Dr. Caitlin Martin-Wagar Named 2024 Judy E. Hall Early Career Psychologist Award Winner

The National Register of Health Service Psychologists is proud to present the 2024 Judy E. Hall Early Career Psychologist Award to Dr. Caitlin Martin-Wagar of the Department of Psychology at the University of Montana.

This award, named in honor of the National Register’s second Executive Officer, is presented annually to a National Register credentialed psychologist with fewer than 10 years of postdoctoral experience.  

The National Register’s Awards Committee honors the recipient of this award with a $10,000 stipend to fund a project that aims to enhance the contributions of psychology to health care. Dr. Martin-Wagar’s project will develop and test a digital weight stigma-based single-session intervention for parents of youth at risk for eating disorders or internalizing weight stigma. 

Upon receiving the award, Dr. Martin-Wagar said, “Receiving the Judy E. Hall Early Career Psychologist Award is an absolute honor, and I am incredibly grateful to the National Register of Health Service Psychologists for their support of my project. My hope is to honor Dr. Hall’s memory by meaningfully improving early intervention for disordered eating and weight stigma among youth. Health service psychology can be a powerful tool for addressing health and well-being, and I am delighted to carry out this project.”  

“Congratulations to Caitlin on receiving the 2024 Judy E. Hall Early Career Psychologist Award,” commented Andrew P. Boucher, CEO of the National Register. “We are proud to support her project and look forward to hearing more about the results.” 

Caitlin Martin-Wagar, PhD (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Montana. She is a licensed Health Service Psychologist in Montana treating eating disorders and trauma-related difficulties across the lifespan. Dr. Martin-Wagar directs the University of Montana Eating Disorder Training Clinic, which provides low-cost, empirically supported eating disorder treatment, and serves as an eating disorder training and research hub for the state. In her research lab, the Laboratory for Eating Disorders and Equity, Dr. Martin-Wagar works with an exceptional team of researchers seeking to improve eating disorder treatment, reduce weight stigma, and address access to care barriers, especially among underrepresented rural communities. Her work is supported by several agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the Montana Healthcare Foundation. Dr. Martin-Wagar also holds leadership positions internationally with the Academy of Eating Disorders and on the boards of Western Montana community agencies. In all areas of her work, she aims to reduce the research-practice gap, with the goal of improving health and well-being, especially in rural regions.  

Dr. Martin-Wagar has been credentialed by the National Register since 2022.  

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.