Originally published: . Volume 9, No. 6. Source pages: 15.
Dr. Christopher Parkinson Receives Early Career Honor
The Louisiana Psychological Association named Christopher R. L. Parkinson, PhD, as the 2018 Early Career Psychologist.
Dr. Parkinson is a licensed Psychologist in the state of LA and is a current staff member at the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System (SLVHCS) in New Orleans. He works clinically in the area of Behavioral Medicine and is a core member of his facility’s Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Team. Within SLVHCS, he is the mental health representative for Oncology/Hematology, a member of the steering committee for telehealth, and is a designated tele-mental health champion.
He has worked with Dr. Karen Slaton in health psychology including functioning as part of the Palliative Care Interdisciplinary Team providing assessment of all newly referred Veterans and follow up for those identified as suffering or at risk for maladjustment. Patient-centered care is provided for Veterans through various modalities and settings including face to face and telehealth interventions. Interventions are also provided to Veteran’s family or caregivers to prevent caregiver burden as well as interventions to assist with normative and persistent complex bereavement. He was honored with the 2017 SLVHCS Outstanding Performance Award FY16, the College of Health Professions Clinical Education Award, the Kriszta Szabo Cultural Diversity & Sensitivity Award, among others.
Dr. Parkinson’s research interests include acceptance and meaning at the end of life, resilience in chronic illness, and identifying aspects of behavior change.
He serves on the SLVHCS Telehealth Steering Committee and is a Telehealth Champion for Mental Health, the SLVHCS Mental Health Representative for Oncology/Hematology, and the SLVHCS New Employee Orientation presenter for Palliative Care. He serves in the New Orleans Palliators Extraordinaire (NOPE) Journal Club as a Founding Member, serves in the Louisiana Psychological Association Earlier Career Member and VA & Military Psychology Committees, and is a member of the International Society of Behavioral Medicine and the Society of Behavioral Medicine and of the Association of VA Psychology Leaders, among other roles.
He is a graduate of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science’s (North Chicago, IL) Clinical Psychology program with emphasis in Health Psychology. He completed internship training at the Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System in Biloxi, MS and a fellowship in Pain & Behavioral Medicine at the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System in New Orleans.
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