Newswise — Bethesda, Md --Dr. David Riggs, one of our nation’s foremost psychologists and an expert on the effects of military service and deployments, will become chair of the Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology (MPS) at the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine – “America’s Medical School” - at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. He will assume this new role in November, 2015.
Dr. Riggs currently serves as Executive Director of the Uniformed Services University’s Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP), a program he will continue to lead after he becomes MPS Chair. As Executive Director of the CDP, Dr. Riggs oversees the development and delivery of training seminars for behavioral health professionals to prepare them to provide for the needs of warriors and their families. Since 2006, the CDP has played a pivotal role in Department of Defense efforts to disseminate evidence-based psychotherapy for Posttraumatic stress disorder and other psychological health problems as well as efforts to increase military cultural awareness among civilian behavioral health providers and more recently, other healthcare workers. In fact, CDP’s “Military Culture Online Course” is used as core element of training in cultural awareness for VA and DoD providers and was recently recommended for civilian providers through Presidential Executive Action. In addition, the CDP has developed several innovative programs that leverage 21st-century communication technology to train providers in evidence-based treatment techniques at a distance.
Dr. Riggs earned his doctorate at the Stony Brook University and completed a clinical psychology internship at the Medical University of South Carolina. Prior to a leadership position with the CDP, Dr. Riggs held clinical research positions at the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety at the University of Pennsylvania and the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at the Boston Veterans Administration Medical Center. While in Boston, he held faculty positions at the Tufts University School of Medicine and Boston University School of Medicine.
A clinical and research psychologist, much of Dr. Riggs’ work focuses on trauma, violence and anxiety. He has a particular interest in the impact of PTSD and other anxiety disorders on the families of those directly affected by these conditions. He has published more than 80 articles and book chapters and presented more than 250 papers and workshops on topics including PTSD, domestic violence, and behavioral therapy. He has also trained and supervised numerous students and mental health professionals from the United States and other countries in techniques for treating PTSD, obsessive compulsive disorder and other anxiety disorders. This includes training professionals in ways to address the emotional and psychological needs of survivors of combat, international terror, natural disasters, and sexual and physical assault.
The department Dr. Riggs will lead is one of USU’s first. Established in 1976, USU’s (then) Department of Medical Psychology graduated its first Ph.D. students in 1984. In the early 1990s, at the request of the U.S. Congress, the department added a second Ph.D. program in Clinical Psychology to train active duty psychologists for the military Services. In the late 1990s, a civilian Clinical Psychology track was added by the now renamed “Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology” to educate scientist-practitioners to deliver outstanding patient care and contribute to clinically-relevant science in psychology. Over the years, USU MPS graduates have gone on to become leaders in military clinical psychology, clinical research, clinical practice, and scholarship. “We are thrilled that Dr. Riggs has agreed to assume the role of chair in one of USU’s most distinctive and important departments. Few medical schools have an autonomous clinical department dedicated to psychology; we have one of the nation’s best. Our warfighters deserve nothing less. Under Dr. Riggs’ leadership, we will advance the department’s mission to educate great practitioners and researchers, and make discoveries that will improve the psychological health and resilience of Service members and their families, “said Dr. Art Kellermann, Dean of the Hébert School of Medicine.
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About the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences:The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), founded by an act of Congress in 1972, is the academic heart of the Military Health System. USU students are primarily active duty uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Public Health Service who receive specialized education in tropical and infectious diseases, TBI and PTSD, disaster response and humanitarian assistance, global health, and acute trauma care. A large percentage of the university’s more than 5,300 physician and 800 advanced practice nursing alumni are supporting operations around the world, offering their leadership and expertise. USU also has graduate programs in biomedical sciences and public health committed to excellence in research, and in oral biology. The University's research program covers a wide range of clinical and basic science important to both the military and public health. For more information, visit www.usuhs.edu.
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