COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD
THEMA BRYANT DAVIS, PhD
Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology
Dr. Thema Bryant Davis is the 2023 president of the American Psychological Association, the leading scientific and professional organization representing psychology with more than 120,000 members. Dr. Bryant completed her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Duke University and her post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical Center’s Victims of Violence Program. Upon graduating, she became the coordinator of the Princeton University SHARE Program, which provides intervention and prevention programming to combat sexual assault, sexual harassment, and harassment based on sexual orientation.
She is currently a tenured professor of psychology in the Graduate School of Education and Psychology at Pepperdine University, where she directs the Culture and Trauma Research Laboratory. Her clinical and research interests center on interpersonal trauma and the societal trauma of oppression. She is one of the foundational scholars on the topic of the trauma of racism and in 2020, she gave an invited keynote address on the topic at APA. In 2020, the International Division of APA honored her for her work in Africa and the Diaspora. Dr. Bryant has raised public awareness regarding mental health by extending the reach of psychology beyond the academy and private therapy office through community programming and media engagements.
Among many of Dr. BryantĂs contributions to the community has been her work in the newly created role as the first ever equity ofĂżcer for the Canoga Park Neighborhood Council and out of that new position she brought to the council innovative and impactful equity, inclusion, and anti-bias training. Dr. Bryant’s contributions helped to inspire other councils to look at creating similar trainings and eventually the City of Los Angeles created its own implicit bias training which is now a requirement for city employees and volunteers.