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June 3, 2010

Shira Maguen, HSR&D Research Scientist Named APA's Outstanding Researcher Award for Division 18

HSR&D Research Scientist Shira Maguen, PhD, investigator at the HSR&D Research Enhancement Award Program (REAP) at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, and Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, will receive the 2010 American Psychological Association Division 18 (Psychology in the Public Interest) VA Section Outstanding Researcher Award.

Dr. Maguen is the recipient of a five-year HSR&D Career Development Award focusing on the psychological impact of killing in war. Her research has demonstrated how the experience of killing among Veterans of several different wars is determinative of post-military mental health and functional problems, above and beyond problems attributed to general combat. In addition to publication in multiple scientific journals, her study of Iraq War Veterans was recently covered by The New York Times and syndicated by newspapers nationwide.

Dr. Maguen is also currently the Principal Investigator of two grants funded by the Department of Defense, focusing on gender differences in mental health and care utilization by OEF/OIF Veterans, and on assessment of TBI and PTSD. She is a co-investigator on multiple other grants related to improving care for Veterans with mental health disorders, especially OEF/OIF Veterans. She has published widely on the psychological effects of war, terrorism, and complicated grief, including predictors of adverse mental health response and physical health, service utilization, barriers to mental health treatment, and post-traumatic growth following deployment. She has also studied interventions for sequelae of trauma, including a cognitive-behavioral phone intervention following terror attacks and the effects of community cohesion following a terror event.

Dr. Maguen will receive the APA Outstanding Researcher Award in August 2010.


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