The APF Cummings PSYCHE Prize

In 2004 The Nicholas & Dorothy Cummings Foundation reached agreement with the American Psychological Foundation to co-sponsor the APF Cummings Psyche Prize of $50,000, the first such to be awarded at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in 2007.

The American Psychological Foundation and The Nicholas & Dorothy Cummings Foundation are cosponsoring the APF Cummings PSYCHE Prize, with its $50,000 award, beginning in 2006, with the 2006 and 2007 awards in 2007, and annually thereafter, always at the Convention of the American Psychological Association. The Prize shall be presented at an APF ceremony during the day, and a private banquet honoring the recipient will be sponsored by the Cummings Foundation that evening.

The purpose of the Prize is to recognize a licensed practicing psychologist whose career and prize application demonstrate a plan to effect significant and enduring contributions to expanding the role of the psychologist as primary care provider, especially as this pertains to the co-location of psychologists as behavioral care providers (BCPs) working side by side with primary care physicians (PCPs) in the primary care setting of organized systems of healthcare delivery. Candidates should have at least ten to fifteen years experience, and must realize that integrated behavioral/primary care is comprehensive, involves co-location of BCPs with PCPs, and is much more than parachuting some disease management into a traditional healthcare setting.

The intent of the Prize is to create a centrifugal force that would encourage the ascendance of leadership by psychology in establishing innovative integrated healthcare delivery systems; and to spur training of future psychologists to become such leaders.

APF Cummings PSYCHE Prize was first awarded in August 2007 at the meeting of the American Psychological Association in San Francisco. Two Prizes were awarded for significant and ongoing contributions to behavioral/primary care integration.

2007:

Suzanne McDaniel, Ph.D. of the University of Rochester, New York.

Michael Hoyt, Ph.D. of Kaiser Permanente Health in Northern California.