2023 Forensic Psychology Newsletter
Message from the Program Director
Program Spotlights
Program Kudos
Alumni Class Notes
Message from the Program Director
Greetings to all alumni from the George Washington University’s Forensic Psychology Program. Most of you have not met me, but I had the privilege and responsibility of taking over the directorship of this program from Dr. Dick Cooter, who retired in 2022 and is now a GW Emeritus. Dr. Cooter, along with Dr. Rocio Lopez-Sharifi, started this program and ran it for 10 years.
As I have come to discover, but you all know very well, they have done a fantastic job! This is a terrific forensic psychology program which provides great training and opportunities for its students. Our current students are benefitting from the specialized knowledge and extensive experience of our full-time and adjunct faculty, just as you have in the past.
In this newsletter, you will find information about what we and our current and former students have been up to in the past year. Your interest and support in our (your!) program continues to be greatly supported. If you have any ideas that could benefit our program, or contribute to its development, please drop me a line or visit us in Alexandria. I look forward to your ongoing engagement with the growing GW forensic psychology community in 2024!
Sincerely,
Andrew Moskowitz
Program Director
Program Spotlights
Gender Bias in Diagnoses
In an article published in The Journal of Personality Assessment, Dr. Matt Bruce and David Weinraub, MA ‘20, empirically examined implicit gender bias in psychologists’ assessment of personality disorders and psychopathy. They found clear evidence for implicit biases in diagnosing women with borderline and men with antisocial personality disorders. Implicit gender bias appears prevalent among American licensed psychologists.
Career Paths Workshop Series
In 2022, Dr. Rocio Lopez-Sharifi launched a workshop series focusing on highlighting career paths in forensic psychology. In these workshops, current students are invited to hear and learn from program alumni working in a variety of roles and positions in the field of forensic psychology and related areas. Several alumni participated in these series.
The first in this series was a multi-panel workshop featuring program alumni Rachel Anderson, MA ’21; Tim Beirne, MA ’17; Carla Claudio-Silva, MA ’19; Halle Datko, MA ’19 and Jana Dweck, MA ’21. It featured their work in a variety of investigative agencies, forensic interviewing, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and DC Child and Family Services.
Most recently, the workshop hosted program alumna Faye Honig, MA ’18, who provided current students with an overview of the world of trial consulting. She spoke about who she learned about the industry and broke into the field, and she explained the behind-the-scenes steps that go into testing a case, the psychology behind a juror profile and other aspects of the vocation. Students enjoyed learning about the paths that led them to where our alumni are today and were offered useful advice as they look forward to taking similar paths in their future career.
Project Paperback
The GW Forensic Psychology Program is proud to support “Project Paperback,” a book drive to promote the educational, vocational and personal growth of incarcerated people within Fairfax County detention centers.
Project Paperback, an initiative by the mitigation specialists at the Fairfax County Office of the Public Defender organized in part by FORP program alumna Caitlin Harvey, solicits book donations to expand the jail libraries at the Fairfax County Adult and Juvenile Detention Centers. As most of the jail’s in-person classes have been canceled, the expansion of the libraries is vital to the well-being of those incarcerated there.
Project Paperback’s book drive, now in its second year, has collected over 2,000 books, and these resources have helped provide literacy opportunities, entertainment and habits of lifelong scholarship for incarcerated youth and adults. We'd like to thank all current students, faculty and alumni for their donations in contributing to this effort!
Program Kudos
- Associate Professor and Program Director Dr. Richard Cooter retired in June 2022, after 10 years of successfully leading the Forensic Psychology Program at GW. As many of you know, Dr. Cooter along with Dr. Lopez led the effort to establish and build this program from the ground up. Dr. Cooter worked tirelessly toward offering a quality academic experience for all who came to the program and deeply cared about students. His leadership, dedication and immeasurable contributions will be remembered by everyone in the program and the broader GW community. We're pleased to announce that upon his retirement, Dr. Cooter was awarded Emeritus status for his long and distinguished service to the university.
- Associate Professor Dr. Rocio Lopez-Sharifi was appointed as director of graduate studies (DGS) as of June 2022. We congratulate her on a well-deserved promotion and look forward to her continuing contributions to our program. As the new DGS, Dr. Lopez oversees the academic affairs of the program including curriculum planning and practicum training, while remaining actively involved in teaching many of the program's core courses.
- Associate Professor and Program Director Dr. Andrew Moskowitz joined the GW Forensic Psychology Program in August 2022. Dr. Moskowitz is a trauma and dissociation expert, and has been teaching psychology and medical students at prestigious universities in Europe and New Zealand since 1999. He was trained as a forensic and clinical psychologist in Massachusetts in the 1990s, and has worked in prison, mental health and court systems in the U.S., Great Britain and New Zealand. Dr. Moskowitz is a former president of the European Society for Trauma and Dissociation and was instrumental in drafting the ICD-11 (WHO, 2022) dissociative disorders diagnostic criteria. He has published more than 50 articles and book chapters on relationships between trauma, dissociation, psychosis and violence, and is the lead editor of the award-winning Psychosis, Trauma and Dissociation (Wiley, 2008, 2019).
Alumni Class Notes
- Paulina Diaz, BA ’15, MA ’18, attended medical school in Puerto Rico. She is now a first-year neurology resident at Weill Cornell Medical Center.
- Corey Memmott, MA ’17, is a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the state of Virginia’s Department of Aging and Rehabilitation. He also recently passed his examination for the National Certified Addictions Counselor.