April D. Fernando, PhD, Elected to National Register of Health Service Psychologists Board of Directors

The National Register Board of Directors elected April D. Fernando, PhD, effective January 1, 2024.   

In response to her election, Dr. Fernando remarked, “I am honored and humbled to be elected to serve on the National Register Board of Directors. I look forward to working closely with the National Register’s staff and the Board of Directors and contributing to the Health Service Psychologist’s community for learning and professional development.”  

Tiffany N. Brown, PhD, Chair of the National Register Board of Directors, commented on the election: “On behalf of the Board of Directors, congratulations to Dr. April D. Fernando. We are thrilled to have you join us during our 50th Anniversary year. The Board looks forward to working with our newly elected members to strengthen the identity of the National Register as the professional home for health service psychologists.”  

April D. Fernando, PhD, is an Associate Director at the Center for Innovation in Population Health at the University of Kentucky (UK), and an Associate Professor of Health, Management, and Policy at UK’s College of Public Health. Dr. Fernando’s career has been committed to supporting and preparing the mental health workforce to understand and meet the challenges of the most underserved individuals in our communities. She currently oversees a team of human service professionals that implements outcomes management approaches and trains workforces on person-centered assessment in non-profit agencies as well as child welfare, behavioral health, justice, and educational systems nationally and internationally. Before focusing on systems-level work, Dr. Fernando was a senior administrator at Westcoast Children’s Clinic in Oakland, CA, which provides outpatient mental health services to children, youth, and families, and trains child and adolescent psychologists through their APA-accredited predoctoral training program. She was also a tenured professor at Holy Names University where she taught and was the co-director of the master’s program in Pastoral Counseling and Counseling Psychology.    

Dr. Fernando has been credentialed by the National Register since 2015.   

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 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.