Former UF CHP graduate student Mary Brinkmeyer, Ph.D., has been named the Navy Psychology Civilian Psychologist of the Year. Dr. Brinkmeyer is Associate Training Director for the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) Psychology Training Programs, which includes the Navy’s largest psychology internship training program as well as the only accredited clinical psychology postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Defense. Prior to being selected and hired for her current position, Dr. Brinkmeyer served four years as the embedded health/pain psychologist in the NMCP Orthopedic Clinic, and was then selected for the Center for Deployment Psychology position at NMCP, where she served from 2012 to 2014.
The following is an exerpt of her award nomination by Shannon J. Johnson, Ph.D., Captain USN MSC, Director of Mental Health at NMCP:
“In her role as the Associate Training Director at NMCP, Dr. Brinkmeyer has proven to be invaluable. She is heavily involved in the coordination and management of the training of interns, fellows, and professional staff. Dr. Brinkmeyer’s clinical and professional versatility allows for her to provide supervision and training in general psychology, as well as the specialty areas of both child psychology and health psychology. Dr. Brinkmeyer participates in continuing process improvement activities related to the training programs, as well as program planning, and student development. More specifically, Dr. Brinkmeyer has been responsible for orientation of all new trainees, as well as providing oversight for new staff orientation. She serves as a primary supervisor for postdoctoral fellows and interns, manages the Organizational Development Seminars, oversees the NMCP APA Accredited Continuing Education Program, leads the weekly internship training seminars, coordinates trainee work plans and scheduled evaluations, heads some training team meetings, and provides ongoing support and consultation to staff clinical supervisors and trainees.
Dr. Brinkmeyer is a nationally recognized expert in general clinical psychology, pain management and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). As a subject matter expert in health psychology, as well as child/family psychology, she is a much sought after consultant by multiple medical specialty clinics at NMCP.
It is a distinct honor and pleasure to nominate Dr. Mary Brinkmeyer as the 2015 Navy Civilian Psychologist of the Year. It is because I am aware of the extremely high caliber of Navy civilian psychologists (and have worked with many of them) that I feel so adamantly that Dr. Brinkmeyer is deserving of this award. Navy Psychology is tremendously fortunate to have such high quality civilian shipmates, and Mary Brinkmeyer is absolutely among the best of the best. “