2022 R. Bob Smith, III Excellence in Psychological Assessment Award: Eric Youngstrom, PhD

2022 R. Bob Smith, III Excellence in Psychological Assessment Award: Eric Youngstrom, PhD

SCCAP is delighted to announce that Eric Youngstrom, PhD, is the recipient of the 2022 R. Bob Smith, III Excellence in Psychological Assessment Award. The Bob Smith Award is given to an individual that has made significant contributions to the field related to evidence-based assessment. Dr. Youngstrom is a professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, and Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. He serves as Director of the Center for Excellence in Research and Treatment of Bipolar Disorder as well as UNC’s Mood, Emotions, and Child Clinical Assessment (MECCA) Lab.

Dr. Youngstrom has dedicated much of his professional work to the study of clinical assessment for youth with mental health concerns and increasing the accessibility of evidence-based assessments. He is an internationally renowned expert in pediatric bipolar disorder and his research has advanced our field’s approach to assessing youth diagnosed with bipolar disorder with regard to symptom severity, functioning, and treatment progress. Dr. Youngstrom adapted the General Behavior Inventory (GBI) to a parent version to assess mood symptoms in youth. He also developed a short-version of the GBI known as the 7 Up 7 Down Inventory for use as a screening assessment for youth with mood concerns. Given his specialty in clinical assessment, he consulted on the 5th revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual and the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases.

In 2016, Dr. Youngstrom co-founded Helping Give Away Psychological Science (HGAPS) with Dr. Mian-Li Ong. HGAPS’s mission is to make available evidence-based assessments and other psychological information to clinicians, students, and others who would benefit. Through HGAPS’s Assessment Center, dozens of free evidence-based assessments are available in one place for clinical use. A strong advocate for open science, Dr. Youngstrom also serves as an editor on the WikiJournal of Medicine Editorial Board.

Dr. Youngstrom’s efforts in research, teaching and advancing clinical practice have garnered him numerous awards and accolades, including the Larry Cohen Mentorship Award from the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology. He was also SCCAP’s inaugural recipient of the Abidin Early Career Award. Dr. Youngstrom has twice served as SCCAP President and also served as President of APA’s Division 5 (Qualitative and Quantitative Methods). He has authored or co-authored over 300 peer-reviewed journal articles or book chapters, many focused on clinical child assessment. Dr. Youngstrom is a fellow of SCCAP, as well as APA Divisions 5 and 12, the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, and the Association for Psychological Science.

 Please join us in congratulating Dr. Youngstrom!