Background
Anderson was born October 16, 1955, in Greensboro, North Carolina, to Charles W. and Lois J. Anderson.
Anderson was born October 16, 1955, in Greensboro, North Carolina, to Charles W. and Lois J. Anderson.
North Carolina Central University.
Anderson became the APA’s first African-American Chief Executive Officer when he was named to the post in 2003. He retired under pressure from the Board of Directors effective 12/18/2015. He is the editor for the APA journal American Psychologist.
A graduate of the North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina, Anderson earned master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
He received additional clinical and research training at the schools of medicine at Brown and Duke Universities, including postdoctoral fellowships in psychophysiology and aging at Duke. Anderson was the founding director of the National Institutes of Health Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.
While with National Institutes of Health from 1995 to 2000, he was charged with facilitating behavioral and social sciences research across all National Institutes of Health institutes and centers. He was an associate professor at Duke University Medical School from 1991 to 1999, and the Harvard School of Public Health from 2000 to 2002.
While at Harvard, Anderson sat on faculty recruitment, scholarship funding and graduate school admissions boards.
Much of his research and writing focused on the effects of stress on biology and risk for hypertension. In 2012, he was elected to the Institute of Medicine, which is part of the National Academy of Sciences. Anderson became Chief Executive Officer of the American Psychological Association in 2003.
On July 14, 2015, in the wake of a 542-page independent review report relating to ethics guidelines conducted by former assistant Assistant United States. Attorney David H. Hoffman and submitted to the special committee of the board of directors, the APA announced that Anderson would be retiring at the end of 2015.
Two other APA officials, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Michael Honaker, and executive director for public and member communication Rhea K. Farberman retired the following day. The announcement by the APA said
"Doctor Anderson felt that moving up his retirement date to the end of 2015 would allow the association to take another step in the important process of organizational healing."
Editor in chief of “The Encyclopedia of Health and Behavior" and APA’s flagship journal, "American Psychologist."
Fellow of APA, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Society, the Society of Behavioral Medicine and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research.
Past president of the Society of Behavioral Medicine
Past president, Steven Spielberg’s Starbright Foundation Board of Directors.
He is a member of the Washington (District of Columbia) Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.