HSR Researcher Receives APA Excellence in Training Award

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January 8, 2025

Marina Kukla, PhD, an investigator with HSR's Center for Health Information and Communication (CHIC) and lead psychologist of the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center Serious Mental Illness Psychology Training Program, received the American Psychological Association's (APA) Division 18 Excellence in Training Award for 2024 within the division's Serious Mental Illness/Severe Emotional Disturbance (SMI/SED) section.

APA's Division 18 represents psychologists in public service settings. The Excellence in Training award recognizes psychologists who have engaged in innovative and transformative education, teaching, and training initiatives that significantly impact Veterans and/or support VA psychologists and VA trainees on a regional or national level. The SMI/SED awards committee was impressed by Dr. Kukla's dedication to comprehensive recovery-based treatment through evidence-based, integrative approaches that recognize the complex interaction of mental illness and many comorbid conditions.

Dr. Kukla is a past VA Rehabilitation Research Development and Translation Career Development Awardee. Her professional interests center on mental health services research and psychosocial rehabilitation interventions that promote recovery and community functioning in Veterans with mental illness.