicability and
focused on many topics with direct implications for the older
adult population including chronic illness, disability, and
the most prevalent diseases of older adults including cardiac
diseases, cancer, and neurological disorders. I feel strongly
that the Journal, and my tenure as its editor, greatly contributed
to the applied scientific field of health care and the lifespan.
Academic Interest:
I think that there is no better illustration of my support
of the study of lifespan, and research and clinical service
with older adults, better than in my work as a departmental
administrator. As chairperson of the Department of Clinical
and Health Psychology at the University of Florida for over
eight years, I helped to build the Geropsychology focus within
the Department. That support began by hiring excellent, new
departmental faculty with expertise in Geropsychology and
aging while supporting senior faculty as they built or broadened
their research portfolio in aging. Newly hired faculty to
the department during my tenure as chairperson include Drs.
Michael Marsiske, Christina McCrae, Dawn Bowers, William Perlstein,
and Catherine Price, whose research interests include cognitive
interventions & everyday cognitive functioning in older
adults, sleep interventions for older adults, cognitive &
emotional changes in aging adults with Parkinson’s Disease,
age-related changes in cognitive control/executive function,
post-operative cognitive dysfunction in late life and neuroimaging
of white matter abnormalities in the aging brain. Senior faculty
in the department, Drs. Russell Bauer (past President of Division
40), Bruce Crosson, Michael Perri, and Michael Robinson respectively
study hippocampal/memory aging & preclinical detection
of Alzheimer’s Disease, language function & language
rehabilitation in older adults post-stroke, and obesity, pain
and aging. This is a rather rich portfolio of research, clinical
services and wonderful training opportunities for our students,
interns, and postdoctoral fellows.
As chairperson I also supported, with faculty time, laboratory
space, staff resources, funding for trainees, and the preparation
time and then administrative time needed to manage an NIA-funded
T32 predoctoral training grant in aging once it was awarded.
The grant became a keystone in the University’s Network
for Biobehavioral and Social Research and Training in Aging
(a new trans-college initiative to promote aging research
that I helped plan and support). This network is a wonderful
vehicle for expanding the cohort of students focused on issues
surrounding the lives of older adults. Further, I encouraged
departmental faculty to provide coursework such as “Very
Late Life,” “Clinical Psychology of the Older
Adult,” and “Neuropsychology of Later Adulthood.”
As a clinical supervisor myself, I offer a practicum to our
students in general health psychology with large numbers of
older adult patients across many medical and co-morbid psychological
conditions. I teach the Behavioral Medicine and Health Psychology
graduate seminar for our graduate students. That course includes
a module on the developmental & lifespan perspective on
health and illness and focuses on issues of aging from a research
perspective and clinical differential diagnosis and treatment
perspective. We use the Guidelines for Practice with Older
Adults as a key reading in the course.
Service:
In clinical practice for over twenty-five years, I have treated
families and individuals across the life span. This included
clinical work on the Rehabilitation Unit of the Evanston Hospital,
near Chicago, and within various other medical and surgical
clinics and specialties at that hospital. My current clinical
work at the Shands Hospital at the University of Florida includes
both a mental & behavioral health diagnostic intake clinic
and a large psychotherapy service. My students routinely see
older adults with a range of medical and\or psychological
diagnoses for assessment and follow up care. As part of my
national service commitments, I have been a long time member
of the board of directors and advisor to the Simon Foundation
for Continence, < www.simonfoundation.org > and have
written and spoken on the psychological issues surrounding
adult urinary incontinence.
Division 20 Question #3: Could you briefly explain
any way in which aging is part of your platform or agenda
for your presidential year.
One of my presidential initiatives will focus on psychology’s
role in public health < www.rozenskyforapapresident.com/FutureTaskForce.com
>. It is clear to me that issues of aging and health promotion
and disease prevention across the lifespan are key to any
scientific or serves activities of psychology. Psychology
needs to advocate for enhanced funding to make certain that
psychologists receive research training in population-based
as well as individual issues in health and disease and that
our discipline is prepared to take a leadership role in providing
treatment services across communities as well as with individuals
– and this certainly involves a focus on the realities
of our aging population. The taskforce appointed to carry
out this initiative will have individuals on it who are knowledgeable
about, and sensitive to issues of lifespan, aging, and public
health. Further, in other documents supporting my presidency,
I have identified geropsychology as on of the areas of growth
in psychology’s future and will continue to advocate
for education, training, research funding, and clinical reimbursement
for services to that cohort of citizens and patient group.
President-Elect
Nominees’ Questions
As requested by
APA’s Division 29: Division of Psychotherapy
2008
Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP
Dear Division 29 Board of Directors:
Thank you for the opportunity to seek endorsement from our
Division to serve as the President of the American Psychological
Association. Since so many friends and colleagues who serve
on the Board know me and my ongoing commitment to psychology
and psychotherapy, I will be as brief as a candidate can be.
I am a Fellow of our Division. I am board certified in Clinical
Psychology [ABPP] reflecting having sought peer review of
both my assessment and psychotherapy competencies.
I teach the graduate seminar, Advanced Psychotherapy, in the
University of Florida’s Department of Clinical and Health
Psychology and maintain a large outpatient psychotherapy supervisory
practice in our hospital-based clinic that includes both graduate
student and intern level trainees. Our department’s
students awarded me both their Classroom Teacher of the Year
and the Supervisor of the Year awards. The supervisory award
states, “For dedication to and excellence in supervision.”
For me there is no better testimony to my commitment to advancing
psychotherapy in education, training and practice than that
expressed by my own students. Further, I have published five
books and numerous journal articles, the majority of which
focus on the application of psychotherapeutic principles to
the treatment of medically ill patients across the lifespan.
Prior to moving to the University of Florida I was in psychotherapy
practice in the northern suburbs of Chicago for over 20 years.
I was also the director of the state and city funded community
mental health center at the Evanston Hospital. This center
brought crisis intervention and psychotherapy services to
the underserved in our urban setting. Following up on that
commitment to psychology in the public interest, I sought
funding and received a grant from the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration [SAMSHA] to found the
National Rural Behavioral Health Center. That center provides
ongoing psychotherapy services to underserved rural residents
of Florida and has provided disaster relief training in Florida
and across the country. The Center also served as the major
training site for my department’s Graduate Psychology
Education Training Grant affording graduate students and interns
additional clinical experience and training in psychotherapy
skills in various rural communities and with a diverse population.
My commitment to psychology and psychotherapy also has had
an international focus. Last year APA’s Division 52
[International Psychology] presented me with their International
Psychologist of the Year award. This was based on educational
programs I developed in concert with the psychology departments
at the University of Jordan in Amman and at Oxford University
in England as well as my serving as the international reader
for dissertations from University of Kwazulu-Natal, Congella,
South Africa. The Oxford exchange program has brought student
and scholars who carry out research on psychotherapy process
variables in England to my department and the Jordanian program
is preparing clinical psychologists to teach psychotherapy
and health psychology at their University.
As many of you know, I have chaired both APA’s Board
of Professional Affairs [BPA] and Board of Educational Affairs
[BEA] prior to serving on APA’s Board of Directors.
As BPA chair I focused on the promulgation of practice guidelines
that inform practice but did not restrict our ability to treat
our patients. As BEA chair I focused on educational guidelines
and the formation of education advocacy efforts to assure
training dollars for the next generation. I also was chair
of BEA’s Council on Accreditation that led to the restructuring
of the Commission on Accreditation and its ongoing assurance
of quality education and training. I am now vice chair of
the Commission on the Recognition of Specialties and Proficiencies
in Professional Psychology [CRSPPP]. I am committed to the
recognition of specialties and proficiencies in a manner that
will enhance our practices and, as CRSPPP’s representative
to this year’s CCOPP meeting [Committee of Credentialing
Organizations in Professional Psychology], I continued to
support issues of license mobility and proper recognition
of accredited graduate programs leading towards licensure.
As chair of the Board of Directors’ Working Group on
Workforce Analysis I advocated for the funding needed to expand
APA’s Office of Research and Workforce Analysis. That
Office will help us better understand our educational pipeline
and the future employment market to assure future generations
of psychologists have the opportunity to practice psychotherapy,
and other skills, successfully and with adequate compensation
for their efforts.
I served as President of the Illinois Psychological Association
and received the APA Heiser Award for Advocacy for my dedication
to hospital practice legislation in Illinois. It was, and
continues to be, my strong belief that psychologists should
have the legal rights to treat their psychotherapy patients
when those patients are in need of mental health related hospitalization.
I have been appointed by the US Secretary of Health and Human
Services to be a member of HRSA’s Advisory Committee
on Interdisciplinary Community-Based Services. This role allows
me to bring information on evidence-based psychotherapy and
the varied roles of psychologists to the Committee’s
yearly recommendations to the Secretary and the Congress regarding
funding for healthcare services and education & training.
Per your procedures for endorsement, I hope that I have offered
strong evidence of my ongoing contributions to the field of
psychotherapy including its education and training, services
to the underserved, and advocacy within and outside our field
supporting quality of care.
As a Fellow of the Division I seek your endorsement as someone
committed to psychotherapy as a core competency and a defining
area of practice in professional psychology.
I will be committed, as APA President, to continue to advance
the science and practice of psychotherapy. I have the experience
and skills to advocate for inclusion of our psychotherapeutic
services in any upcoming universal healthcare system. That
will be a key role for the next president of our association.
I hope you will accept that as my explicit commitment to advance
psychotherapy.
Thank you for attention and consideration of my request for
your endorsement.
Sincerely,
Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP
President-Elect
Nominees’ Questions
As requested by
APA’s Division 31: State, Provincial, and Territorial
Psychological Associations
(Answers limited to a total of 400 words)
2008
Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP
Division 31: Question #1. Describe your activities
on the national level which have strengthened or benefited
SPTAs.
- • A longtime advocate for SPTA issues, twice elected
as Division 31’s Representative and once as Illinois’
Representative to APA’s Council of Representatives,
before being elected to APA’s Board of Directors.
• Appointed by the US Secretary of Health and Human
Services to be a member of HRSA’s Advisory Committee
on Interdisciplinary Community Based Services in the Bureau
of Health Professions. My responsibilities include assuring
the Committee’s annual report to Congress and the
Secretary recognizes funding for healthcare services by
psychologists and the importance of education and training
funding in psychology.
• As past President of the Illinois Psychological
Association (IPA), worked with then APA’s CEO Raymond
Fowler to help initiate a national, model program to increase
SPTA membership by attracting academic psychologists to
SPTAs.
• Focused on hospital practice advocacy at State and
National level:
o APA’s appointed representative to JCAHO,
o invited speaker, State Leadership Conference, co-presented
workshop on advocacy for, “how to” engage in
hospital practice,
o testified for hospital practice in Illinois Senate.
• Presented an APA convention workshop, co-sponsored
by Division 31 and Psi Chi, for undergraduate faculty on
advocacy for SPTA issues, encouraging inclusion of “advocacy
for psychology” in curricula, and engaging potential
new SPTA members and an expanded grassroots workforce.
• As chair of APA’s Board of Professional Affairs
focused on promulgating practice guidelines educating practitioners
but did not restricting practice.
• Routine participant at State Leadership Conference;
advocated on Capitol Hill for numerous SPTA-practice issues.
• Presented day long workshop in Hawaii on advocacy
for psychology.
Division 31: Question #2. What do you perceive as
being the issues of greatest concern to SPTA associations
and to their memberships?
Key issues include
• SPTA membership growth;
• Mental health parity legislation;
• License mobility;
• Improved healthcare reimbursement rates;
• Fair, equitable SPTA representation on APA’s
Council and within governance;
• Balancing resources needed to accomplish our local-SPTA
legislative agenda while supporting national advocacy agenda
like prescriptive authority.
Division 31: Question #3. If elected to the APA Presidency,
what would you do to address these issues?
• I have always represented STPA interests
on APA Council and, as APA President, I will advocate for
those issues key to the growth and well being of SPTAs and
our members.
• Having a successful, former SPTA president as your
APA president will help keep the focus on SPTA concerns.
• Successfully moving forward the SPTA and APA agenda
and achieving the goals I established for my presidency <
www.rozenskyforapapresident.com/presgoals.htm > involves
building cross-constituency coalitions and consensus so that
psychologists support each other to build the strongest future
for all.
Division 31: Question #4. How long have you been
a member and what offices have you held in your SPTA?
- Member of the Illinois Psychological Association
since 1977; continued that membership after joining Florida
Psychological Association after relocating to Florida
in 1998.
- IPA President, State Disaster
Relief Network coordinator, Illinois’ APA
Council Representative.
Division 31: Question #5. Describe your activities
and accomplishments at the state, provincial or territorial
level which have strengthened SPTAs.
- Initiated first SPTA–Red Cross training-service
relationship following a 1990 tornado in Illinois;
- Initiated rewrite of Illinois’ bylaws;
- Served as IPA’s acting executive director
during my presidency while we recruited a new executive
director;
- Initiated a strategic plan for IPA still
viable after ten+ years and is the core of ongoing revisions;
- Named Illinois Distinguished Psychologist;
- Awarded the APA Heiser Presidential Award for
Advocacy recognizing my hospital practice advocacy
activities
APA Presidential Statement for
The Division 35, Society for the Psychology of Women
As prepared by Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP
Candidate for President of the American Psychological
Association
May 1, 2008
My record on behalf of women in psychology reflects my direct,
day-to-day commitment to both encouragement of and mentoring
women colleagues to become involved in APA and state association
governance. I also have a strong history of recruitment of
women into clinical and leadership positions in the practice
and academic programs I have directed.
Several women I appointed to leadership roles when I was state
association president have gone on to leadership roles in
that association as well as nationally. I have encouraged
colleagues and former graduate students to seek nomination
to APA boards and committees and have written letters and
advocated on their behalf.
As administrator of the community mental health programs at
Evanston Hospital in Illinois, three of the four program directors
I hired were women. During my tenure as an academic department
chair, I appointed four associate chairs, two were women;
one of two internship directors I appointed was a women; and
two of four clinical team leaders I selected were women. As
chair, I recruited 16 new faculty members of whom 10 were
women
.
Given the growing number of women graduate students in psychology,
these are not just statistics, but reflect my active selection
of women as role models not only as direct service providers
but as clinical and administrative leaders. This reinforces,
for the next generation of psychologists, women in leadership
roles is expected and should be supported. Further, during
my time as departmental chair, several faculty members became
new parents. I worked with the University to allow “resetting
of the tenure clock” to allow time for parenting and
thus protected faculty career trajectories. Again, all these
issues reflect a commitment to my advocacy for women across
a range of employments sites and situations.
I have worked on APA guidelines on aging and treatment of
lesbian, gay & bisexual clients; guidelines reflecting
diversity and awareness of women’s issues in treatment.
In the five health psychology textbooks I have published,
the issue of women’s health routinely has been addressed.
As editor of the Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical
Settings, diversity and women’s health have been
highlighted and routinely included in manuscript review.
Beyond my career, I have helped raise two successful daughters
who know their father to be someone completely supportive
of their education and careers. I think they would call me
a “third wave feminist” before that wave even
began. They were raised in an environment where equality &
feminism was part of the natural environment and where the
women’s movement had moved on into the day-to-day micro-political
level of assuring freedoms and equal responsibilities in chores,
education, and work.
My older daughter is currently in law school having worked
two years in the While House as President Clinton’s
scheduler and six years as Deputy Chief-of-Staff for a U.S.
Senator. When she was in early elementary school we were discussing
women’s suffrage and I vividly recall that she called
out to her mother complaining that she thought I was teasing
her when I told her women did not receive the vote in the
U.S. until 1920. I think that vignette reflects that she grew
up with no thoughts of limitations to what she wanted to do,
or could do, with her life and she thought I was joking about
suffrage. My younger daughter, a graduate of Smith College,
is currently a Senior Fellow at the Hillel Association at
MIT and a graduate student in a double masters degree program
in leadership and public policy studies at Brandeis University.
She clearly has her eye on taking on challenges as her career
matures.
As APA President my theme will be Celebrating our Past, Enjoying
our Present, and Building our Future.
My goal is to bring together the many communities of interest
within the family of Psychology to collaboratively build the
best future we can build for all Psychology. The APA President
has a unique opportunity to be a true catalyst to help make
that happen. I believe that my theme of unity is key to our
future. One of my presidential initiatives will focus on the
quality of life and safety of today’s psychologists.
The other initiative will look to the future roles of psychologists
in research and practice within the broad domain of public
health and health policy. Both of these initiatives will address
a wide range of interests for a wide range of psychologists.
Given my history as author and journal editor, administrative
activities, and a parent, I fully intend to make certain that
women’s issues are addressed including the health, safety
and quality of life of psychologists specifically and women’s
health and public safety across the general population. www.RozenskyforAPAPresident.com
APA Division 42,
Psychologists in Independent Practice
2008
Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP
1. What have been your primary contributions to psychologists
in independent practice through divisions, state associations
or other organizations? What, in particular, have been your
contributions to Division 42?
As someone who was in solo and then group practice for many,
many years in the Chicago area, I am very aware of the impact
of managed care on our practices and our incomes, the growing
expectations to integrate evidence-based treatments into our
day-to-day clinical work, and the welcomed expansion of psychological
practice to include primary settings, hospital-based services,
and the increased focus on the psychological treatment of
medically ill patients along with our traditional mental health
treatment roots.
As a Fellow of Division 42, I have concentrated my contribution
to independent practice through my involvement in my State
Association advocacy activities, through my APA governance
responsibilities, and by publishing textbooks and professional
literature focused upon helping expanding our scope of practice
into healthcare.
I was APA’s appointed representative to the Joint
Commission on Accreditation of HealthCare Organizations [JCAHO]
by Dr. Newman at time when we were diligently fighting to,
and working on, expanding our scope of practice to include
hospital privileges including admission privileges. As a member
of the JCAHO’s Professional & Technical Advisory
Committee I was involved in changes to the JCAHO standards
that came to specifically recognize “LIPS”, or
“licensed independent providers,” as having practice
rights and privileges in hospitals to work independently [without
physician ‘signoff’] within the scope of their
license and to be recognized as clinical team leaders in situations
where they were qualified to take on that role. These JCAHO
changes opened up practice opportunities for psychologists
and removed barriers that had existed.
By utilizing these allowable changes to [local] hospital bylaws,
psychologists could seek local practice privileges allowable
to the extent of state licensing laws for independent practice.
I have written journal articles and book chapters offering
guidance to our colleagues on how to expand their practices
into these settings using JCAHO changes to psychology practitioners’
advantage. I presented an invited workshop on hospital practice
at the APA State Leadership Conference to help prepare practitioners
for hospital practice. As President of the Illinois Psychological
Associate I was actively involved in our attempts to pass
a hospital practice act as well as to stave off the attempts
of other groups to amend our practice act that would have
diminished our scope of practice and broadened opportunities
of non-psychologists to compete directly with our independent
practitioners. I received the APA’s Heiser Award for
Advocacy for these activities.
As Chair of the APA’s Board of Professional Affairs
[BPA] I worked diligently on the issue of practice guidelines.
Two important issues were addressed during my tenure on BPA.
First, guidelines should be “aspirational” and
offer guidance and not limit or restrict psychologists’
practices. This was accomplished and actually was written
into policy. Secondly, guidelines should be educational and
be designed to be helpful to practitioners as they work with
a given patient population or expand their practices into
new areas. Besides those general policy issues, I worked directly
on the Guidelines for Treatment of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual
Clients and Guidelines on Treatment of Older Adults and consulted
on the Diversity Guidelines. The issue of guidelines and APA
policy, once a fairly controversial topic, is seen now as
enhancing the expansion of practice and helpful to practitioners.
I have published five books on the topics of the practice
of psychology in medical settings, psychological treatment
of medical & surgical patients, and psychology role[s]
in healthcare in general. [One of my proposed Presidential
Initiatives will focus on “psychology and public health,”
and this too will highlight areas of practice expansion for
independent practitioners in an arena not often seen as ours.
I chaired Dr. Resnick’s presidential initiative on “health
psychology through the lifespan” and co-chaired Dr.
Johnson’s presidential initiative, “psychology
builds a healthy world” that brought about the change
to APA’s bylaws to include “health” as part
psychology’s mission; thus I have successful experience
making things happen for healthcare & psychology within
the leadership of APA]. The books I have published not only
have offered state of the art information on diagnosis and
treatment along with healthcare policy matters, but have been
specifically designed to support the practicing psychologist
with day-to-day approaches to patient care when working with
medical patients or expanding practice into that arena.
I was the founding editor and served as editor for thirteen
years of the Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings.
Amongst many special issues of the Journal, we published one
of the first full issues on psychology in primary care, published
an entire issue on psychotherapy & psychopharmacology
and the Journal served as a vehicle to discuss psychopharmacology
issue over the years, and we published a special issue on
diversity & healthcare that was later was expanded by
Robinson & James into a book on that subject. The explicit
editorial policy of the Journal has been to require authors
to offer direct translation of their research findings or
clinical case materials to the day-to-day practice of psychology.
Thus, the Journal directly supported practitioners expanding
their practice into healthcare and working with medical patients
in treatment as well as health promotion and disease prevention.
2. From your perspective what are the two most significant
issues that psychologists in independent practice are facing
in their work lives and what will you do to address them as
APA President?
There are two, future-focused and overarching issues; [1]
assurance that psychologists are included as reimbursable
providers in any re-designed national health care system and
[2] that each individual practitioner in our discipline is
prepared to be a participant in that health care system. The
first is a medium term issue that must be assertively addressed
today and planned for so we are prepared for the changes to
come. The second is a short and medium term issue that speaks
both to current expansion of practice and individual preparation
for changes to the healthcare system to come.
There will be a change in the structure of the healthcare
system in this country in the next five to ten years, if not
much sooner. Psychology and APA must be ready for those changes
with a strategic plan in place to address them. Government
leaders, industry, and organized Medicine have [finally] learned
that some type of National Health Care system will be necessary
to not only address the impact on our economy of the 45 million
uninsured Americans but we need to better, more efficiently
care for all; those covered by “private insurance,”
Medicare, Medicaid, and those uninsured.
Psychology must be a player in that change-process in order
to assure [1] that patients will be able to access our quality
services and [2] that psychologists are adequately compensated
for that care and those services. My Presidential Initiative
on “Public Health and Public Policy” is specifically
designed to bring together leaders in our field to address
that future and to position APA and the APAPO, in their advocacy
roles for the profession and for practitioners, to make sure
quality psychological care is seen by policy makers and decision
makers in industry as an important, cost effective component
to comprehensive healthcare in whatever healthcare system
is developed.
To achieve that, it will take public policy skills, grassroots
and professional advocacy, and cooperation across all “communities
of interest” in professional psychology to mount the
coordinated efforts it will take to assure that we are included
in that system. My initiative would work cooperatively with
ongoing advocacy activities in APA across all Directorates,
with the APAPO, and at the State-level as well, and will utilize
the “bully pulpit” of the APA Presidency to call
attention to, and more importantly, direct resources towards
this policy and practice issue. When presenting my presidential
goals, I have spoken and written very directly about the issue
of uniting all of “The Family of Psychology” in
order to have one strong, coordinated approach to these issues
< www.rozenskyforapapresident.com/presgoals.htm > by
bringing all constituency groups together to work in a coordinated
fashion to accomplish this.
In day-to-day practice we are all concerned about staying
competitive, understanding the market place and protecting
and enhancing our incomes. We must have a clear picture of
the future of practice and what the marketplace will ask of
psychology’s practitioners today and those entering
our field tomorrow so that we can stay competitive in a changing
healthcare marketplace. We must have a picture of where expanding
practice opportunities will lie in the future.
In my role on the APA Board of Directors I worked diligently
to seek, and receive, adequate funding for APA’s new
“Center for Workforce Analysis and Research.”
That Center will assure that psychology, like organized Medicine,
Nursing, & Dentistry, will have a dedicated staff at APA
to study workforce demands and opportunities. Only with such
data in hand can we prepare in a “planful” manner
for the future in order to make sure that practitioners of
today prepare for changes tomorrow and that the next generation
of practitioners who are now in school, or even just deciding
to join our profession, have an opportunity to prepare for
new practice opportunities of the future. Organized Medicine,
for example, has be able to utilize its workforce analysis
center and the data it has collected to seek funding from
congress for training, for debt repayment for its practitioners,
and for funding for program and practice expansion in the
community. Its data is used to direct graduate medical education
so that practitioners are prepared for community service needs
of tomorrow and thus assure a workforce that is well employed.
Such planning is needed within APA so that we stay as a competitive
force in the practice of healthcare and help direct practitioners
to new practice opportunities. As President, I will continue
to emphasize this concrete and practical approach to strategic
planning for the practice of psychology via workforce analysis.
As President I will continue to advocate for issues important
to independent practice such as enhanced healthcare reimbursement
rates, license mobility, expanded scope of practice including
prescriptive authority and hospital admission privileges for
those who wish to have these responsibility, mental health
parity, relevant continuing education, and assure we focus
upon diversity in our educational programs, in our Association,
and throughout our field. To support the individual practitioner,
my Presidential Initiative also will highlight expanded areas
of practice and practice opportunities linked to a range of
opportunities in public health. This would include disease
prevention, health promotion, managing chronic illness, community
health psychology services, program and service management,
and venues and prospective areas of practice that both the
workforce analysis data and the Task Force I appoint will
address. As we enumerate these practice venues as well as
other “public health” practice opportunities,
I believe we will open up and broaden practice opportunities
for all practitioners.
3. What advocacy roles have you taken on behalf of
the practice of psychology and what have you accomplished?
I was honored to be awarded the APA’s Heiser Presidential
Award for Advocacy recognizing my advocacy work for hospital
practice and license protection in Illinois that included
testifying in the Illinois Senate and lobbying in our State
Capitol. I have already described my advocacy activities and
accomplishments for psychology within the JCAHO that were
directly related to this topic.
I have been a long time attendee at the State Leadership
Conference and visitor “to the Hill” as part of
that activity [lobbying both Illinois and Florida delegations].
Recognizing the importance of advocacy within Psychology,
I also have worked to actually, concretely broaden the grassroots
network of advocates for the practice of psychology. When
I was chair of the Board of Educational Affairs we began to
formulate the Educational Advocacy Trust which has brought
academic psychologists into the fold as advocates. The success
of the efforts to seek funding for the Garrett Lee Smith Act,
for example, was a direct result of the founding of that expanded
advocacy network and the Hill visits of this new “workforce”
of advocates. I was one of the original group of psychologists
from the Educational Leadership Conference to lobby Congress
and thus, as an experience Hill visitor, modeled advocacy
activities to this expanded cohort of psychology colleagues
interested in making things happen for psychology.
To further increase the size of the grassroots network of
advocates in psychology, I presented an APA convention workshop,
co-sponsored by Division 31 and Psi Chi, for undergraduate
faculty on the topics of [1] advocacy for local, state issues,
[2] encouraging inclusion of “advocacy for psychology”
in undergraduate curricula, and for [3] engaging potential
new state association members. This then would lead to an
expanded, local grassroots workforce to include faculty and
the large number of undergraduate majors in psychology.
I have taken a very consistent position that the “Family
of Psychology” must work together to accomplish advocacy
goals and build the best future we can for psychology. The
more of us working together, the stronger that future.
Thank you again for this opportunity to communicate with
the leadership and members of Division 42.
Response to Questions
from Division 44
(Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian,
Gay, and Bisexual Issues)
As prepared by Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP
Candidate for President of the American Psychological Association
2008
Division 44: 1. What do you see as the important
role(s) APA can or should be playing in improving the lives
or mental health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
(LGBT) people?
As the largest psychological organization in the world, APA
has the responsibility and opportunity to education the public,
providers, and public-policy makers regarding issues surrounding
enhancing the quality of life of all LGBT people. Recognizing
that the world needs that continual education, APA must reinforce
our policy that homosexuality is not a mental illness. APA
must use psychology’s scientific excellence and strong
commitment to equality to continue reinforcing our policy
statements about LGBT people & adoption, same sex marriage,
policies against hate crime and discrimination in employment
& schools, and the mental health issues surrounding HIV/AIDS.
Division 44: 2. Please describe or list any professional
activities in which you have participated that are related
to improving the lives or mental health and well-being of
LGBT people.
I had the honor to work with Catherine Acuff and members
of the Task Force on “Guidelines for Psychotherapy with
LGB Clients” helping draft the final version that passed
APA Council in 2000. Catherine arranged for me to speak to
Council on behalf of those Guidelines. The Guidelines have
had great impact on our educational system & curricula
and thus availability of quality services to LGBT people.
When I was President of the Illinois Psychological Association,
I was asked to support a new Section on LGBT issues. Of course,
I did, IPA did, and the Section has added much to the Association
and the wellbeing of LGBT members and citizens of Illinois.
I believe both of these were key turning points in moving
forward LGBT healthcare and advocacy.
Request for Statement
from
APA Division 50 (Addictions)
2007 Presidential Candidates
Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP
(200 word maximum)
Division 50: We are specifically interested in
learning about how your goals or priorities would be especially
relevant to our division. For example, how might your
Presidency within APA be beneficial to the field of addictions?
Division 50 will directly benefit from my presidential initiative
“Building Psychology’s Future -- Public Health
and Health Policy: Opportunities for Psychologists in Research,
Practice, Advocacy, and Public Service” because prevention
and treatment of addictions is a public health matter.
Current times demand research that translates into evidence-based
practice and is useful in formulating public policy.
I see a key role for the Division in helping populate this
taskforce and utilizing the scientist-practitioner approach
to addictions to help shape recommendations for the future
role of psychology in public health & policy.
As further benefit to the Division, as-well-as all Psychology,
my presidential platform calls for APA to expand its Public
Education Campaigns, Congressional Fellowship Programs, and
overall "media footprint" as a science so that policy
makers and the public understand we are truly a scientifically-based
profession.
- APA must educate the public about the breadth of Psychology
going beyond "pop-press" images of Psychology
and communicating that psychological principles underlie
every aspect of the human condition.
- APA must assure policy-makers understand:
- effect-sizes for psychological treatments equal those
in Medicine;
- current scientific findings inform our practices;
- investment in psychological research and service
yields high returns.
I invite you to visit my website at www.RozenskyforAPAPresident.com
.
Questions to APA
2007 Presidential Candidates
from Division 53
The Society for Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
(500 words)
Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP
1. What is your position on the role of competency
in evidence-based practices in APA accreditation of clinical
training programs, internships, and continuing education programs,
and in model state licensing laws?
APA must embrace competence in evidence-based practice [EBP]
at all points throughout the education and career pipeline.
To continue to be the successful, scientific-based discipline
Psychology has been, we must have explicit expectations that
accredited programs have competency-based education &
training curricula. This must include documented outcome measurements
of competency for evidenced-based treatments as the core of
practice.
We must define our expectations of competency within model
licensing laws before politicians try to do that for us! For
those psychologists already in practice, we must encourage
continuing education as part of life-long-learning to assure
that EBP is incorporated into ongoing psychological services
in independent and institutional practices.
I have been involved directly in helping to make this a reality.
I was selected to be a member of APA’s Competency Benchmarks
Working Group that met in 2006 and whose work has received
public comment via APA’s website and soon in peer reviewed
publications. In my own work at the University of Florida,
I teach a graduate course in health psychology that is focused
on both competency- and evidenced-based assessment and treatment
based on current literature, the work of the Council for Training
In Evidence-Based Behavioral Practice, and Division 38’s
document on competencies in health psychology. My advanced
psychotherapy seminar similarly focuses on a competency-based
model of supervision and treatment. For eight years, as chair
of a department with both an APA accredited doctoral program
and internship, I recruited faculty role models for our students,
interns and post docs whose scholarship as scientist-practitioners
focused on evidence-based treatment research.
2. What role do you envision APA playing in advancing
evidence-based treatments and evidence-based practices?
• APA has defined EBP for psychology within its policies
and APA’s Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice with
Children & Adolescents, as an example, has taken a lead
in defining this area.
• APA can advance EBP by disseminating research and
practice guidelines in EBP. APA should encourage all specialty
areas and divisions to develop and promulgate evidenced-based
guidelines and competencies.
• APA’s Commission on Accreditation must be encouraged
to continue to develop expectations that training in EBP be
defined as a “core competency” and key to accreditation
thus assuring the next generation is prepared for EBP.
• APA’s is one of the largest scientific publishing
houses in the world. Continuing to add EBP textbooks to its
portfolio will reinforce the importance of this topic.
• APA’s Continuing Education Programs must provide
EBP workshops and seminar opportunities thus reflecting EBP’s
growth and importance to psychology and APA-approved CE programming
must focus on EBP techniques.
• APA’s advocacy efforts should inform and educate
policy-makers that effect-sizes for evidence-based psychological
treatments equal those in Medicine and that current scientific
findings inform our practices.
3. How will your plans and initiatives affect
diverse children, youth, and families?
My presidential initiative “Building Psychology’s
Future – Psychology and Public Health: Opportunities
for Psychologists in Research, Practice, and Public Service”
has as a key element the welfare of children, youth and families.
This is a central focus for public health and it is my intention
to utilize this future-oriented taskforce to include the practice
and science of health promotion, disease prevention, treatment,
and health policy across the lifespan. We will have members
of the taskforce who are basic and applied scientists working
with and studying children, youth, and families to assure
that those populations receive proper attention within this
initiative.
2008 President-Elect
Nominee Endorsement Request
Submitted to
APA’s Division 55: American Society for the Advancement
of Pharmacotherapy
2008
Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP
Dear Members of the Board of Division 55:
Division 55, The American Society for the Advancement of
Pharmacotherapy
Dear Dr. Marquez and Division 55 Executive Board Colleagues:
Thank you for the opportunity to seek endorsement from Division
55 for my candidacy for President of the American Psychological
Association.
I have been a long time advocate for, and supporter of,
psycho-pharmacology education, training, and practice for
psychologists. To illustrate this concretely, when I became
chair of the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology
at the University of Florida I began working on an educational
and training program that would have been one of the first
university-based programs for psychologists seeking the knowledge
and clinical skills to become prescribing psychologists. We
engaged Dr. Anita Brown as our consultant, drafted our curriculum
to reflect the APA educational and training guidelines, began
recruitment of faculty, and worked with a educational marketing
firm to establish a business and strategic marking plan to
reach the largest audience of psychologists. Resistance from
the Florida Medical Association at the state level, however,
brought direct threats to funding not only of our program
and department but the university itself. It was necessary
to step away from the program after discussion with our administration
but we were thrilled that our colleagues at Farleigh Dickenson
took over the program and successfully built on our curriculum
and marketing plan. Thus, I have been in the trenches at the
grassroots level of both educational programming and the political
realities of advocating for support for psychopharmacology
training.
As editor of the Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical
Settings I solicited a special issue on psychopharmacology
edited by Drs. Sammons and Levant to highlight the importance
of this issue for our patients and psychologists’ future.
I also published a number of articles discussing the pros
and cons of psychopharmacology training to keep the dialogue
open regarding the importance of this issue. In my textbook,
Psychological Assessment in Medical Settings, we provided
a chapter section on psychopharmacology and in a textbook
I published with Dr. Robert Resnick, Health Psychology Through
the LifeSpan, we asked Drs. Deleon, Howell, Newman, Brown,
Keita, and Sexton to prepare a chapter on the future of psychology
that highlighted psychopharmacology in the final section of
that book.
Last year I was appointed by the US Secretary of Health and
Human Services to serve on HRSA’s Bureau of Health Professions’
Advisory Committee on Interdisciplinary, Community-Based Services.
Each year that committee formulates a report and recommendations
to the Secretary and the Congress on various healthcare issues.
This year the committee is focusing on healthcare services
for rural, underserved populations. I have added words to
this year’s report to Congress that there should be
support for psychologists in any upcoming universal healthcare
system AND that there be financial support for psychopharmacological
education and training for, and services provided by, psychologists
[and other healthcare providers] properly trained to provide
those services. The wording for those recommendations and
the statement of support are in the penultimate draft of the
report to Congress and I am confident that they will remain
in the final draft. I believe that these recommendations,
in a report to Congress, will be an important statement that
will be extremely helpful as we move forward in our state-by-state
advocacy for psychopharmacology education and practice privileges
for psychologists. I have always been an advocate for psychology
and I received the Heiser Award for Advocacy for my work on
hospital practice privileges for psychologists and served
on BEA when the Educational Advocacy Trust was initiated.
I have advocated for psychopharmacology both within our field
and for psychology & psychopharmacology practice in the
broader political environment.
I have several proposed presidential initiatives that can
be reviewed at www.RozenskyforAPAPresident.com . The initiative
that will focus on “the future of psychology”
will be centered on psychology’s role in public health.
As I have said in the Advisory Committee’s report to
Congress, I believe that access to quality care, including
psychopharmacological services, are a key public health issue
both clinically and in need of further scientific study looking
at the impact of such services on both individuals’
health and the public health and community in general.
I have successful leadership experiences in APA governance
including chair of BPA, BEA, and on the Board Directors, and
as an educator, author, & journal editor, in international
activities, and clinical practice as board certified in both
clinical and clinical health psychologist. Those qualifications
can be reviewed in detail on my website.
I believe that the summary of some of my psychopharmacology-focused
activities illustrate my ongoing support and active involvement
in this important practice expansion area for psychologists.
I hope that the Division will endorse my candidacy for APA
President based both in recognition my advocacy activities
for psychopharmacology and my future intent to support psychopharmacology
education, training, and advocate for funding of our services.
This includes the opportunity to discuss access to such care
within a more general look at research and clinical services
for the public health.
Thank you for the opportunity to present my activities in
support of psychopharmocology. And thank you for your interest
in reviewing the credentials of APA Presidential candidates
and your involvement in helping choose the next APA President.
Sincerely,
Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP
Candidate for APA President
APA Presidential
Candidate Statement
Division 56, The Division of Trauma Psychology
Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP
2008
Thank you for the opportunity to present my
credentials in trauma psychology to the Division, to describe
the importance I see for trauma psychology in my proposed
presidential initiative in “psychology and public health,”
and to ask for your support and #1 vote as the next President
of the American Psychological Association.
I was director of the community mental health services at
the Evanston Hospital in Illinois in the late 1980s to the
late 1990s. This responsibility included our hospital-based
crisis intervention team. In May of 1988 a shooting occurred
in an elementary school in Winnetka, Illinois where one child
was killed and several others wounded. I responded first to
emergency room where the paramedics were bringing in the wounded
then was taken by the police to the school to help with the
initial crisis response. I was involved in clinical follow
up work within the community in the months to follow as well
as carried out research looking at the effects of the event
on the public safety personnel who responded.
A couple of years later a tornado struck Plainfield, Illinois
and the Illinois Psychological Association asked me to coordinate
the activities of our members responding to that traumatic
event. Psychologists from around the state responded and as
result we crafted one of the first agreements between a state
psychological association and the Red Cross for ongoing training
and a network of responders. That program became one of the
first to become part of the APA’s Disaster Response
Network.
When I relocated to the University of Florida in the late
1990s I and applied for and received a $1million grant from
SAMHSA to found the National Rural Behavioral Health Center
whose initial mission was to create training materials to
help rural county extension agents across the country become
prepared for disaster response situations. Our Center staff
published “Triumph over Tragedy,” a 258 page manual
plus DVD, focusing on disaster preparedness and response that
was distributed to nationally. Staff from our center responded
to hurricanes in Florida, Katrina, and as volunteers post
9-11. Currently I am working on a collaborative program with
the University of Florida’s College of Public Health
and Health Professions and College of Design and Planning
(architecture) and an institute in India on an international
certificate program in disaster management. Thus, as a charter
member of Division 56 I have trauma psychology in my professional
genes.
As APA President one of my initiatives will be “Psychology
and Public Health: Practice and Research Opportunities.”
Clearly, for me, disaster preparedness and post disaster\trauma
management are important public health issues no matter whether
we are speaking of human-made or natural disasters. I would
see trauma psychology having a key role in that presidential
initiative including highlighted programming at our convention.
I am Board Certified in Clinical and Clinical Health Psychology
having been in practice for over 25 years. I am currently
Professor and Associate Dean for International Programs in
the College of Public Health and Health Professions at the
University of Florida having served there as chair of the
Department of Clinical and Health Psychology for 8 years.
I was chair of both APA’s Board of Professional Affairs
and Board of Educational Affairs and served on the APA Board
of Directors.
My presidential initiatives and goals for psychology’s
future long with my practice, research, public service, educational
& academic history and qualifications can be found at
www.RozenskyforAPAPresident.com.
Thank you.
Questions to APA Presidential
Candidates
from the American Board of Professional Psychology [ABPP]
Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP
2007
ABPP: 1. What are your views regarding
board certification in psychology?
I strongly believe that board certification is important
to the field of professional psychology, for each of us who
provide services to the public, and to those who seek our
clinical services.
As someone with board certification in both Clinical
Psychology and Clinical Health Psychology I personally consider
being board certified as an important aspect of recognition
of competence beyond licensing. This is especially true for
those who practice in organized healthcare settings where
hospital bylaws expect our physician colleagues to be board
certified in order to be on the professional staff. I would
expect board certification for psychologists as well in those
settings. I believe the field is seeing the growing importance
of specialization in general, as well.
I believe that being an ABPP is so important that in the
advanced psychotherapy course that I teach each year at the
University of Florida, the summative, final exam is a “mini-ABPP
exam.” The students present a patient, including a video
taped session and diagnostic write-up including literature
providing their rational for treatment. They utilize the outline
for the clinical ABPP examination as their guide for their
presentation. The other students act then as the examining
committee of peers. In this manner, the students experience
presenting to their peers [throughout the entire course and
in the final exam] and become very comfortable in doing so.
They also learn how to provide both supervision and constructive
feedback as peer examiners.
I served as a member of the board of the American Board
of the Clinical Psychology and have been an examiner for both
clinical and clinical health psychology. When I was in Illinois,
we used to present a yearly seminar at the state convention
on the importance of becoming an ABPP and details on how to
apply. Thus, my personal commitment to being [dual] board
certified, including board certification in my teaching, and
my service to the field as a board member and examiner would
suggest I have a very strong, positive view of board certification.
ABPP: 2. What are your views regarding specialization
within psychology?
I believe that specialization is a key to the growth of
professional psychology and that psychology is maturing and
beginning to recognize the importance of both having recognized
specialties and specialists. Organized medicine is
coming up on its 100th birthday based upon the Flexner Report
of 1910. It is my hope that when professional psychology approaches
its 100th birthday we too will have embraced an overall acceptance
and expectation of specialization and board certification
as well.
One of the roles I have sought as a member of the APA’s
Board of Directors has been to be the liaison to the Commission
on the Recognition of Specialties and Proficiencies in Professional
Psychology [CRSPPP] which I have done for the past few years.
I feel that role has been an important one because of the
need for organized psychology to clearly have rules for the
recognition of specialties and that APA take a lead in supporting
specialties and specialists.
Last year I spearheaded the Board of Directors’ discussion
on establishing a needed taxonomy for psychology and helped
secure the funding for the Board of Directors’ Task
Force on Taxonomy to meet this Fall. I will be the Board’s
liaison to, and working member of, that Task Force. One of
the products of that task force will be to help to clarify
the definitions of and importance of specialty within psychology
and I look forward to the discussion of ABPP’s definition
of ‘specialist’ that will be brought to the that
group.
ABPP: 3. If elected, how can APA and ABPP work together
toward improving our field?
I was one of the original co-sponsors on APA Council of Representatives
of a motion to recognize ABPP as the means to board certification.
I now understand very clearly the legal issues that press
upon APA and why such a motion specifically recognizing only
ABPP as the named mechanism for board certification cannot
happen. I do believe, however, that the Council can work towards
recognition of a peer-reviewed examination process for board
certification to assure a quality, competency-based examination
process. Again, I believe this will be a difficult task to
accomplish and it will require diligent discussion, work,
and leadership supportive of board certification. I
would see ABPP, as a strong group recognizing specialists,
working to help with defining the process of examination of
specialists, and helping to inform discussion with APA while
CRSPPP maintains its role in recognizing specialties. I would
also see ABPP working with APA on issues such as competency-based
education and evidence-based practice such that both are incorporated
in the credentialing and examination process as APA works
towards recognizing the importance of specialization in its
policies. Such coordinated work will help improve our field,
our services to the public, and the education and career pipeline.
ABPP: 4. If elected, how can ABPP help with your presidential
agenda?
I have three presidential initiatives that can be reviewed
more fully at www.RozenskyforAPAPresident.com
. The overall theme of those initiatives is “Celebrating
our Past, Enjoying our Present, and Building Psychology's
Future: Educating Psychologists for Science, Practice and
Serving the Public.”
In building our future, I see ABPP having a role in helping
the field understand the importance of board certification
and specialization. In focusing on our present, I see ABPP
reinforcing the importance of competency-based education leading
to licensure and specialization. In celebrating our past,
I would hope ABPP and all those who are board certified will
support my goal of having all psychologists work together
to construct an online family tree that will help illustrate
that we are all related via our education & training with
a strong heritage of science upon which practice is built.
We must all work together to build the strongest future we
can build for Psychology.
ABPP can certainly be helpful to my agenda by supporting
me as your next President; a president who is an ABPP himself
and is directly supportive of specialization within our field.
Thank you for the opportunity to answer your questions and
to discuss my goals and initiatives as APA President.
President-Elect
Nominees’ Questions
As requested by
Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors
(AUCCCD)
(Answers limited to a total of 250 words)
July 15, 2007
Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP
AUCCCD Question #1: How can APA help AUCCCD enhance
the public’s understanding of college student mental
health issues?
APA should help fund and co-sponsor with AUCCCD a “Summit
on College Student Mental Health Issues” that would
provide a clear picture of the extent of day-to-day clinical
services provided on campus, statistics describing not just
the numbers served but the issues and needs beyond current
funding. We should highlight successful treatment outcomes
and how the Garret Lee Smith Act has taken a big step towards
better services but where funding shortfalls exist.
We should help the public understand Counseling Center expertise
in managing severely ill patients given the tragedy at Virginia
Tech. One of my proposed
presidential initiatives focuses on public policy and
public health, such a summit would clearly highlight the public
health issues surrounding campus mental health treatment,
prevention and health promotion for the close to 18 million
students who attend college and universities in the U.S.
AUCCCD Question #2: How can APA work with AUCCCD
to help psychologists working at the nation’s university
and college counseling centers provide effective services?
APA, with the help and leadership of members of AUCCCD, did
an excellent job in successfully advocating fo |
