Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Institutional Practice: Gayle Y. Iwamasa.

Abstract

This award is intended to recognize outstanding practitioners in psychology. Nominations are considered for psychologists working in a wide variety of institutional practice settings (e.g., schools, military, state hospital, Department of Veterans Affairs). Services provided to diverse client groups or patient populations, including but not limited to children/ adolescents/adults/older adults, urban/rural/ frontier populations, minority populations, and persons with serious mental illness, are considered. Contributions are judged distinguished by virtue of peer recognition, advancement of the public's recognition of psychology as a profession, relevant professional association honors, or other meritorious accomplishments denoting excellence as a practitioner, including improvement of institutional service delivery systems or development of psychologically informed public policy. Gayle Y. Iwamasa is recognized for her strong contributions to service delivery to veterans, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) veterans, and BIPOC mental health providers. Dr. Iwamasa is credited for a lifelong commitment to the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion. For example, Dr. Iwamasa coleads the diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts for the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, and she has received numerous awards and honors for her many contributions. She is also recognized for having founded the Association of VA Psychologist Leaders' Psychologists of Color and Allies Special Interest Group, where she ensures that VA psychology maintains its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Dr. Iwamasa's research focuses on multicultural mental health across the life span, and she has given national and international presentations, authored many journal articles and book chapters, and coedited Culturally Responsive Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Practice and Supervision, Second Edition (2018). Prior to her career with the VA, she spent 16 years in academia, educating and training clinical psychology graduate students where she, likewise, made meaningful contributions to advancing education, training, and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).