APAHC

Association of Psychologists in Academic Health Centers

Section 8 of APA Division 12

Announcements

The APAHC Board is committed to supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within the association as well as nationally.  Toward that end, the Board members have discussed and created this list of Strategic Initiatives.  For the purposes of this document, DEI is an acronym for diversity, equity, and inclusion though they are all distinctly different concepts. Diversity refers to the traits and characteristics that make people unique while Inclusion refers to the behaviors, policies, procedures, and social norms that ensure people feel welcome and are positively engaged. Equality has to do with giving everyone the exact same resources, whereas Equity involves distributing resources based on the needs of the recipients and in order to address barriers to engagement.  Further, underrepresented minorities (URM) is used in its broadest definition, to include minority populations (such as based on age, gender, race, education, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, culture, language, sexual orientation, religion/spiritual beliefs, geographic location, and exceptionality/disability).  A more specific definition is often utilized in comparison to the defined larger group. For example, the AAMC says “Underrepresented in medicine means those racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their” local, regional, or national population. This lens currently includes students who identify as African Americans and/or Black, Hispanic/Latino, Native American (American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians), Pacific Islander, and mainland Puerto Rican. The definition also refers to those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

  1. Presidential Trio………………………………………………………………………………………………Butt, Ward, Shaffer

Catalyze and support the development of strategic initiatives noted below as well as the implementation and evaluation of DEI initiatives over the next five years with a review and new goal-setting at that time in support of a long-term, sustained effort.  Work toward an even more diverse board with efforts to engage/recruit APAHC members who are Under Represented Minorities (URM; broadly defined) to join board committees and run for board positions.  Develop a culture of inclusion on the board, modeling self-reflection and awareness of bias.

  1. Diversity & Health Disparities......................................................................................... Iles, Mejia

Serve as the experts and collaborators with all DEI board initiatives.  Lead endeavors to promote racial literacy and a climate of social justice for APAHC members as well as for the communities we serve.  Collaborate with other committees such as membership recruitment initiatives, speaker/article requests, webinar, newsletter, and conference planning that highlights DEI content. This collaboration may take many forms, including liaisons to the other committees. Provide insight and creative ideas utilizing their committee for brainstorming and when appropriate as subject matter experts.

  1. Membership ................................................................................................. Bruschwein; Williams

Develop benchmarks for current membership demographics:  gender, race, ethnicity.  Revise membership questions on website to include sexual orientation, religion, disability to benchmark those as well.  Engage in intentional membership recruitment efforts targeting URMs (broadly defined) to improve these numbers over the next 5 years.

  1. Treasurer/Finance Committee........................................................................................... Shahane

Work with board members to develop a budget that can support DEI initiatives within the context of a balanced budget that supports fiscal stability so that APAHC can support these efforts long-term.

  1. Secretary................................................................................................................................ Cash

Clearly document initiatives and track action items and their completion for those DEI initiatives created by board members by maintaining agenda items and clear minutes of meetings.

  1. Division 12 Representative................................................................................................ LaPaglia

Work with Division 12 on any joint DEI initiatives.  This may include the emerging Division 12 Mentorship program which APAHC could partner with.  Assist with dissemination of DEI efforts in Division 12 Newsletter to serve as a model for other sections of Division 12.

  1. Social Media/Communications committee............................................................................... Yost

Support intentional membership recruitment efforts targeting URMs (broadly defined), advertisement regarding webinars and conference and their DEI content, and routinely post social media content that highlights key concepts in DEI.  Utilize the APAHC listserv for discussion and dissemination of emerging best practices in the areas of DEI and include advertisement to organizations that incorporate URM.

  1. Early Career Psychologists..................................................................................................... Islam

Galvanize early career members in all APAHC DEI initiatives including membership recruitment, social media, newsletter content, conference content, JCPMS Mentored Reviewer efforts and utilize the ECP listserv for discussion and dissemination of emerging best practices in the areas of DEI.

  1. Trainee................................................................................................................................ Young

Galvanize trainee members in all APAHC DEI initiatives including membership recruitment, social media, newsletter content, conference content, JCPMS Mentored Reviewer efforts.

  1. Education and Training Committee……………………………………………………………………………………………...Pan

Support webinars related to diversity, equity, and inclusion for continuing education of psychologists within and outside of APAHC membership.

  1. Web Editor............................................................................................................................. Fizur

Review website to ensure content reflects the diversity in our profession as well as the communities we serve.  Develop a section of the APAHC website for diversity, equity, and inclusion resources (similar to the COVID-19 resource page) including linking to APA resources (the APA’s landing page on race) and Div 38 (resources for historically underrepresented students, Health Affairs’ health equity article (https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200630.939347/full/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=blog&utm_content=Boyd&), the CDC criteria for communities disproportionately impacted by COVID19  https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/index.html and maintain it with regular updates.

  1. Research Committee........................................................................................... Yozwiak/Williams

Develop surveys and writing projects focused on DEI as related to clinical care, teaching, and research activities in AHCs.

  1. APAHC Biennial Conference............................................................................................. Self/Cash

Foster and sustain diversity content as a regular component of the APAHC conference and strive to include URMs on conference planning committee as well as EC and MC Boot Camp planning committees so that their needs and perspectives are included.

  1. AAMC CFAS Representative................................................................................... Robiner/Shaffer

Identify aligned DEI initiatives across CFAS and APAHC, communicate DEI issues pertinent to psychologist faculty in Academic Medical Centers to CFAS, and galvanize supportive collaborative efforts.

  1. APAHC Grand Rounds............................................................................................ Penwell-Waines

Develop an ongoing column(s) dedicated to DEI and solicit submissions from more diverse psychologists.

  1. JCPMS................................................................................................................................. Brown

Support a special issue in diversity, equity, and inclusion announced in 2020 year with a goal of publishing in 2021 (and periodically a special issue thereafter).  Commit to engagement and inclusion of underrepresented minorities as Editorial Board members and as both mentors and mentees in the new Mentored Review Program.

  1. Members-At-Large …………………………………………………………………………………………………….Clark, Bradford

       Serve as additional support agents for strategic DEI initiatives.

Mission Statement

The Association of Psychologists in Academic Health Centers (APAHC) is Section 8 of the Society of Clinical Psychology (Division 12 of APA). The purpose of the Association is to promote the discipline and profession of psychology in academic health centers and affiliated units (e.g., schools of medicine, nursing, public health, dentistry, pharmacy, health professions; Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, teaching hospitals and other similar entities) to encourage and support psychologists’ participation in institutional governance, research, educational programs, administration, leadership, and policy development.

The Association’s mission is to strengthen the role of psychology and behavioral science in health care research, clinical care, and the education of medical students, graduate students, pre and post doctoral psychology fellows, intern and resident physicians, and other health professionals. By fostering active leadership roles for psychologists in all facets of training, clinical practice, research, and administration in academic health centers, the Association seeks to promote the status, roles and collegiality of psychologists with other health care professionals.

What is an academic health center psychologist?
Academic health psychologists work in settings with a tradition of integrated and interdisciplinary service, research, and education, which may include teaching hospitals, medical schools, allied health schools, and/or VA/Military Medical Centers. In those settings, they model and define psychologists’ roles in health and illness for their trainees and for other health professions.
What does APAHC do?

APAHC provides a venue for peer mentoring from trainee through senior career status.

APAHC provides leadership in issues related to clinical service, education and training, research, and governance.

APAHC organizes a biennial conference focused on the work of psychologists in academic health centers.

APAHC collaborates with the American Psychological Association (APA), the Association of American Medical Colleagues (AAMC), and other organizations to promote the values and mission of our organization.