Wright Institute PsyD Commencement Held on Sunday, June 7, 2015

Forty-nine students graduating with doctoral degrees from the Wright Institute in the past academic year were honored at the Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, June 7, 2015. Following the welcome and opening remarks from President Peter Dybwad, JD, and Dean Gilbert Newman, PhD, respectively, the commencement address was delivered by Lonnie Snowden,PhD.

Dr. Snowden is a professor in the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health. He also serves as a faculty member of the Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program at the University of California San Francisco-UC Berkeley, and in the Health Services and Policy Analysis PhD Program at UC Berkeley. Dr. Snowden is an affiliated professor in the UC Berkeley Department of Psychology.

Grace Kiriakos, MA, PsyD Student, Contributes to Article in Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment

Grace Kiriakos, MA, who is completing her second year in the Doctor of Psychology program at the Wright Institute, contributed to the article, "Maximizing Effectiveness Trials in PTSD and SUD Through Secondary Analysis: Benefits and Limitations Using the National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network 'Women and Trauma" Study as a Case Example" for the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment (JSAT).

Dr. Kupers on Time.com

From the article on Time.com: "What 43 Years of Solitary Confinement Does to the Mind"

Dr. Harvey Peskin Receives International Award

The International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) has selected a paper by adjunct faculty member, Dr. Harvey Peskin, on "Uses of Guilt in the Treatment of Dehumanization" as the 2015 winner of The Elise M. Hayman Award for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide

Ulash Thakore-Dunlap Elected to the Board of the Asian American Psychological Association

Ms. Ulash Thakore-Dunlap is the newly elected board member for the Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA).

Ms. Thakore-Dunlap’s two-year term will start in September 2015. The AAPA leads and guides other professional organizations on Asian American psychology and is in the forefront of the multicultural psychology movement.

Previous to her newly elected appointment as board member, Ms. Thakore-Dunlap has been very active in leadership roles within AAPA, including past Communications Officer and Chair of Division of South Asian Americans.

Upcoming Presentations by Dr. Hanna Levenson

Dr. Hanna Levenson will present her work at national and international events in the coming months including the 11th International Interdisciplinary Conference on Clinical Supervision held at Adelphi University in New York, June 10-12, 2015. Her presentation will be on "Three Eminent Supervisors and Their Approaches" which is part of the APA Psychotherapy Supervisors DVD Series which she has been developing. Dr. Levenson will also be a discussant at the Society for Psychotherapy Research convention held in Philadelphia June 24-27, 2015. Four researchers have completed empirical investigations into Dr. Levenson's Time-Limited Dynamic Psychotherapy (TLDP) DVD, and invited her to participate in their symposium. The topic is entitled "What Makes a Therapy Experience Corrective? A Multi-Method Analysis of a Brief Dynamic Therapy Case."

Molly Berman, MA, Publishes Article in Supportive Care in Cancer

Molly Berman, PsyD Candidate, contributed to an article published in Supportive Care in Cancer, entitled Trajectories of fear of cancer recurrence in women with breast cancer. Sections of the literature review were taken from her dissertation, which was a qualitative exploration of fear of cancer recurrence (FCR). This study evaluated the effects of demographic, clinical, symptom, and psychosocial adjustment characteristics on the initial (preoperative) levels of FCR and trajectories of FCR over 6 months following surgery.

For a link to the abstract and article, please visit http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25524004.

Dr. Kupers on The Intercept

From the article on The Intercept: "Why is it So Easy for States to Execute the Mentally Ill?"

For those who are already mentally ill, solitary confinement often makes prisoners' illnesses worse, said Dr. Terry Kupers, a psychiatrist and professor at Berkeley's Wright Institute. For those who aren't already ill, the punishing isolation often leads to mental deterioration.

Barbara Hooks, MA, and Karen Davison, PsyD, Present at National Transgender Health Summit

Barbara Hooks, MA, a fourth year student, and Adjunct Faculty member Karen Davison, PsyD, presented Ms. Hooks dissertation research on transgender mental health treatment at the recent 2015 National Transgender Health Summit. The study explored "Mental Health Treatment Satisfaction and Best Practice Adherence: Does Clinician Adherence to Trans-Affirmative Best Practices Matter?" Sponsored by the UCSF Center of Excellence for Transgender Health, the Summit was held at the Oakland Marriott City Center on April 17, 2015.

Sherri Taylor Leads Panel Discussion at California Psychological Association

On April 25, 2015 Sherri Taylor, Psy.D. candidate, led and participated in a moderated panel workshop at the 2015 California Psychological Association.

The panel entitled, "Who?...Me? Psychologists as Policy Advocates & Practitioners for Social Justice" was a moderated discussion of the role of psychology in policy advocacy and exploration of personal and professional competencies necessary to be effective in this domain. Panelists included David Lechuga, Ph.D., Le Ondra Clark Harvey, Ph.D, and Dean Newman.