From the president’s desk

Wow—I find it hard to believe that six months has already passed. I feel like I’m just starting to get a handle on the variety of tasks and duties of the job, and now my term is halfway through. That time point marks the upcoming APA Convention in Orlando, Fla., in early August of 2012. If you have not made your plans to attend, please do very soon. Our Program Chair Mark Smith has worked very hard and has arranged a fantastic program for the Division members. The program reflects a coordinated effort with Divisions 25: Behavioral Analysis, and 50 Society of Addiction Psychology to bring you cross-cutting and translational research in Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse. Now more so than ever, the solution to societal issues requires team science involving an integration of investigators with different methodological tools, different theoretical frameworks, and different levels of analyses.

As I look around at the members of our division, it is clear that we have been doing this form of research since before it was trendy, and we are clear leaders in this approach to understanding many diseases and psychopathologies important to society and the well-being of its citizens.

I will not try to describe the entire program here. However, I will highlight a few of the topics and then encourage you to explore the program. Some of the cross-cutting themes include contingency management, adolescent drug abuse treatment, ADHD and stimulant medications, trauma and alcohol use, psychopharmacology of antipsychotics, behavioral economics and addiction, and sex differences and relapse—to name a few. Also on the schedule are the new Division 28 Fellows talks (Sarah Heil, Lisa Marsch, Mark Smith), as well as our award winners. Warren Bickel will deliver an invited address as winner of the Med-Associates Brady-Schuster Award. Ben Lewis, the Outstanding Dissertation Award winner, and Adam Leventhal, the winner of the Young Psychopharmacologist Award, will also present on their research. These winners of the Young Investigator Awards, as well as all the other wonderful individuals that were nominated for these awards, underscores to me that our discipline is healthy and will be in great hands in the future.

Follow us on Facebook, or email Rick Bevins or Mark Smith.

We will also send the program out again on the email list as the time of the conference approaches.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank all the members of the executive committee for all of their help and guidance up to this point. I hope I have expressed my gratefulness at the time of your help, but if not, please know that I am thankful for all your efforts. The strength of the division is a community effort. Speaking of serving, I want to acknowledge some new individuals that have committed to advocacy for the Division, as well as the discipline more broadly. Please join me in thanking Ming Li (Liaison to International Affairs), Katie Saulsgiver (2013 Convention Program Chair), Alexa Lopez (Student Representative), Carmela Reichel (Women’s Network Representative), and Wendy Lynch and Rich Allen (Members of CARE Mentoring Committee).

The elections results are in. Thank you to Scott Lane and Ellen Walker (presidential nominees) and Cynthia Crawford and Joe McClernon (member-at-large nominees) for their willingness to serve if elected. Ellen Walker was elected president and will start serving as president-elect in January 2013. Cynthia Crawford was elected member-at-large and will start in January as Wendy Lynch’s term finishes.

Finally, I want to re-extend my earlier challenge to each and every one of the members of Division 28. Make it a goal to recruit just one new member to the division this year. Talk to your colleagues about the advocacy of the division for the discipline, the scientific strength of the convention program, and/or the connection and mentoring opportunities for early career psychopharmacologists. If you have already met the challenge—thanks and now let’s make it two new members. The more of us there are, the louder our voice will be within APA and beyond.

As always, please feel free to communicate any of your thoughts or suggestions to me. And, seriously consider becoming more involved in the division. There are several opportunities coming up and the rewards are many. Here’s to finding a little time to rest and relax this summer with family and friends.