Candidates for SoAP

Candidates for SoAP

Lauren Hoffman

SoAP Nominations and Elections Committee

We are pleased to announce that we have three candidates for two offices. We would like to thank each and every one of the candidates for agreeing to volunteer their time and energy to promote the advances in research, professional training, and clinical practice within the broad range of addictive behaviors!

Joel Grube is running for President-Elect. Bruce Liese and Lesia Ruglass are running for Member-at-Large (Practice). All candidates received more than the 2.5% of the nominations required to be placed on the slate. You can view candidate statements below.

Thanks to all of you who nominated one or more of the candidates!

Please remember to vote in May!

Candidate Statements

Division 50 President-Elect

Joel W. Grube, PhD:

I would be honored to serve as President-Elect of the Society of Addiction Psychology (SoAP; APA Division 50). I have been a member of APA since 1979 and a long-time member of SoAP. SoAP is my primary affiliation in APA and the Division with which I most strongly identify. I served as SoAP Membership Chair and Member at Large for Public Interest. I chair the review committees for the SoAP Early Career Psychologist and Student Research Grants.

I am Senior Research Scientist at the Prevention Research Center, PIRE and Adjunct Professor in Health and Social Behavior at the School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley. I am a social psychologist by training and have been a substance use researcher for over 30 years. My studies include basic research, but also prevention trials that apply science-to-practice in community settings. I have a strong commitment to mentoring early career researchers and practitioners.

As President I will strongly support efforts to increase involvement of students and early career psychologists in SoAP. I believe this is essential. Thanks to hard work by many SoAP members, the annual Collaborative Perspectives on Addiction meeting has been a great success. I believe additional efforts should be made to engage more participants to provide greater opportunities for networking, communication, and exchange of ideas among researchers and practitioners. Finally, I believe SoAP should play an important role in advocating for our field in terms of funding and recognition for our unique skills and specialties.

Member-at-Large (Practice)

Bruce S. Liese, PhD, ABPP:

I just can't get enough of Division 50! As my year as Past-President comes to an end I feel the same great enthusiasm I’ve always felt for our Division. I was among the founding members back in 1993 (26 years ago!) and my commitment to our Division has never waned. Besides serving as Division President last year, I’ve served as the Division 50 Membership Chair for several years. Prior to holding these offices, I was Editor of The Addictions Newsletter (TAN; our Division newsletter) for 10 years, and I received the Division 50 President's Citation for my work in that role. And then several years ago, our Division presented me with an award for Distinguished Career Contributions to Education and Training.

While involved in our Division, my day job has been Professor at the University of Kansas, where I’ve taught in the departments of Family Medicine, Psychiatry, and Psychology for more than 35 years. As you might guess, my teaching, research, and clinical practice have all revolved around addictive behaviors. In fact, this year I became the Clinical Director of the new Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment at the University of Kansas.

For more than a quarter century Division 50 has given so much to me that I can't imagine a better way of giving back than continuing on our board as Member-at-Large for Practice. In fact, my primary aim in that position will be to consider all possibilities for engaging more practicing members in our Division.

Lesia M. Ruglass, PhD:

I would be honored to serve as Member-at-Large (Practice) for SOAP. I am a licensed clinical psychologist and an associate professor in the Applied Department at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP) at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, where I also serve as assistant director of the Center of Alcohol Studies. For the past 20 years, my clinical and research interests have centered on: 1) testing the efficacy and effectiveness of combined and integrated psychological interventions for co-occurring trauma/PTSD, and substance use disorders (SUDs); 2) understanding the biopsychosocial mechanisms underlying SUDs (particularly cannabis and tobacco use disorders); and 3) understanding and reducing racial/ethnic disparities in mental health, SUD, and treatment outcomes.

I have been an APA member since 1996. From 2012-2017, I served in various elected roles in Division 56, as the early career representative (ECP), co-chair of the diversity committee, and member-at-large. In those capacities, I learned about the importance of ECP mentoring and professional development, diversity and inclusion, and look forward to bringing the knowledge and skills gained in those roles to serve the SOAP membership. As a clinical psychologist who treats and conducts research with those struggling with SUDs, I am keenly aware of practice-related concerns and will work to understand the SOAP members’ practice-related needs to ensure they are fully represented at the leadership table. I look forward to liaising with other practice-oriented divisions to spark dialogue and create opportunities for new practice initiatives that would benefit SOAP members. Thanks for your consideration.