Committee Chairs

Committees are vital groups within the Society. Current Committees and Chairs are below

APA Convention Program 2021

William Brim, PsyD, Chair

Dr. William Brim is the Director of the DoD Center for Deployment Psychology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland and an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology. He is currently serving as the Division 19 Convention Chair with the task to coordinate the Division 19 programming at the 2021 APA Annual Meeting.

Dr. Brim is an Air Force veteran and graduate of the Wilford Hall Clinical Health Psychology Fellowship. His clinical and research interests include behavioral sleep medicine, evidence based treatment of post traumatic stress disorder and the role of military culture in healthcare. He also serves as the Chair of the Division 19 Continuing Education Committee and is the Faculty Advisor for the Division 19 Student Chapter at USU.

Awards Committee

Eric Surface, PhD, Chair

Dr. Eric A. Surface is an industrial/organizational psychologist who focuses on learning, transfer, and performance and their impact in organizations. Eric is the founder, CEO, and principal scientist at ALPS InsightsTM, a Raleigh-based company that provides learning and development (L&D) evaluation, analytics, and feedback via its software platform, ALPS IbexTM, as well as research and consulting services. His work uses evidence-based insights to improve learning, capability, and performance in organizations. Eric has led numerous consulting and applied research projects, including a decade-long foreign language training effectiveness study and a series of training needs assessment studies within the U.S. Special Operations community.

Eric believes strongly in the scientist-practitioner model, presenting at numerous conferences, publishing in peer-reviewed journals, such as Journal of Management, Journal of Applied Psychology, Military Psychology, and Journal of Business and Psychology (JBP), publishing practitioner-focused articles in Training Industry Magazine, and authoring book chapters, including the training needs assessment chapter in the Handbook of Work Analysis. He serves on the editorial board of the JBP. He is a former Secretary of the Society for Military Psychology (Division 19), and he served on the American Psychology Association’s (APA) 2019 Advisory Group for Applied Psychology.

Eric is a Fellow of Division 19, the APA, and the Society for Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology (SIOP; Division 14). He received SIOP’s 2019 Scientist-Practitioner Presidential Recognition and Division 19’s 2019 Presidential Recognition. He was an Army Research Institute Consortium Research Fellow and Post-Doctoral Fellow, supporting U.S. Army Special Operations Forces and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) at Fort Bragg. He was made an honorary member of US Army Special Operations Forces by Lt. General William Tangney for his work on behalf of USASOC. Eric received his PhD in I/O Psychology from North Carolina State University, his MA from East Carolina University, and his BA from Wake Forest University.

Communications Committee

Dr. Aaron Banas, Chair

Dr. Aaron Banas is a Clinical Psychologist, recently transitioned from Active Duty service in the United States Navy. He currently serves as the Director of Clinical Training at the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Easterseals. He is a prior-enlisted hospital corpsman and has a history of providing care for military-affiliated populations since he first entered service in 2003. Dr. Banas completed his doctorate at the George Washington University and is interested in building healthy and resilient communities through collaborative efforts in order to best support military-affiliated populations.

Continuing Education Committee

William Brim, PhD, Chair

Dr. William Brim is an Associate Professor, Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology and the Director for the DoD Center for Deployment Psychology, Uniformed Services University of Health Science, and Bethesda, Maryland. He is the Senior Psychologist consultant for PESI, Inc., Eau Claire, Wisconsin where he provides oversight of continuing education programs for psychologists approved by the APA Continuing Education Committee.

Dr. Brim is currently serving as the Division 19 APA Convention Chair with the task to coordinate the Div. 19 programming at the APA convention and, particularly, continuing education sessions scheduled by Div. 19. His research interests include evidence-based posts traumatic stress disorder treatment, cognitive-behavioral therapy for suicide prevention, and brief intervention therapy for insomnia in the military context. For the submission of continuing education programs to Div. 19 CEC and consultation regarding the process established by this division to submit such programs for review, please contact Dr. Brim at william.brim.ctr@usuhs.edu.

Diversity in the Military Committee

Brandi Walker, PhD, Chair

Early Career Psychology (ECP) Committee

Dr. Jessica Ford, Chair

Dr. Jessica Ford is a Clinical Health Psychologist with a history of working in government and academic settings. She received my Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused in Clinical Health Psychology from East Carolina University in 2014. She practices clinically, conducts applied research and program evaluations, and serves through appointments within division 19 (military psychology) of the APA and through the training of clinical psychology doctoral students and interns. She is a previous awardee of a ECP Professional Development Research Grant. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, two children, and their cat, Alistair.

Fellows Committee

Carrie H. Kennedy, Ph.D., ABPP , Chair

Carrie H. Kennedy, Ph.D., ABPP serves as Fellows Committee Chair for Division 19. A neuropsychologist with specialization in military psychology and aeromedical psychology, she is an active duty Captain in the U.S. Navy with deployments to both Cuba and Afghanistan. She is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia and a Fellow of both APA and the National Academy of Neuropsychology. From 2017-2022 she served as APA Council Representative for Division 19. Awards include the APA Division 19 Charles S. Gersoni Award, Robert S. Nichols Award, and the Distinguished Mentor Award, and she is a two time Navy Psychologist of the Year winner. She serves on the editorial board of Psychological Services and is board certified in both Clinical and Police and Public Safety Psychology.

Membership Committee

Kristen Saboe, Chair

Military Psychology History Committee

Kathryn Eklund, Chair

CPT Kathryn Eklund is a Clinical and Aeromedical Psychologist stationed at Joint-Base Lewis McChord, WA. She holds an MS and PhD in Medical and Clinical Psychology from the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. Prior to commissioning, CPT Eklund served as a radio-operator maintainer in the 308th Medical Company and 172nd MMB in the US Army Reserves. Her research interests focus on leadership and specifically gender differences regarding leadership effectiveness. She is a 2020 graduate of The Society for Military Psychology Leadership Program.

Regional Symposia Series Committee

Kathyrn Barrs, Chair

Dr. Katy Barrs completed her doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology in 2007. She recently returned to the University of Denver as the Clinic Director of the Sturm Specialty in Military Psychology. Dr. Barrs has worked with Veterans, Service members and their families at the Minneapolis V.A. Medical Center, the Boston V.A. Healthcare System, and most recently the Denver Vet Center where she served in the role of Military Sexual Trauma Treatment Coordinator. Dr. Barrs oversees the Sturm Center, provides clinical education to multiple students within the clinic, and provides licensed community clinicians with education and consulting about these populations. She has been featured in the documentary Acronym, a timely expose about the nature of PTSD from combat. Dr. Barrs is also the 2016 recipient of the American Psychological Association’s Society for Military Psychology (Division 19) Arthur W. Melton Early Achievement Award. She feels honored to give back to those who have served our country.

Ethics Committee

Mark Staal, PhD, Chair

Dr. Mark Staal is a retired Colonel having served as the Air Force’s senior operational psychologist. Mark’s PhD in Clinical Psychology, he is a board-certified executive coach, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Human Factors engineering at NASA. Mark spent most of his career serving within the Special Operations community to include positions as a Command Psychologist at the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and as the Command Psychologist at the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC).

Dr. Staal is a recognized leader in his field having published over 50 journal articles, book chapters, and books in the areas of operational psychology, ethics, resiliency, and human decision making. Mark serves as a consultant to the National Academy of Sciences for movies and television and he previously served as a Division President for the American Psychological Association. He is the owner of OSS Consulting, LLC, an independent consulting company providing personnel suitability, talent management, and executive coaching services.

Student Affairs Committee

Ethan Bannar, Chair

Ethan Bannar is currently a third year Psy.D. student in the Graduate School of Professional Psychology at the University of Denver. Ethan graduated with his B.S. in Psychology from James Madison University in 2015 and his M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University Maryland in 2017. He was accepted into the U.S. Air Force Health Professions Scholarship Program in early 2018. His clinical interests include law enforcement psychology, post traumatic growth, neuropsychological assessment, and operational psychology/consultation. Ethan is passionate about supporting students within our division pursue their clinical and research interests in military psychology and hopes to build upon our robust campus chapter network during his tenure with the division. When he is not studying or seeing clients, he enjoys training for triathlons, road cycling, fly fishing, snowboarding, and exploring beautiful Colorado. Ethan plans to attend Commissioned Officer Training in June 2020 and begin his APA accredited internship in fall 2020.