CAS CONNECT 2018

Shepherding Stressed Families Center for Pediatric Psychology enhances OSU’s ability to make a difference STORY JACOB LONGAN | | PHOTOS COURTESY THAD LEFF I NGWELL MULL I NS PORTRA I T GARY LAWSON University, OSU is doing more to help people like her and her family. The center’s mission is “to engage in cutting-edge scientific discovery related to all aspects of children’s health, as well as their families, and to foster integrated research, training and clinical service delivery.” Larry L. Mullins, the Vaughn Vennerberg II Chair of Psychology, is the inaugural director. He said the center will be an excellent tool for recruiting outstanding faculty and graduate students. “We have a long history of bringing in some of the best graduate students in the country to train in pediatric psychology,” Mullins said. “Establishing the Center for Pediatric Psychology formalizes what we’ve been doing and allows us to move forward in a much more thoughtful manner. It will help us better fund our graduate students and our research, and really support the growth of a network across the state.” The College of Arts and Sciences has provided funding to create a speaker series as well as a graduate student position to help coordinate activities at the center. The long-term goal is to add more funding and training resources for graduate students and research facilities such as a dedicated suite that will serve as the program’s physical home. Joining Mullins as charter faculty are JohnM. Chaney and Ashley (Hum) Clawson. Mullins’ research focus is child and family adjustment to pediatric chronic illness, with an emphasis on identifying factors that predict both resilience and adjustment difficulties in children and their parents. Chaney’s expertise is emotional adjustment in pediatric chronic illness populations, particularly those suffering from juvenile rheumatic diseases and inflammatory bowel disease. Clawson’s area is child and family health promotion, including reducing secondary and primary tobacco exposure among at-risk children and families, particularly children with medical conditions such as asthma and cancer. T had Leffingwell was already a clinical psychologist and Oklahoma State University faculty member 17 years ago, but he didn’t knowmuch about pediatric psychology. Then his 3-year-old daughter, Claire, was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer. “We spent 190 days in the hospital in a year, and she had 13 surgeries,” said Leffingwell, now head of the Department of Psychology. “Suddenly, I was completely aware of the importance of pediatric psychologists. They help shepherd families through their time of greatest stress.” Claire is now a junior at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. And thanks to the newCenter for Pediatric Psychology at Oklahoma State Clockwise from lower left: Dr. Thad Leffingwell, head of the Department of Psychology, and his daughter, Claire Leffingwell, at age 3 when she was diagnosed with cancer and today at 20. 22 CONNECT 201 8