APA Convention Update

The annual APA conference is in August 2011, and Division 28 has a strong schedule this year that includes an Early Career Psychologists and new fellows symposium, the division business meeting and the division award winners

By Lawrence P. Carter, PhD

We are nearly a month away from the 2011 American Psychological Association Annual Convention, taking place in Washington D.C., August 4-7. Time to get those plane tickets and other travel plans squared away! Thanks to the scholarship and productivity of Division 28 members and those attracted to our division, we have an outstanding program covering a truly broad range of topics within psychopharmacology and substance abuse. You can find the complete convention program at the Division 28 website.

Our program kicks off bright and early Thursday morning as we celebrate the accomplishments of Division 28’s four award winners: Cassandra Gipson (Outstanding Dissertation Award), Kevin Murnane (Outstanding Dissertation Award), Matt Johnson (Young Investigator Award), and Steve Higgins (MED Associates Brady/Schuster Award). On Thursday we are also sponsoring special sessions to celebrate our New Fellows and Early Career Psychologists. There is a Division 50 poster session scheduled on Thursday in addition to a Presidential Address from our Division 28 President Mark Greenwald. The events the day will conclude with the Division 28 Business Meeting and a special session in memory of Bob Schuster.

Friday morning gets off to a stimulating start with a symposium on ADHD in College Students, chaired by Lisa Weyandt, and followed by a symposium on Emerging Drugs of Abuse co-chaired by Matt Johnson and Roland Griffiths. Be sure not to miss the NIDA and NIAAA Practitioner’s Town Hall and Early Career Poster Session Friday afternoon and evening where you will have a chance to interact with NIDA and NIAAA Division Directors, Branch Chiefs, and Research Program Staff.

Saturday should offer something for everyone as Donelle Howell will chair a symposium on Refining Contingency Management Interventions and Cora Lee Wetherington and Samia Noursi will co-chair a truly translational symposium entitled “Prenatal Cocaine Exposure in Animals and Humans – Sex Differences in Effects on Behavior and Brain in Offspring Across the Life Span”. The Division 28 Poster Session and the APA Plenary Sessions will follow these sessions.

Sunday morning we conclude the conference with two symposia on important and often neglected topics – Treating Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders in Rural America, chaired by John Roll, and Missing Data in Substance Abuse Clinical Trials – Comparative
Approaches and Implications, co-chaired by Paul Wakim and Gregory Brigham.

In addition to these highlights, Division 28 members should keep an eye out for a brochure they will receive showcasing the many programming items either coordinated by NIDA/NIAAA staff or of key interest to these institutes. This brochure will contain some of the many sessions that the division is sponsoring, co-sponsoring, and co-listing.

Finally, I am pleased to announce that Division 28 will also be hosting a hospitality suite at the Grand Hyatt (room number TBA at the meeting) on the evenings of the 5th and 6th. This is a great opportunity for networking with our division leadership and early career psychologists.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions. See you in Washington D.C.

The full APA Convention Program is now available online.