Retirement Experiences of Psychologists and Lessons Learned
This session is free and open to all psychologists. The findings discussed between Rodney Baker, Patrick DeLeon, and Melba Vasquez will be largely based on the book Retirement Experiences of Psychologists edited by Drs. Baker and DeLeon.
This program is not offered for continuing education. It will take place 2pm ET/1pm CT/12pm MT/11am PT.
The roundtable discussion will feature personal retirement stories and lessons learned. Some key concepts that will be discussed include how to address a general lack of excitement around the idea of retiring, how to plan for retirement, and how to achieve a sense of accomplishment during retirement years.
Roundtable Discussion and Retirement Stories
Rodney R. Baker, PhD, retired in 2004 as Mental Health Director and Chief of Psychology at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. In retirement, he co-authored a history of VA psychology and edited and co-edited four books of career stories of VA psychology leaders in both a designated and later volunteer VA psychology historian role. He received the 2017 American Psychological Foundation Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Practice of Psychology. He also writes novels and chooses other activities that interest him in retirement.
Patrick H. DeLeon, PhD, MPH, JD is a former president of the American Psychological Association, member of the National Academy of Medicine, and honorary fellow of several national nursing associations. Beginning with the first day of the Watergate hearings in 1973, he served on Capitol Hill for nearly four decades, retiring as chief of staff for U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye.
Melba Vasquez, PhD, is in part-time independent practice in Austin, Texas. One of the most exciting periods in her career was when she served as President of the American Psychological Association (APA, 2011). She is the first Latina and woman of color of 120 presidencies of APA to serve as in that role. Her theme for the 2011 APA convention was social justice. Her special presidential initiatives included examination of psychology’s contributions to the grand challenges in society, including immigration, discrimination, and educational disparities.
Q&A Moderators
Antonio E. Puente, PhD, was born in La Habana, Cuba, and immigrated to the US in 1960. Dr. Puente received a PhD from the University of Georgia. He has taught at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) since 1981, maintains a private practice in clinical neuropsychology, and is the founder (2002) and director of mental health services at the Cape Fear Clinic, a bilingual multi-disciplinary health center serving communities that are under-resourced. He is on the Board of Trustees for the American Psychological Foundation and Albizu University. Dr. Puente is the founding director of UNCW’s Centro Hispano, and his research focuses on the interface between culture and neuropsychology. Dr. Puente founded and edited the journals Neuropsychology Review and Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice and a neuropsychology book series. He has published 10 books, 95 chapters, and 125 scientific articles in several languages.
Beth Rom-Rymer, PhD, has been a trailblazer throughout her life. She was in the first class of women undergraduates at Princeton University (Class of ’73); created the first Victim-Witness Assistance Unit, Florida’s 2nd District State Attorney’s Office; co-founded/became the first Board President of Refuge House, a shelter for domestic violence survivors, Tallahassee, Florida, 1977-1979. Dr. Rom-Rymer helped to create the field of forensic geriatrics in 2000, testifying, nationally, in cases concerning the sexual abuse of older adults in nursing homes and writing book chapters about the role of the forensic psychologist in geriatric settings. Foreseeing the critical need for comprehensive mental health prescribers, Dr. Rom-Rymer undertook training in Clinical Psychopharmacology during the 1990's and became a national leader in the advocacy for psychologists' prescriptive authority, when she was elected the fourth president of APA Division 55 (Prescribing Psychology), in 2004. Dr. Rom-Rymer has taught at several Universities, in the Departments of Psychiatry, including The University of Chicago and Northwestern University and in the Departments of Psychology at the Rosalind Franklin School of Medicine and the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology.
Declarations
Antonio Puente, Beth Rom-Rymer, and Melba Vasquez do not have any conflicts of interest to disclose.
Rodney Baker and Patrick DeLeon both receive royalties for sales from the book on which today’s webinar is based.
Special Access to Retirement Experiences of Psychologists
The findings discussed between Rodney Baker, Patrick DeLeon, and Melba Vasquez will be largely based on the book Retirement Experiences of Psychologists edited by Drs. Baker and DeLeon.
The publisher has a promotional offer allowing anyone to download the first 30 pages of the book at no cost. Go to https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-6767-2 and click on View Extract for free download of the first 30 pages of the book.
Source citation: Baker, R. R. & DeLeon, P. H. (Eds.). (2021). Retirement Experiences of Psychologists. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.