Div. 55 President

Rick Barnett, PsyD, MSCP, LADC, is the legislative chair and a past president of the Vermont Psychological Association. He founded the nonprofit organization CARTER, Inc., in 2015 to expand addiction-related resources in Vermont. Rick is in private practice in Stowe, Vermont, and has worked in various settings, including nursing homes, hospitals and outpatient programs. He has trained hundreds of health professionals through workshops on addiction and mental health issues over the past 20 years. He is an active advocate for mental health and addiction prevention, treatment and recovery. As president-elect for APA Div. 55, Rick is intent on bringing more attention to the value and role of prescribing psychologists in three domains: addiction treatment and recovery, geropsychology and integrated care settings.

Rick holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Columbia University, a doctorate and master’s degree in clinical psychology, and a master’s degree in clinical psychopharmacology. He has been a licensed alcohol and drug counselor since 1999 and is a specialist in problematic sexual behavior and gambling disorder. Rick served on the Vermont Alcohol and Drug Abuse Certification Board, the Board of Psychological Examiners, the Unified Pain Management Advisory Council at the Department of Health. He currently serves on the Health Care Advisory Group for the Green Mt. Care Board and the Blueprint for Health Mental Health and Substance Abuse Advisory Committee. He is a member of the New York State Psychological Association and recently joined the NYSPA RxP Committee.

Derek C. Phillips, PsyD, MSCP, is a licensed clinical psychologist in the States of Florida and Illinois and a clinical neuropsychologist in the Department of Neurology at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center, a 145-bed acute care nonprofit regional hospital system in rural central Illinois. Additionally, Derek is a prescribing psychology resident at Sarah Bush Lincoln, completing rotations in family medicine, psychiatry, neurology, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology and geriatrics in 2020. He is an adjunct professor of psychology in Eastern Illinois University’s master's in clinical psychology program in Charleston, Illinois, as well as a health service psychologist in the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program administered through the Department of Health and Human Services. 

He earned his BS in psychology and social work (summa cum laude) from Olivet Nazarene University in 2009 and MA in counseling psychology (2012) and PsyD in clinical psychology with a concentration in clinical neuropsychology (2015), both from Adler University (previously Adler School of Professional Psychology) in Chicago. He completed a one-year internship in clinical psychology/neuropsychology and two-year fellowship in clinical neuropsychology in Lakeland, Florida, at Psychological and Neurobehavioral Services, P.A. of the Centerstone Consortium. In 2019, he obtained his MS in clinical psychopharmacology from Fairleigh Dickinson University. As previously mentioned, Derek is currently completing an 18-month prescribing psychology residency at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center in Mattoon, Illinois, which is the final step in becoming a licensed prescribing psychologist in Illinois.

Regarding prior and current volunteer leadership service, Derek is a former member of the APA Council of Representatives (representing Div. 55; 2018–2019) and former member of the APAPO Committee for the Advancement of Professional Practice (CAPP; 2015–2016). He is a current member of the Council of Representatives of the Illinois Psychological Association as chair of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Section (2019–present), member of the APA Board of Convention Affairs (2019–present), secretary of APA Div. 42 (Independent Practice; 2019–present), chair of the Illinois Clinical Psychologists Political Action Committee (2018–present), and editorial board member of the Journal of Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology (2020–present). Derek was a 2017 recipient of the American Psychological Foundation Walter Katkovsky Scholarship for Psychopharmacology Training and was integrally involved in the effort that ultimately led to Illinois becoming the third state to pass RxP legislation. He looks forward to serving as the 21st president (and first ECP president) of Div. 55!

Aloha! I am delighted and honored to serve Div. 55 as past president. As we say in Hawai‘i, "mahalo nui loa"— a long thank you — for the opportunity to represent you.

I became the program director for the CSPP-Alliant International University’s master of science in clinical psychopharmacology (MSCP) program in 2018. I also teach research methods and select biochemistry and pathophysiology lectures online for Alliant’s MSCP program. I have taught pathophysiology, biochemistry and pharmacology in the Chicago School of Professional Psychology’s new MSCP program intermittently since January 2018 and offer training for the ASPPB’s PEP exam.

My first foray into psychopharmacology education was as the coordinator for the University of Hawai‘i (UH) Hilo Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy’s MSCP Program from its inception in 2011 until December 2016. The UH Hilo MSCP program was designed to be 90 percent online. I am comfortable teaching with various distance learning platforms. 

I may be one of the few Div. 55 Executive Committee members who does not have a master of science in clinical psychopharmacology degree. In fact, I am not a clinical psychologist — my PhD in psychobiology was received in 1982 from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey’s Institute of Animal Behavior. My first postdoctoral fellowship was at Dartmouth Medical School’s Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and my second was at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston’s Marine Biomedical Institute where I trained as a National Institute of Health (NIH) fellow in electrophysiology and neurochemistry. So, in essence, I am a nuts-and-bolts scientist. I also worked at a law firm for 10 years as a medical analyst and science team director, representing several Fortune 40 companies in medical device and pharmaceutical litigation.

I also chair the APA Div. 55 Training Director Council, which meets quarterly to address issues pertaining to program designation, curriculum and experiential training. I served as the chair of the Hawai`i Psychological Association’s Subcommittee on RxP, working to bring prescriptive authority for specially-trained doctors of psychology to the state. I am a member of the Research Council and Diversity Council too. I have been one of the lead authors on the division’s Specialty Petition to APA’s CRSPPP, seeking recognition of clinical psychopharmacology as a specialty.The petition is the first step on the path that will allow licensed prescribing/medical psychologists to become board certified.

My dedication to Div. 55 and its goal to advance the field of pharmacotherapy is based on my belief that this movement can make a difference to patients with mental health disorders around the country. I am proud of the fact that Div. 55 membership increased by 11 percent during my tenure as president. I hope to continue to inspire others to get involved so that we can advance the RxP movement to more communities.