August 22, 2006
Streissguth honored
Dr. Ann Streissguth, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, will receive the 2002 Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Public Interest from the American Psychological Foundation (APF). On Aug. 23, the president of the APF will present the award to Streissguth at the organization’s annual convention in Chicago.
Streissguth is a pioneer researcher in fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and the director of the Fetal Drug and Alcohol Unit. She came to the UW as a graduate student, earning her Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1964. Since then she has been a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. In 1973 Streissguth and colleagues published a paper in Lancet identifying FAS and linking it to alcohol abuse by pregnant women.
Streissguth has led and collaborated on many studies funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention on the short- and long-term effects of drug and alcohol abuse by pregnant women. She organized the first international FAS conference sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in 1980. Streissguth has also been an advocate for FAS prevention programs and programs to support individuals with long-term developmental problems attributed to FAS.
Each year the APF Gold Medal Awards are conferred in categories representing the application of psychology through methods, research, and application of psychological techniques to important practical problems.
