American Psychological Association selects Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute professor as Distinguished Scientist Lecturer
Warren Bickel, professor at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, director of the Advanced Recovery Research Center, and professor of psychology in the College of Science at Virginia Tech, has been selected by the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Science Directorate and Board of Scientific Affairs to serve as one of APA’s 2012 Distinguished Scientist Lecturers.
Bickel, who heads the Advanced Recovery Research Center at the institute, was selected by the board of scientific affairs from a list of eminent scholars nominated by their peers.
"This recognition by the leadership of the APA is indicative of the importance of Dr. Bickel’s innovative neuroscientific approach to understanding addiction in the human brain and the development of scientifically rigorous approaches to treat this brain disorder," said Michael J. Friedlander, founding executive director of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, professor of biological sciences in the College of Science and adjunct professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering and Science at Virginia Tech, and senior dean of research for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine.
Bickel’s work at the research institute’s Advance Recovery Research Center focuses on solving the problem of addiction and other dysfunctional health behavior by understanding why an individual continues to engage in a behavior despite recognizing that this behavior is both problematic and self-handicapping.
His work seeks to answer this and related questions by examining decision-making processes that support dysfunctional behavior and to find novel therapeutic means to repair those dysfunctional processes.
The Distinguished Scientist Lecturer program is an annual Science Directorate program developed in 1990 by the Board of Scientific Affairs as part of its ongoing mission to promote scientific psychology. Through this program, the Science Directorate supports up to three psychological scientists to speak at three regional psychological association meetings.
Aleta Todd Delaplane prepared this news release.
