Healthier Lives Through Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
Skip Navigation
U.S.Department of Health and Human Services www.hhs.gov
National Institutes of Health Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research National Institutes of Health
Home
About OBSSR Funding Opportunities Scientific Areas Training and Education News & Events Publications Sitemap
Go
BSSR in the NewsPress MaterialsEvents
Print Printer Friendly Text Size Text Size Small Text Size Medium Text Size Big
Events
Conferences and Workshops
Lectures & Seminar
News

December 12, 2008
Retreat Refreshes Behavioral, Social Sciences

Dr. Christine Bachrach, acting director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, wanted just one thing out of the first-ever day-long retreat for NIH’s widely dispersed community of behavioral and social scientists, held Nov. 12 at Natcher Bldg.


December 12, 2008
CBT4CBT
New Hope for Treatment of Addiction


Drug addiction is notoriously tough to treat, but now research is showing a fresh way to tackle the problem. It’s called computer-based training for cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT4CBT)


OBSSR’s Mabry Wins with Systems Analysis Team


  More News >>

Calendar

January 28-29, 2009 Dissemination and Implementation Conference


February 9, 2009, ­ 10:00 – 11:00 AM
Stigma: Lessons & New Directions from a Decade of Research on Mental Illness


July 12-24, 2009
OBSSR/NIH Summer Training Institute on Randomized Clinical Trials Involving Behavioral Interventions


May 3-8, 2009
Institute on Systems Science and Health



May 22-25, 2009
Gene-Environment Interplay in Stress and Health at the Association for Psychological Science 21st Annual Convention, San Francisco, CA

  More Events >>
Home > News and EventsLectures And Seminars > Matilda White Riley Annual Lecture


Annual Matilda White Riley Lecture

The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) is pleased to sponsor the annual lecture in the behavioral and social sciences named in honor of Matilda White Riley (1911-2004). In addition to serving as the Associate Director for Behavioral and Social Research at the National Institute on Aging, Dr. Riley provided leadership across the NIH in her role as chairperson of landmark committees regarding health and behavior. She was co-chair of the joint ADAMHA and NIH Steering Committee for the Institute of Medicine's Project on Health and Behavior (1979-1982) and chair of the trans-NIH Working Group on Health and Behavior(1982-1991). In these capacities she served as the senior NIH spokesperson on the behavioral and social sciences, encouraged coordination among NIH Institutes, oversaw the production of numerous reports to the Congress on behavioral research at the NIH, provided advice to several NIH Directors, and initiated the behavioral and social sciences seminar series at the NIH. In effect, she laid the groundwork for and was the precursor to OBSSR.

The annual award honors an individual whose research has contributed to behavioral and social scientific knowledge and/or the application of such knowledge relevant to the mission of the National Institutes of Health. The recipients' research reflects Matilda Riley's commitment to research characterized by values such as:
  • Strong linkages among theory, methods, and research topics/goals;
  • Recognition of complexity of and dynamic interplay among processes at multiple levels of explanation (i.e., a biopsychosocial perspective);
  • Encouragement of research on behavioral and social factors in physical health and of the application of such knowledge in clinical practice and health policy;
  • Advocacy of a life-course perspective, both at the level of individuals and of societies (i.e., development/aging of people and the reciprocal influence of societal processes on development and of people as they develop/age on society);
  • Emphasis on the potential for improving the lives of people and society (i.e., research should be significant.);
  • Conceptual expansion of “health” beyond biological outcomes (disease and death) to include “effective functioning” (functional health), such as cognitive, affective and social functioning, and quality of life; and
  • An optimistic view on the ability of social and behavioral science to develop interventions to improve the lives of people of all ages.
The recipient of the awards delivers a presentation at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. OBSSR provides the selected speaker with an honorarium and a suitable commemorative plaque or sculpture as well as publishes the annual lecture on the OBSSR HomePage.

Past Lectures

Matilda White Riley Lecture Archives

Selection Committee, 2006-2008

Ronald Abeles, OBSSR
Chairperson

Christine Bachrach, NICHD

Virginia Cain, CDC/NCHS

Margaret Chesney, NCCAM

Robert Croyle, NCI

Peter Kaufmann, NHLBI

Richard Suzman, NIA