ECU clinical health psychologists lead, serve and protect military members

ECU clinical health psychologists lead, serve and protect military members

"Working within an integrated primary care setting is a special skill set with a lot of moving pieces. You never know who is coming in with what concern, and you have to be ready to address those concerns in the best way that you can or be ready to refer as necessary," she said.

She said it made sense that everything should be integrated at ECU, and she has since discovered this is very similar to how Veterans Affairs offices work.

"Being able to learn the clinical health psychology skills was really important for me. I was able to gain foundational knowledge at ECU," she said.

It is now Williams' fourth year working at the VA center in Houston. Additionally, she is in her final year of a postdoctoral fellowship at the VA's South Central Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center.

"Knowing how to think about the steps that your patients might have to take to do the really hard work of taking care of their health is really important," Williams said. "You learn to coordinate, care and collaborate with colleagues across disciplines. It has been surprising to me how prepared I was for that and it definitely adds that sense of confidence."

Treating the Whole Person

Serving others has always played a part in Force's life.

"It has been a compulsion since I was a child," she said. "I had that personality, as a lot of us do in the psychology profession. Helping was always part of my plan."

Both of Force's parents are military veterans, as were her grandfathers. She said being the oldest of five children also taught her a sense of helpfulness, care and protection.

"A lot of those values - the idea of service - were instilled in me," she said.

As an undergraduate at Northern Arizona University, Force thought she might want to go into neuroscience because of her interest in the mind-body connection. However, she really wanted to include more clinical work and study medical psychology. Then, she learned about the program at ECU.

"I love the idea of treating the whole person biologically, socially and psychologically," she said.

Now, Force works for the Veterans Affairs Phoenix Health Care System in Arizona. She chose the Phoenix VA because of the unique offerings in terms of treating eating disorders and issues of weight stigma surrounding eating. Force focused on these research areas while at ECU under the mentorship of Dr. Robert Carrels, psychology professor and director of clinical training.

"He really prepared me to fight weight stigma," she said. "It's really understudied in the veteran population. We're seeing that it's actually really high rates. Much more than previously thought."

While these are key areas of focus, Force is also providing therapy and mental health integration to veterans in terms of chronic pain and PTSD. In addition, for the past year, she has also applied her skills to assist with suicide prevention care.

No matter which direction her career takes, Force said ECU has prepared her to continue serving those in the military.

"I think ECU's degree in clinical health psychology is so well-suited to work with our military and veteran populations," she said.

Major Impact

Kropp's path to a military career did not begin with a family legacy, but was inspired through his time as a health psychology doctoral student at ECU.

Along with another ECU alumnus and current U.S. Air Force psychologist, Dr. Jordan Ellis ('20 Ph.D. health psychology), Kropp and Ellis established a partnership with ECU's ROTC program. The program, then known as Performance Improvement and Leadership for Officers in Training, or PILOT, consisted of budding psychologists participating in exercises with student cadets and teaching them about behavioral science and performance psychology.

This intrigued Kropp, who then began thinking about a potential career in the military. During his studies, he had an opportunity to participate in a week-long training through the Center for Deployment Psychology in Bethesda, Maryland, for psychology graduate students potentially interested in serving in the military.

"I went there thinking it would be good training and a way for me to rule that out," he said. "Because I don't come from a military family, I didn't think I wanted to pursue that path, but by the end of it, I was calling my wife and saying, 'Can we have a discussion about potentially applying to Air Force internships?'"

His top choice of internship locations is what led Kropp to where he is now.

Kropp is a major with the Air Force and the associate program director for the clinical health psychology postdoctoral fellowship at Lackland Air Force Base's Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center in San Antonio, Texas. In this role, he mentors and supervises fellows and interns of the program and teaches them about pain neuroscience, behavioral sleep medicine, healthy weight management and how to partner with other medical professionals to provide biopsychosocial health care.

"I'm really invigorated to give back, and one of the cool things about the military is that there are many opportunities for growth in terms of leadership, mentorship and what it means to not only be a great clinician but a great officer and leader of people and organizations," Kropp said.

He also said the Air Force values health psychology and that there is a strong connection between the training he received at ECU and the readiness and health requirements of the military.

Similar to Williams' experience, Sears left a lasting impression on Kropp.

"He is a brilliant professional - and he's an academic maverick in the best way," Kropp said. "He just thinks about things in a way that other people don't. He finds a way to be a good mentor, professor, researcher and cultivator of leaders."

The experiences, training and mentorship at ECU prepared Kropp with the skills needed to succeed in his profession and to help others outside of work. Kropp and his wife recently started a ministry at their church, where Kropp uses his background to aid children with chronic medical challenges and disabilities.

"If you are going to go into health psychology, I think that East Carolina University is probably the best program in the nation," Kropp said. "The faculty are outstanding. The research opportunities are essentially unlimited. We had access to a lot of resources and a unique patient population in eastern North Carolina. There wasn't a better place in the world for me to train for what I am doing now."

Military and Clinical Health Psychology Fast Facts

• The first accredited clinical health psychology students graduated from ECU in 2011
• 62 alumni have graduated in clinical health psychology as of December 2025
• 32% of alumni work with, or are, active military
• 15 alumni work for Veterans Affairs
• 5 alumni are active duty in the U.S. Air Force

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