From the March 2014 Desktop News | Dr. John Lochman, professor of psychology and the Doddridge Saxon Chair of Clinical Psychology, is the 2014 recipient of the American Board of Professional Psychology’s Distinguished Service Award, given annually to a certified specialist who has made outstanding contributions to the science and profession of psychology throughout his or her career.

Lochman is the director of the Center for Prevention of Youth Behavior Problems at UA, where he is actively involved in grant-funded intervention research.

Candidates for the award must be nationally recognized and must be practicing clinical psychology and providing services and engaging in research across all developmental levels — from childhood through adulthood — and across different types of psychopathology.

Lochman has served as an officer and president of the ABPP Board of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, the primary certification board for child psychologists. His research interests include prevention, child aggression and intervention research.

“I get very intrigued with many of our research projects,” Lochman said. “All of it has value for me. There are some of our studies that are much more focused on the mechanisms that lead to psychological development, like what are the factors for a child having oppositional defiant disorder? Also, trying to understand the factors of community and family, and what are some of the biological factors.

“All of it is important because it shows us what accounts for the behavior we are seeing today. It also helps us plan treatment interventions that help people with serious problems – conduct problems and trouble with the law. We are even more intrigued by researching preventive interventions to help detour negative antisocial trajectories that may occur,” Lochman said.

He will receive the award at the ABPP annual convocation Aug. 9 in Washington, D.C. He will also deliver an address at the 2015 Convocation in Toronto, Canada.