Dr. David H. Barlow Named Winner of 2023 Alfred M. Wellner Lifetime Achievement Award for Research

The National Register of Health Service Psychologists is proud to present the 2023 Alfred M. Wellner Lifetime Achievement Award for Research to Dr. David H. Barlow.  

This award is named in honor of the National Register’s first Executive Officer, Alfred M. Wellner, PhD. The Wellner awards, offered for research and practice, are the highest honors bestowed by the National Register. The research excellence award honors a National Register credentialed psychologist who has made—through research—a significant lifetime contribution toward health service psychology.  

The National Register’s Awards Committee selected Dr. Barlow for the Wellner Award for Research for his seminal research investigating the etiology and clinical treatment of anxiety disorders, which fundamentally changed how health service psychologists treat such conditions. 

Upon receiving the award, Dr. Barlow said, “I am deeply honored and very appreciative to receive the Wellner Lifetime Achievement Award. As someone who was present at the creation of the National Register by Dr. Wellner and colleagues in their efforts to advance psychology as a healthcare profession, I am well aware of the enormous impact of this achievement over the decades. I am very humbled that the committee made the judgment that my achievements have contributed in at least a small way to our success as a profession.”  

Dr. Daniel Elchert, CEO of the National Register, commented that Dr. Barlow’s distinguished career “fundamentally changed our conceptualization of the etiology and treatment of anxiety and related disorders, and in so doing helped secure health service psychology as a cornerstone of broader health service delivery. The National Register is pleased to recognize Dr. Barlow with the Wellner Lifetime Achievement Award for Research.”  

David H. Barlow, PhD, ABPP, is Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry Emeritus, and Founder of the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, at Boston University. He graduated from Notre Dame, received his PhD from the University of Vermont, and has published over 650 articles and chapters as well as 95 books and clinical manuals, mostly in the area of the nature and treatment of emotional disorders and clinical research methodology. The book and manuals have been translated in over 25 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese and Russian. Dr. Barlow was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Vermont and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from William James College, as well as an award in appreciation of outstanding achievements from the General Hospital of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Beijing, China. In 2015, he was named Honorary President of the Canadian Psychological Association. He is Past-President of the Society of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. He was a member of the DSM-IV Task Force of the American Psychiatric Association, and his research was continually funded by the National Institutes of Health for over 50 years. 

Dr. Barlow has been credentialed by the National Register since 1975.  

This announcement will also be featured in the National Register’s Journal of Health Service Psychology.  

About the National Register of Health Service Psychologists  

The National Register of Health Service Psychologists was established in 1974 and is the largest nonprofit credentialing organization for licensed psychologists and psychology doctoral students. The National Register is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to improving healthcare by identifying psychologists who meet specific education and training standards, and by verifying these professionals to consumers, healthcare organizations, and regulatory bodies. The National Register currently credentials 10,000 Health Service Psychologists and has approximately 5,000 psychology doctoral student and postdoctoral trainee members in its Associate Program. For more information, visit www.nationalregister.org.  

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For more information about this announcement, contact the National Register at 202.783.7663.