Personalities

Catherine Bushnell, PhD, is directing a new research program at the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine that will explore how the brain perceives, modifies and manages pain. The research will investigate the role of the brain in pain processing and control, and how factors such as emotion, attention, environment and genetics affect pain perception. Bushnell comes to the center from McGill University, where she was the Harold Griffith professor of anesthesia and a professor in dentistry and neurology.

California Polytechnic State University has named Douglas Epperson, PhD, the new dean of its College of Liberal Arts. Before joining the university, Epperson was dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Washington State University and spent 30 years at Iowa State University, where he taught in the psychology department.

APA President Suzanne Bennett Johnson, PhD, has been named a Distinguished Alumna by Stony Brook University. Johnson, a Distinguished Research Professor at Florida State University College of Medicine, received her BA in psychology from Cornell and her PhD in clinical psychology from SUNY at Stony Brook in 1974. Johnson has numerous publications in the areas of pediatric psychology and clinical health psychology and has received many research, teaching and service awards. In addition, she has more than 30 years of continuous research funding from the National Institutes of Health.

The International Association for Relationship Research has given Harry Reis, PhD, its 2012 Distinguished Career Award, the association's highest honor. Reis, a psychologist at the University of Rochester, is credited with helping to launch the field of relationship science, pioneering the use of daily experience records and advancing novel theories, including intimacy theory.

The Virginia Psychological Foundation Hall of Fame has inducted APA Past President Robert Resnick, PhD, for lifetime contributions and leadership. Resnick, a professor of psychology at Randolph-Macon College, was a lead complainant in the 1977 U.S. Supreme Court case that established the autonomous practice of psychology. He also developed and directed one of the nation's earliest attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder clinics.

William Riley, PhD, is chief of the new Science of Research and Technology Branch in the Behavioral Research Program at the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences.

The branch directs a comprehensive research program that is exploring interventions that curb tobacco use, promote healthy eating and limit sun exposure, among others.

Before moving to NCI, Riley was a health science administrator and deputy director in the Division of AIDS and Health Behavior Research at the National Institute of Mental Health and a program director at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Riley's research has focused on applying technology—particularly mobile and wireless technologies—in behavioral measurement and intervention. He holds a doctorate in clinical psychology from Florida State University.

The National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology has honored Vicki Sheafer, PhD, with its Frank Costin Memorial Award for Excellence. The institute honored the LeTourneau University professor of psychology for her use of drama to teach undergraduates about classic social psychology experiments.