FEB/MAR 2008
Volume 14 - No. 1
Book Review: The Cigarette Century
Book Review: The Science of Real-Time Data Capture
Book Review: Public Health Advocacy and Tobacco Control: Making Smoking History
Research Activities at a Featured Program: Twin and Family Research
SRNT Newsletter
February/March 2008, Volume 14, Number 1
A Message From APA Division 50
Like most SRNT members, I belong to several professional organizations. SRNT is the most specialized of these organizations, and so it most closely matches my particular research focus on tobacco and nicotine. However, my membership in SRNT is complemented by other organizations that offer additional breadth and professional identity. As a psychologist, I belong to the American Psychological Association (APA), and more specifically to APA's Division 50, the Division on Addiction. Division 50 has provided me with a professional home since graduate school, and I am honored to be heading toward my term as president of the division, which begins in August.
As a tobacco researcher, one my goals as president will be to increase the representation of tobacco-related research and practice within the division, and to increase the relevance of Division 50 to tobacco research, practice, and policy. As a first step, I received approval from current Division 50 president, Nancy A. Piotrowski, Ph.D. and the executive board to create the position of Division 50 Liaison to SRNT, and I volunteered to serve as the initial liaison. As such, I hope to facilitate communication between these two organizations with respect to shared missions and goals. For example, Division 50 has coordinated with other organizations, such as the Research Society on Alcoholism, in responding to policy-related inquiries from NIH and other entities.
Many SRNT members are already members of Division 50, and I will not be the first SRNT member to serve as Division President (Carlo DiClemente, Ph.D., preceded me by four years). Nevertheless, I would also like to encourage other SRNT members who are psychologists or psychology students to consider joining Division 50. Our dues are reasonable ($37.50 for a full member, and as low as $5 for students), and membership in the APA itself is not necessary. Membership includes a subscription to the respected peer-reviewed journal, Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, and The Addiction Newsletter, as well as access to an active listserv. I personally find that the broader attention to the psychology of addiction offered by Division 50's publications and conference events provides a balance to the equally-important specialized tobacco focus of SRNT. We tobacco researchers are still relatively small in number. I believe that we have much to contribute to the larger field of addictions, and much to learn from our colleagues in other areas of addiction. However, both require that we participate in the greater community of addiction researchers. For me, Division 50 provides that link.
I look forward to a strengthening relationship between our two organizations, and I welcome ideas and comments from SRNT members.
About the Author: Thomas Brandon, Ph.D. is the current President-Elect of Division 50 (Addictions) of the American Psychological Association.