Robert K. Ax

Robert K. Ax, Ph.D., received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and practiced in state and federal corrections for more than 20 years. He is a licensed clinical psychologist (Virginia), a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), a member of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA), and a former President of the APA Division of Psychologists in Public Service (18). He has twice been the recipient of Division 18’s Distinguished Service Award, and in 2009 received its highest honor, the Harold Hildreth Award. He was the training director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ first APA-accredited internship program at the Federal Correctional Institution, Petersburg, Virginia. Dr. Ax is the co-editor, with Dr. Thomas J. Fagan, of two previous volumes, the Correctional Mental Health Handbook, published by Sage in 2003, and Corrections, Mental Health and Social Policy: International Perspectives (Charles C Thomas, 2007). He has published articles on mental health training and correctional issues, currently serves on the editorial board of the journal Criminal Justice and Behavior, and has served as an invited reviewer for other journals, including American Psychologist, Psychological Services, and Professional Psychology: Research and Practice.

Dr. Ax has published several articles on organized psychology’s prescriptive authority initiative as well. He delivered an invited address on this issue at the annual CPA convention in 2008, and served as a content expert (1998-1999) for the development of the APA College of Professional Psychology’s Psychopharmacology Examination for Psychologists. Dr. Ax received the American Society for the Advancement of Pharmacotherapy’s (APA’s Division 55) National Leadership Award in 2006.