By Christopher R. France, Ph.D., Ohio University
It is my great pleasure to recognize Dr. Tracey Revenson as the 2013 recipient of Division 38’s Nathan W. Perry, Jr. Award for Career Service to Health Psychology for her influence on our profession through her devotion to scholarship, leadership, and mentorship.
As a scholar, Professor Revenson is recognized internationally for her research on stress and coping processes among individuals, couples, and families facing serious physical illness. In addition to dozens of book chapters and more than 50 peer-reviewed publications, she is the co-author or co-editor of nine volumes, including the most comprehensive handbook in our field, Handbook of Health Psychology. Importantly, her work has had a sustained scientific impact as evidenced by more than 2500 Web of Science citations. Although she is perhaps best known in this room for her scholarly accomplishments in health psychology, it is worth noting that she is a Fellow in four different APA Divisions.
Dr. Revenson’s leadership in health psychology has been evidenced throughout her career at local, national, and international levels. As a faculty member at the City University of New York (CUNY) she has served as co- Director of an NIMH Training Program in Health Psychology, Director of the Health Psychology Concentration, and co-Director of the Health Psychology and Clinical Science Training Area. She has also been a tireless contributor to the profession outside of her own academic institution. For example, she has co-chaired international meetings on stress and coping, served as the Founding Editor and Editor-in Chief of Women’s Health, Associate Editor for both Annals of Behavioral Medicine and Journal of Behavioral Medicine, and as an Editorial Board member for many other prestigious journals, including Division 38’s own Health Psychology. She has also demonstrated her longstanding commitment to our Division through past and present membership on many committees, councils, and task forces, as well as serving on the Executive Committee as Member-at-Large and President. Last, but not least, she recently chaired the Division 38 Task Force on Structure, and through this effort was instrumental in developing an organizational structure that will shape our way forward for many years to come.
Mentorship is a third area in which Dr. Revenson truly excels. First, she is an outstanding mentor in the traditional sense, having successfully guided more than twenty doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows to successful careers of their own. When I reached out to past mentees, I received a blast of superlative statements about their experiences:
“At every stage of my career thus far, Tracey has been right there, offering support and advice all along the way. Not surprisingly, Tracey has always been the best at offering both problem-focused support and emotion-focused support. At the end of a conversation with Tracey, you not only feel reassured, confident, and validated, you also leave with a concrete plan of action.”
“She’s renowned for her purple pens on drafts. It’s always purple and always amazing.”
“After graduation, I would tell people that I felt like I had gotten two doctorates — the one from my program, and the research one directed by Tracey.”
“Brilliant, creative, funny, fun, thoughtful, generous.”
But, if you know Tracey, then you also know that you don’t have to be a past student to benefit directly from her wisdom and support. Dr. Revenson’s dedication to mentorship goes far beyond her own students, and she is a frequent guest speaker, symposium organizer, and member of conference panels on issues that promote the development of junior colleagues.
In closing, you may know that “mahalo” is a Hawaiian word meaning thank you. However, it also can mean gratitude, admiration, praise, esteem, regard, or respect. Accordingly, with the fullest sense of this word in mind, I salute my friend with “Congratulations Dr. Revenson, and mahalo!”