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DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS AWARD 2001
KAREN MATTHEWS, Ph.D.
The Distinguished Alumnus Award in Psychology for 2001 was given to DR. KAREN MATTHEWS in a ceremony at the University of Texas on March 22. Dr. Michael Domjan, Chair of the Department of Psychology, and Dr. Richard Lariviere, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, made the award presentation.
Dr. Matthews received her Ph.D. at the University of Texas in 1976. After a short stint at Kansas State University, she moved to the University of Pittsburgh, where she quickly rose through the ranks and is currently Professor in the Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry, and Epidemiology.
Since 1983, she has also been Director of the Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine Research Training Program at Pittsburgh, and last year she became Director of the Pittsburgh Mind Body Center, one of just five such centers funded by the National Institutes of Health.
During all of her professional life, Dr. Matthews has been interested in identifying behavioral risk factors for cardiovascular disease and their determinants at key developmental transitions. Her dissertation was titled “Mother-Child Interactions as a Determinant of Type A – Type B Behavior.” She began her dissertation under the supervision of Dr. David Glass and completed the project under the supervision of Dr. Arnold Buss. Since her dissertation, Dr. Matthews has continued to investigate developmental aspects of Type A behavior and cardiovascular disease, and she has become a world leader in this important research area. Dr. Matthews has also done a great deal of research on medical issues in women, especially menopause.
Dr. Matthews is the recipient of numerous awards, including a MERIT award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of NIH, and the American Heart Association Established Investigatorship Award. She was the first psychologist appointed to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Advisory Council of NIH, served as Editor in Chief of the journal Health Psychology, and is currently the chair of Center for Scientific Review Advisory Committee of the National Institutes of Health. She was one of the 50 highest impact authors in psychology between 1986 and 1990, based on citations/publication, and she was the most frequently cited author between 1982 and 1991 in Health Psychology.
Following the award presentation, Dr. Matthews gave a talk titled, "Behavioral, Socioeconomic Status, and Cardiovascular Disease: A Life Span Approach."
