Division 52 is proud to honor the 2022 Division awardees

Outstanding International Psychologist

  • Sylvia Chen

    2022 Awardee Outside the United States
    Dr. Sylvia Xiaohua Chen
    Sylvia Xiaohua Chen is a Professor in the Department of Applied Social Sciences, an Associate Dean in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Director of the Yan Oi Tong Au Suet Ming Child Development Centre, and Associate Director of the Mental Health Research Centre at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Sylvia’s research focuses on the social psychology of bilingualism and biculturalism, globalization and multiculturalism, personality and social behavior in cultural contexts, as well as cultural diversity and mental health. Her work has appeared in top-tier journals in the field, including Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Social Psychological and Personality Science, American Psychologist, and Psychological Science. She is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) and Hong Kong Psychological Society, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (now Advance HE), UK. Currently, she is President of the Asian Association of Social Psychology and Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.

 

Dr. Chen speaks about her work.

  • 2022 Awardee in the United States
    Dr. Fred Bemak
    George Mason University

Fred Bemak is a Professor Emeritus at George Mason University. For the past 40 years his work has emphasized international psychology that spans over 60 countries. This includes administering research and training grants and providing consultation to governmental and nongovernmental agencies, as well as visiting professorships and invitations to speak at global conferences. He has published extensively in cross-cultural and international psychology, and human rights. He has received numerous international awards including four Fulbright awards, a Kellogg Foundation Fellowship in International Leadership and Development, a World Rehabilitation Foundation International Exchange of Experts Fellowship, and a Distinguished Honorary Professorship from Amity University in India. He is an APA Fellow with Divisions 52 and 17.

Outstanding Early Career Psychologist Award

  • Dr. Brieanne Khort

    2022 Awardee 
    Dr. Brieanne Kohrt, PhD
    Brieanne Kohrt, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies at California State University, Los Angeles. She is also the Director of PASEO Salud Mental, a non-profit whose mission is to increase mental health access for the Latinx community in the U.S. Through PASEO, Dr. Kohrt provides graduate students and early career psychologists with training in Spanish-language service provision through an immersion program in Peru, including a service learning component that helps provide psychosocial support to local communities. Dr. Kohrt’s research focuses on mental health capacity building in low-resource communities in Latin America. Her current projects include a pilot of an evidence-based treatment for perinatal depression delivered by Mayan community health workers in Guatemala, and the implementation and evaluation of a school-based prevention program aimed at reducing the rates of intimate partner violence in an urban migrant community in Peru.

Dr. Khort speaks about her work.

Global Citizen Psychologist Citations

  • Dominique Eugene

    Dominique Eugene, PhD
    Dominique Eugene, Ph.D., a multicultural Haitian American based in South Africa, is an early career clinical psychologist, a licensed marriage and family therapist, a registered play therapist and supervisor, a certified trauma specialist, and an infant-family and early childhood mental health specialist focused on community well-being in low-mid income countries. She has co-edited a book on mass trauma and emotional healing as well as written articles and presented at international conferences in the areas of play therapy, disaster and mental health, intimate partner violence, depression and cultural disparities. After obtaining her doctorate from Fielding Graduate University in 2018, where she is also Institute for Social Innovation Fellow, Dr. Eugene was named a Global Health Fellow on behalf of the Harvard University, Boston University, Northwestern University, and University of New Mexico (HBNU) Global Health Fellows Consortium. Her current research in the Department of Psychiatry at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, focuses on the prevalence of female offenders of intimate relationship violence. Dr. Eugene maintains active professional in the United States as well, serving on the board of the California Mental Health Advocates for Children & Youth (CMHACY), chairing the California Association of Infant Mental Health (CALAIMH) Social Justice Committee, and serving on the Board of Directors of the Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists (ATSS). Dr. Eugene’s work history and training demonstrates a steadfast commitment to enhancing ethnic, cross-cultural, and socio-economic diversity within the field. She exemplifies the promise of Global Citizen Psychologists effecting change both at home and abroad.

  • Iva Zegura

    Iva Žegura
    Professor Iva Žegura is a specialist in clinical psychology at the University Psychiatric Hospital Vrapče in Zagreb, Croatia. Žegura has distinguished herself as a scientific and professional voice focused on protecting and promoting human rights and social justice for LGBTQI+ minority populations in the Balkans. Professor Žegura has been actively involved in several professional organizations for nearly two decades. She currently serves as Head of Section for clinical psychology in the Croatian Psychological Association (CPA) and also helped establish, and serves as Section Deputy Head of, the CPA Section for the psychology of sexuality and gender. Outside of CPA, Žegura is also active within the Section for Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity of the Serbian Psychological Association, serves on the Executive Committee of EPATH (European Professional Association for Transgender Health), and is active in the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). Beginning this year Professor Žegura represents CPA in the International Psychology Network for LGBTI Issues (IPsyNet). And in just the last year, in collaboration of CPA with the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations (EFPA) Board of Cultural and Ethnic Diversities, she organized a symposium to support colleagues in dealing with the consequences of two devastating earthquakes in Croatia and the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Žegura is a true Global Citizen Psychologist and ambassador for psychological science, volunteering her professional knowledge, experience and expertise at the local, Croatian and international level in aid of marginalized populations.

Jean Lau Chin Award for Outstanding Psychologist in International Leadership Contributions

  • Drs. Sara Harkness and Charlie Super
    Sara Harkness is Professor of Human Development and Pediatrics at the University of Connecticut, where she also serves as director of the Center for the Study of Culture, Health, and Human Development.  She earned a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Harvard University, and a Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. Her research focuses on cultural influences on child development and families, especially parents’ cultural belief systems and practices of care, and relationships between families and schools.  She has carried out studies in Guatemala, Kenya, Korea, Europe, and the US, many in collaboration with an international team of researchers.  Together with her husband Charles Super, she received the 2009 Distinguished Contributions to Cultural and Contextual Factors in Child Development Award from the Society for Research in Child Development.  In 2012-2013 she served as a Senior Advisor in Education and Health at USAID (the US Agency for International Development) as one of twelve Jefferson Science Fellows chosen nationwide by the National Academies of Science and the US Department of State.  She has served on several federal review committees, and has consulted for the World Health Organization, Fisher-Price, and Sesame Workshop.  Her work has been featured in the media worldwide.  She is co-editor of Parents’ cultural belief systems: Their origins, expressions, and consequences (Guilford, 1996), and of Cross-cultural research on parents: Applications to the care and development of children (New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2020), and is an author of many articles and chapters.
    Charles M. Super is Professor of Human Development and Pediatrics at the University of Connecticut, having served for ten years there as Dean of the School of Family Studies. He is now Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Culture, Health, and Human Development. He received is Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Yale University, and PhD from the Department of Social Relations at Harvard University. His training in child clinical psychology was completed at the Judge Baker Guidance Center in Boston. Super’s research interests focus on the cultural shaping of universal developmental growth, and how culturally informed interventions can improve outcomes for children and families. He has carried out research and evaluation projects in Guatemala, Colombia, Zambia, Kenya, Korea, several European countries, and the U.S, and has grown to appreciate the essential role of collaboration with local researchers in such work. He was co-recipient, with his wife Sara Harkness, of the inaugural award for Distinguished Contributions to Cultural and Contextual Factors in Child Development from the Society for Research in Child Development, and served for eight years on the U.S. National Committee for the International Union for Psychological Science. He is co-editor (with S. Harkness) of Parents’ cultural belief systems: Their origins, expressions, and consequences (Guilford, 1996), and (with Pia Rebello Britto and Patrice Engle) of the Handbook of Early Childhood Development Research and Its Impact on Global Policy (Oxford University Press, 2013), as well as numerous articles and chapters.

Drs. Super and Harkness speak about their work

Jean Lau Chin Award for Outstanding Graduate Student in International Leadership Contributions

  • Daniel Balva

    Danial Balva, MS
    Daniel Balva (he/him) is a 4th year Counseling Psychology doctoral candidate at the University of Georgia who is currently completing his internship at the VA Pacific Islands Healthcare System in Honolulu, Hawai’i. Daniel is the Past Student Chair for Division 52 and currently serves as the President Elect for the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association (ARCA). In collaboration with student leaders from across the globe, Daniel helped establish the Global Student Psychology Committee (GSPC), a student-led organization with students from more than 35 countries, each of whom are focused on promoting the sustainable development of psychology as a diverse science and global profession through worldwide student networks. He has a strong passion for global mental health, the internationalization of psychology, student advocacy, disability awareness, and juvenile justice— all of which form the basis of his research interests, leadership involvement in various organizations, and international collaborations and engagement.

Anastasi Graduate Student Research Award

  • David Benitez, MS
    David Benitez, M.S. is pursuing a Psy.D. with a concentration in clinical neuropsychology at Albizu University-Miami Campus. At AU, he serves as President of the Neuropsychology Society, President of the Division of Clinical Psychopharmacology, and Institutional Academic Board Representative. David is the Student Representative for the APA’s Society of Prescribing Psychology (Div. 55) and Past Chair of the Florida Psychological Association of Graduate Students (FPAGS). He also serves as a Student Representative for Albizu University’s Association of Neuropsychology Students and Trainees (ANST), sponsored by the APA’s Society of Clinical Neuropsychology (Div. 40), and is Co-chair of the Higher Education working group of the APA’s Interdivisional COVID-19 Taskforce. David has clinical experience working in outpatient and in- patient settings with a wide arrange of populations, including pediatrics, adults, and geriatrics. Among clinical presentations, he has extensive experience with patients with traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), dementia, and other neurocognitive and neurodegenerative disorders.

Student International Research Award – Graduate Student

  • Hayoung Kim

    Hayoung Kim, MA International Student in U.S.
    Ms. Hayoung Kim Donnelly (M.A) is a research/teaching fellow and doctoral candidate in Counseling Psychology and Applied Human Development at Boston University and currently working at the Center for Future Readiness. Her main research interests are machine learning, quantitative research methods, suicide, mental health, risk behaviors, social support, resilience, and career readiness of adolescents and emerging adults. She has published multiple peer-reviewed research papers as a leading author and served as a reviewer in several academic journals. Her current research is investigating determinants of suicide behaviors (i.e, suicide ideation, planning, and attempts) among adolescents living in 32 Low and Middle-Income Countries by using machine learning. More information can be found at www.linkedin.com/in/hayoungkimdonnelly.

 

Student International Research Award – Undergraduate Student

  • Gabriel Medianero
    Gabriel L. Medianero is a Panamanian psychology student pursuing an Undergraduate Degree in Psychology at the Universidad de Panamá. Throughout his studies in psychology, Gabriel has obtained expertise in substance use and addictions, particularly through his training in prevention and intervention programs and his clinical rotation at the National Mental Health Institute in Panamá. His areas of clinical and research interest include health psychology and its relation to environmental and social factors. He has occupied different leadership positions at a national and international level, being the Vice President of the Students´ Psychological Association of the Universidad de Panamá, Student Representative at the Psychology Faculty Council, member of the Students’ Workgroup of the Interamerican Psychological Society (SIP) and Student Representative of his home country at the Global Student Psychological Committee (GSPC). Gabriel uses these leadership platforms to empower and support other trainees in his home country to get involved in psychological research and contribute to the scholarly literature of their region. 

Ursula Gielen Book Award

Michele Gelfand
for her book 
Rule Makers, Rule Breakers.

Honorable Mention:  
Louisa Lambert and Nausheen Pasha-Zaidi
for their book 
Positive Psychology in the Middle East/North Africa

Convention and Membership Awards

APA Convention Registration Scholarship (Non-Division 52 Student Member)

  • Erick Mejía Reyes (El Salvador)
  • Laura Cecilia Henríquez (Dominican Republic)

APA Convention Registration Scholarship (Division 52 Student Members)

  • Rita Rivera (International Student in U.S. from Honduras)
  • Julio Andres Gómez Henao (Colombia)
  • Gabriel Medianero (Panamá)
  • Marija Davcheva (Spain)
  • Megan Hall (USA)

Division 52 International Scholars Student Membership Scholarship

  • Sijia Li (China)
  • Polina Beloborodova (International Student in U.S. from Russia)
  • Riwa Haidar (Lebanon)
  • Jasagam Kaur (India)
  • Cleno Couto (Brazil)
  • Monique Guimarães (Brazil)
  • Jordan Brathwaite (Barbados)
  • Laura Cano (Colombia)
  • Juan Giraldo (Colombia)
  • Aseye Amoah-Noakye (Ghana)