To cheers, applause, and tears, the sentimental favorite, Dr. Lee Matthews, accepted the Janet R. Matthews, Ph.D. Outstanding Psychology Mentor Award for 2020, announced at the annual meeting of the Louisiana Psychological Association, held online, May 29. This is the inaugural year for the honor and Dr. Lee Matthews is the first recipient. Janet passed away in 2019.
The award recognizes and honors Dr. Janet Matthews for her lifetime of mentoring work and the impact she had on psychologists in Louisiana, and is given to an individual who has made significant contributions in their mentoring of others in psychology. This is a legacy award developed by Dr. Laurel Franklin, who was mentored by Dr. Janet Matthews, explained Chair, Dr. Michael Chafetz. Janet passed away in 2019.
“Dr. Lee Matthews is this year’s winner, and it is most fitting,” said Chafetz at the ceremony. “His 30-year career was marked by mentoring undergraduate students, graduate students, psychology interns, psychology post-doctoral students and individuals with degrees in psychology completing post-doctoral supervision or other post-degree supervision in a variety of capacities,” he said.
“He mentored students and professionals at Loyola University, DePaul Hospital, and the New Orleans VA Medical Center,” said Chafetz. “He had the non-paying position as Chief Psychologist, Masters & Johnson Relational and Sexual Therapy Clinic and Sexual Trauma and Sexual Compulsivity Program for two years, to provide daily supervision, so that one of his former VA interns could have a position with that facility, until he was licensed and became the Director of Psychology.
“He has also mentored numerous other professionals and soon-tobe professionals at considerable cost to his time and often without compensation. I was recused from the committee throughout this nomination process, as I can attest to Dr. Lee Matthews effective leadership and guidance throughout the early part of my career.”
Dr. Matthews is in private practice at his firm in Kenner, Psychological Resources, and is a consulting psychologist to Southeast Louisiana Medical Associates at Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center, the Akula Foundation in New Orleans, St. Charles Parish Hospital, Canon Hospice, Children’s Hospital, and others.
He holds the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) Diplomate in Clinical Psychology and the American Board of Assessment Psychology (ABAP) Diplomate in Clinical Psychology.
He serves as Assistant Clinical Faculty, Department of Psychiatry, LSU Medical Center School of Medicine at New Orleans, and Associate Clinical Faculty, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Tulane University Health Sciences Center Tulane University Medical Center.
Dr. Matthews has numerous scientific and professional accomplishments. He was named the 2014 Distinguished Psychologist by the Louisiana Psychological Association, served on the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists, served as Secretary, Society of Assessment Psychology (APA), as Secretary/Treasurer APA Div. 1, and as President, New Orleans Neuropsychological Society, among others.
His many publications include the following examples authored with wife Janet: Diversity in Family Bereavement. In Allen, R. S., Carpenter, B. D., & Eichorst, M. K. (Eds.). Perspectives on Palliative and End of Life Care: Disease, Social and Cultural Context. Also, Influences of the Greeks and Romans. In T. G. Plante (Ed). Abnormal psychology across the ages. And, Applying for Clinical and Other Applied Positions. In P. J. Giordano, S. F. Davis, & C. A. Licht (Eds). Your graduate training in psychology: Effective strategies for success.
He has blended practice, scholarly works, and the mentoring of students over his 30-year career, said the awards committee. For 16 years he was the supervisor and mentor for undergraduate students from Loyola University, for eight years he was the site supervisor at DePaul Hospital, an elective off-site placement for VA interns, and for seven years he was the co-coordinator of a weekly psychology assessment seminar for the interns and post-doctoral students at the VA Medical Center. For six years he was on the APA Internship Training Faculty for the Clinical Neuropsychology Internship at Tulane University Medical Center.
“After 30 plus years of mentoring students and young psychologists, I am humbled and honored that many of them have had highly successful careers in psychology,” Dr. Matthews said. “This is not due to me, but to each of them having the ability to take what I hope I have given them as a foundation for being a professional and ethical psychologist, and then using their own talents to apply that knowledge to their chosen careers, from university professors, clinical psychologists and neuropsychologists, and administrators for professional organizations.”