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In 1994, Dr. John Santos, a longtime board member of the Retirement Research Fund, began to
use his discretionary funds for the American Psychological
Association’s Division on Adult Development and Aging by funding an
award for best student submission to the annual conference. Dr. Santos
recognized that psychology, like other health professions, was having
difficulty getting its students interested in work with older adults.
In 1996, he broadened the use of his discretionary funds when he funded
a conference on late life depression as part of the Wayne State
University continuing education program. Dr. Santos funded that
conference and a conference on clinical psychological issues in older
adults annually though 2008 because of his strong belief that
psychologists and other health professionals were poorly prepared to
work with mental health problems in their older clients and patients.
He recognized early in the 1990’s that the hoped for expansion in
training for geriatrics and gerontology was not going to be realized
and that in the 21st century, established practitioners would need to
gain expertise to treat our nation’s older adults, and quickly. By the
late 1990’s and into the 2000’s Dr. Santos greatly expanded his
support. He used his RRF discretionary funds to ensure that prestigious
awards were made to recognize the important contributions of
psychologists and students in psychology who worked with older adults.
He helped to sponsor a 3-day intensive program on geropsychology
organized by the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and he
helped to sponsor a conference on Training Psychologists for Work in
Aging, known as “Older Boulder.”Dr. Santos recognized that large
amounts of monies were now being put forth to train physicians, nurses
and social workers, through organizations such as the Reynolds and
Hartford Foundations. The absence of support for psychologists in
the training enterprise led him to become even more passionate about
creating enduring programs and awards that would honor the
psychologists and students in psychology who work with older adults.
The John Santos Award
In 2009, the Executive Committee of Division 20 inaugurates the John Santos Distinguished Program
Development in Clinical Gerontology award, using $2000 of
Division funds. In creating this award we are honoring Dr.
Santos’ belief in the importance of program development. He recently
stated: “I have done NIH research, and I have published papers,
but my proudest contributions were in creating programs that enhanced
the lives of older people and other professionals and from which other
psychologists working in geriatric mental health emerged.” The
contributions include creating and/or enhancing an academic, clinical,
continuing education or other program that has the potential to improve
the lives of older adults, other professionals and colleagues.
Nominees need not be members of Division 20, but they must be nominated
and endorsed by a Division member. It will be presented at the
2009 APA convention. Self as well as colleague nominations are
welcome.
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