Awards & Honors

Colleen Sloan, PhD, Honored for Work in Trauma Psychology

Colleen Sloan, PhD, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, has been honored with the Outstanding Contributions to Practice in Trauma Psychology award from the Division 56 (Trauma Psychology) of the American Psychological Association at the annual meeting. The award recognizes distinguished contributions to psychological practice, such as the development of a highly effective intervention, contributions to practice theory, or for a sustained body of work in the field of trauma psychology practice.

Sloan is a licensed clinical psychologist, clinician-scholar, and leader at VA Boston Healthcare System with more than a decade of experience in trauma-focused mental health care, clinical training, and program development. She serves as Director of VA Boston’s APA-accredited Psychology Internship Training Program, where she oversees the training of 18 psychology interns across 12 clinical rotations and works closely with numerous clinical supervisors and mentors. She is clinically based within the Women’s Trauma Recovery Team, providing evidence-based treatment for PTSD and other trauma-related concerns and supervising psychology interns and postdoctoral fellows.

Sloan’s clinical and scholarly work focuses on trauma and PTSD, evidence-based psychotherapies, LGBTQ+ health, women’s health, and culturally responsive mental health care and training. She has particular expertise in dialectical behavior therapy, trauma-focused treatments, particularly prolonged exposure, and adapting evidence-based interventions to better meet the needs of marginalized populations. She has both published and presented in these areas nationally and internationally.

Throughout her career at VA, Sloan has held numerous leadership roles aimed at strengthening the quality of care, clinical training, and the experience of Veterans and staff. She previously chaired VA Boston’s Interdisciplinary Transgender Treatment Team and served as the facility’s first LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Coordinator. She currently leads the LGBTQ+ Health track within VA Boston’s Clinical Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and chairs the Psychology Committee for Meaningful Engagement. She also serves as an elected member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.

Sloan received her undergraduate, Master’s and PhD degrees from the University of Georgia.

The American Psychological Association is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 190,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students.