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About APS
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National Office Address:
6728 Old McLean Village Drive;
McLean, VA 22101-3906
Phone: (703) 556-9222
Fax: (703) 556-8729
[email protected]
The mission of the American Psychosomatic Society is to promote and advance the scientific understanding and multidisciplinary integration of biological, psychological, behavioral and social factors in human health and disease, and to foster the dissemination and application of this understanding in education and health care.
Inception: The American Psychosomatic Society grew from a desire among several academicians, practitioners and foundations to link developments in psychology and psychiatry to internal medicine, physiology and other disciplines.
In 1936, Mrs. Kate Macy Ladd, the philanthropist and founder of the Josiah Macy, Jr., Foundation, directed the Foundation to provide support for the fledgling field of psychosomatic investigation. The initial project, undertaken by the New York Academy of Medicine's joint committee on Religion and Medicine, was to assemble a bibliography of the "psychosomatic" medical literature, 1910-1933, together with publications examining the relationship of religion to health. Dr. Helen Flanders Dunbar, director of the joint committee, undertook the task. The first volume was published in 1935 as Emotions and Bodily Changes. Two further revisions brought the literature surveys up to 1945.
Journal: With further financial assistance from the Macy Foundation, the National Research Council's Division of Anthropology and Psychology, Committee on Problems of Neurotic Behavior began publication of the journal, Psychosomatic Medicine, in an effort to encourage collaboration among the medical specialties, psychology and the social sciences. Its first issue appeared in 1939 under the editorship of Dr. Dunbar. Thereafter, research in the field expanded rapidly, but there was no permanent forum other than the Journal for the exchange of data and ideas. Accordingly, in December 1942, the advisory board of the Journal voted to establish the "American Society for Research in Psychosomatic Problems".
As the official publication of the Society, Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine, publishes experimental and clinical studies dealing with various aspects of the relationships among social, psychological, and behavioral factors and bodily processes in humans and animals. It is an international, interdisciplinary journal devoted to experimental and clinical investigation in behavioral biology, psychiatry, psychology, physiology, anthropology, and clinical medicine. The print journal is published nine times a year; most articles are published online ahead of print. Today, Psychosomatic Medicine is published nine times a year. Former editors of include Drs. Carl Binger, Morton F. Reiser, Herbert Weiner, Donald Oken and Joel Dimsdale and the current editor is David S. Sheps.
Society Founders: Gathered at the organizing December 1942 meeting were representatives of the several centers where psychosomatic research was under way, including Drs. George Daniels, George Draper and Helen Dunbar, Columbia-Presbyterian; Drs. Stanley Cobb, Hallowell Davis, Alexander Forbes, Walter B. Cannon and Eric Lindeman from Harvard; Dr. Harold G. Wolff and colleagues at Cornell-New York Hospital; and Dr. Edward Weiss and colleagues from Temple University in Philadelphia who, with Dr. O. Spurgeon English, delineated the "field" in 1943 in their textbook, Psychosomatic Medicine.
Council: The first meeting of the Council was held on May 11, 1943, at the Hotel Statler in Detroit under the honorary presidency of Dr. Adolf Meyer. At the meeting, Dr. Tracy Putnam was elected the first president of the Society, Dr. Winfred Overholser, president-elect and Dr. Edwin G. Zabriski, secretary-treasurer. Today, the Council is comprised of 17 members. The elected members are chosen to provide appropriate representation to the following fields: internal medicine; psychiatry; pediatrics; neuroanatomy; physiological sciences, neurophysiology and psychophysiology; psychology; clinical psychology, sociology; anthropology; and public health.
ANNUAL MEETING
The first scientific meeting was held jointly with the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in 1943, and in conjunction with the AMA meeting in New York in 1944. That year, the Society was incorporated under the laws of New York State and control of the Journal was shifted from the National Research Council to the Society. Beginning in 1946, the annual meetings were held independently of other organizations. In 1948, the Society's name was changed from "American Society for Research in Psychosomatic Problems" to "The American Psychosomatic Society."
Today, the Annual Meeting in March is an open scientific and clinical forum where investigators from allied disciplines communicate, pool their knowledge, consider problems of conceptual relationships, and develop ideas that will stimulate further research. Typically, the three-day meeting is devoted to the presentation of scientific papers, symposia, workshops, poster sessions, invited lectures and addresses. Roundtable luncheon discussions, as well as business meetings for the Society's membership and Council, and the Journal's editorial board are included. An annual banquet closes the meeting on Saturday evening.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Michael Irwin, PhD, President(2011)
Martica Hall, MD, President-Elect(2011)
Paul J. Mills, PhD, Immediate Past-President(2011)
Mustafa al'Absi PhD, Secretary-Treasurer(2013)
COUNCIL MEMBERS
Jos Brosschot, PhD(2012)
Joan Broderick, PhD(2013)
Kurt Kroenke, MD(2013)
Gaston Kapuku, MD, PhD(2012)
Maria Llabre (2014)
Scott Matthews, MD (2014)
Paige McDonald, PhD (2014)
Urs Nater, PhD (2013)
Lawson Wulsin, MD (2013)
Karen L. Weihs, MD(2012)
EX-OFFICIO COUNCIL MEMBERS
Suzanne Segerstrom, PhD, Program Chair (2011)
Willem J. Kop, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Psychosomatic Medicine
John M. Ruiz, PhD, Newsletter Editor(2013)
NATIONAL OFFICE
George K. Degnon, CAE, Executive Director
Laura E. Degnon, CAE, Associate Executive Director
Sarah Shiffert, Association Manager
Address: 6728 Old McLean Village Drive; McLean, VA 22101-3906
Phone: (703) 556-9222
Fax: (703) 556-8729
E-mail: [email protected]
APS Presidents 1943 - 2010
1943 - 44: Tracy J. Putnam, MD
1944 - 45: Winfred Overholser
1945 - 46: Roy G. Hoskins, MD
1946 - 47: Edward Weiss, MD
1947 - 48: Franz Alexander, MD
1948 - 49: Leon J. Saul, MD
1949 - 50: Eugene B. Ferris, MD
1950 - 51: Milton J.E. Senn, MD
1951 - 52: Roy R. Grinker, MD
1952 - 53: Sydney G. Margolin, MD
1953 - 54: George L. Engel, MD
1954 - 55: Lawrence S. Kubie, MD
1955 - 56: Stanley Cobb, MD
1956 - 57: I. Arthur Mirsky, MD
1957 - 58: Theodore Lidz, MD
1958 - 59: Milton Rosenbaum, MD
1959 - 60: Eric D. Wittkower, MD
1960 - 61: Morton F. Reiser, MS
1961 - 62: Stewart Wolf, MD
1962 - 63: Julius B. Richmond, MD
1963 - 64: Carl Binger, MD
1964 - 65: Eugene Meyer, MD
1965 - 66: Robert A. Cleghorn, MD
1966 - 67: Lawrence E. Hinkle, Jr., MD
1967 - 68: William A. Greene, MD
1968 - 69: Thomas H. Holmes, MD
1969 - 70: John W. Mason, MD
1970 - 71: Peter H. Knapp, MD
1971 - 72: Herbert Weiner, MD
1972 - 73: Margaret T. Singer, PhD
1973 - 74: Albert J. Stunkard, MD
1974 - 75: Alvin P. Shapiro, MD
1975 - 76: Sidney Cobb, MD
1976 - 77: Albert J. Silverman, MD
1977 - 78: Donald Oken, MD
1978 - 79: David T. Graham, MD
1979 - 80: Robert Ader, PhD
1980 - 81: Franz Reichsman, MD
1981 - 82: Robert M. Rose, MD
1982 - 83: Myron A. Hofer, MD
1983 - 84: C. David Jenkins, PhD
1984 - 85: Marvin Stein, MD
1985 - 86: Bernard T. Engel, PhD
1986 - 87: Jules Hirsch, MD
1987 - 88: Stanford B. Friedman, MD
1988 - 89: Richard H. Rahe, MD
1989 - 90: Donald S. Kornfeld, MD
1990 - 91: Karen A. Matthews, PhD
1991 - 92: Joseph D. Sapira, MD
1992 -93: Redford B. Williams, MD
1993 - 94: Thomas N. Wise, MD
1994 - 95: Edwin H. Cassem, MD
1995 - 96: James A. Blumenthal, PhD
1996 - 97: Douglas A. Drossman, MD
1997 - 98: Margaret A. Chesney, PhD
1998 - 99: Joel E. Dimsdale, MD
1999 - 00: Oliver G. Cameron, MD, PhD
2000 - 01: Jean Endicott, PhD
2001 - 02: J. Richard Jennings, PhD
2002 - 03: Dennis H. Novack, MD
2003 - 04: Steven E. Locke, MD
2004 - 05: Nancy Frasure-Smith, PhD
2005 - 06: Richard D. Lane, MD, PhD
2006 - 07: Peter A. Shaprio, MD
2007 - 08: William R. Lovallo, PhD
2008 - 09: Matthew F. Muldoon, MD, MPH
2009 - 10: Shari Waldstein, PhD
2010 - 11: Paul J. Mills, PhD,
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Committee goals:Represent the broad interests of APS; help maintain and enhance the financial viability of APS; establish a fund raising agenda, including programs and products for which funds may be raised; contact potential donors consisting of APS leaders (past and present), current APS members, and other interested individuals, foundations and corporations; encourage APS members to make donations to the APS Fund and to include the APS Heritage Fund in their estate planning; and raise funds that will enable us to expand our programs, increase the endowment of APS, and ultimately help to ensure that medical care becomes humanistic.
Martica Hall, PhD, Chair
The Awards Committee oversees the majority of the awards and scholarships presented by the Society, including the Alvin P. Shapiro Award, Herbert Weiner Early Career Award, Patricia R. Barchas Award, Young Scholar Awards, MD Travel Fellowship, Minority Initiative Awards, and the Cousins Center Global Outreach Awards. The Paul D. MacLean Award, Travel Awards for MacLean Scholars and the Donald Oken Fellowship are coordinated by special subcommittees. These awards are presented yearly at the Society's annual meeting.
Doug Carroll, PhD, Chair
Committee Members
Peter J. Gianaros, PhD
Susan K. Lutgendorf, PhD
Paul J. Mills, PhD
Brenda Penninx, PhD
Suzanne C. Segerstrom, PhD
Michael Ziegler, MD
The Liaison Committee serves a liaison function by which the society fosters closer relationships with other general or specialist medical societies, on one hand, and with other psychological or behavioral medicine societies on the other. The latter includes liaison activities with the major behavioral medicine and psychosomatic medicine organizations such as the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, Division 38 of the American Psychological Association, and the Society of Behavioral Medicine.
Urs Markus Nater, PhD and Benjamin Natelson, MD, Chairs
Committee Members
Donald S. Kornfeld, MD
The mission of the APS Membership Committee is to recruit and retain regular, associate, emeritus, and corresponding members. The Committee seeks to identify important needs and trends in membership and in the field of psychosomatic medicine and to use this information to guide recruitment and retention efforts. The Committee's mission encompasses all levels of membership including: 1) regular membership--those in medical, biological, physiological, psychological and sociological disciplines and professionals in cognitive fields who teach, practice, or participate in investigations of psychosomatic relationships, 2) associate membership--individuals enrolled in medical, graduate, undergraduate school, or in residencies or fellowships, 3) emeritus membership--regulars members who have been a member for 15 years and have reached the age of 70 or who retired for other reasons, and 4) corresponding members-- professionals who meet the criteria for regular membership and also reside in developing countries. Committee initiated Psychosomatic Interest Groups at medical schools offer pilot funding from APS. Leo Pozuelo, MD, FACP coordinates this effort.
Jos F. Brosschot, PhD and Scott Matthews, MD, Chairs
Committee Members
Julia A. Chung, MD
Hans-Christian Deter, MD, PhD
Urs Markus Nater, PhD
Leo Pozuelo, MD
Thomas Ritz, PhD
Daichi Shimbo, MD
Julian F. Thayer, PhD
Ali A. Weinstein, PhD
The Professional Education Committee is dedicated to improving the understanding of mind-body interactions in health and disease in medical education. The Committee presently has several projects: the development of a textbook of “psychosomatic medicine” geared toward enhancing integration of biopsychosocial issues into undergraduate medical education; the solicitation of teaching resources (e.g., slides, bibliographies) from the APS membership to be posted on the website; efforts in outreach and liaison that include identification of potential visiting scholars in the area of biopsychosocial education from the APS membership; and the development of educational programming at the annual meeting.
Members
Daichi Shimbo, MD, co-chair
Serina Neumann, PhD, co- chair
Herb Ochitill, MD
Oliver Cameron, MD
Steven Cole, MD
Benjamin Natelson, MD
Dennis Novack, MD
Shari Waldstein, PhD
Frances Cohen, PhD
Steven Locke, MD
Douglas Drossman, MD
Laura Julian, PhD
Michael Ziegler, MD
Grant D. Chikazawa-Nelson, PhD
The Program Committee is responsible for developing the academic portions of the Annual Meeting held for 3 to 4 days each March. The Committee chairperson serves a two year term and is responsible for selecting the remaining 10-15 committee members. The Committee meets at the Annual Meeting and conducts monthly conference calls throughout the year. Proposals for special lectures, keynote addresses, symposia, workshops and roundtable discussion are discussed and modified and, ultimately, accepted or rejected democratically. Each fall, abstracts submissions and unsolicited symposium proposals are collated and distributed for blinded peer review. Those receiving favorable scores are accepted for either oral or poster presentations.
Suzanne C. Segerstrom, PhD, Chair
Committee Members
Joan Broderick, PhD
Oliver Cameron, MD
Lisa Christian, PhD
Sally Dickerson, PhD
Michael Irwin, MD
Rona Moss-Morris, PhD
Benjamin Natelson, MD
Mary-Frances O'Connor, PhD
Michele Okun, PhD
Anna Phillips, PhD
Holly Rau
Ted Robles, PhD
Bruce Rollman, MD
John Ruiz, PhD
Kristen Salomon, PhD
David Sbarra, PhD
Sandra Sephton, PhD
Maida Sewitch, PhD
Claire Stramrood, MD
KaMala Thomas, PhD
Paula Williams, PhD
The Nominating Committee includes six members with staggered terms: The immediate Past-President, President, one Council member and three At-Large members. Each year one Nominating Committee Council member will be elected for a one-year term and one at-large member will be elected for a three-year term. Both of these elections will be competitive. The President of the Society shall act as chair. Each fall, the Nominating Committee shall solicit nominations for president-elect, Council seats and seats on the Nominating Committee from the entire membership.
General Qualifications for Candidates
Mike Irwin, MD, Chair
Committee Members
Paul J. Mills, PhD, Immediate Past President
Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, PhD
Neil Schneiderman, PhD
Roland Von Kanel, MD
Karen L. Weihs, MD
Thomas N. Wise, MD, Chair
Committee Members
Matthew F. Muldoon, MD, MPH
Susan S. Girdler, PhD
Karen A. Matthews, PhD
Douglas Drossman, MD
George Degnon, CAE, Executive Director
Laura Degnon, CAE, Associate Executive Director
Willem Kop, PhD Psychosomatic Medicine Editor
This group of previous leaders of the Society provides important perspectives about many relevant issues, including the current state and direction of the Society, its potential future goals, how it might relate to other professional groups. There is at least one Past Leader on the Program Committee, and Past Leaders are encouraged to participate on each of the APS committees. The Past Leaders Committee meets at a dinner during the Annual Meeting, convenes by conference call at least twice each year, and engages in other business, such as nominating individuals for APS awards, or communicating about specific activities by email and use of the APS website.
J. Richard Jennings PhD, Chair