JEFFREY COLE PH.D.
ABMP President
Jeffrey D. Cole, PhD, FPPR, FICPP, ABMP is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Board-Certified Medical Psychologist, doctoral training in Clinical Psychology at Fordham University, psychodiagnostic training at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, forensic training at Inwood Community Services in Manhattan NY. Served as Coordinator and Sub-Investigator on multiple clinical psychopharmacological trials at Montefiore Medical Center. He was primary Psychologist for a forensic and behavior-disorders unit with a State Hospital in Binghamton NY, Team Leader for a specialty Sex Offender Treatment Team. He trained in psychopharmacology receiving his Psychopharmacology and Advanced Psychopharmacology diplomates with Prescribing Psychologists’ Register (PPR), medical psychology preceptorship with Family Physician Dr. Gary Dean, and received his ABMP diploma 2011 and has served on the American Board of Medical Psychology since 2012, as the AMP Editor of The AMP, and he is on the Editorial Staff of The Archives of Medical Psychology, .has been an examining diplomat on the ABMP Oral Examination Committee. Dr. Cole is a Clinical Field Supervisor for Clinical Psychology doctoral students at Binghamton University. He is a private practitioner in New York. Three year term.
WARD M. LAWSON PH.D.,
ABMP, ABPP Executive Director
Dr. Lawson has been a full-time practitioner for over 25 years, completing post-doctoral fellowships in neuropsychology, forensic psychology and is board certified in Medical Psychology and Family Psychology. He is certified by the American Psychological Association’s (APA) College of Professional Psychology in the Treatment of Alcohol and Other Psychoactive Substance Use Disorders. He is President of the Academy of Medical Psychology and is the Senior and Managing Editor of the Academy of Medical Psychology’s peer-reviewed journal, The Archives of Medical Psychology. He is a member of National Association of Practicing Professional Psychologists (NAPPP, www.nappp.org), is a board member of the Missouri NAPPP chapter (MoNAPPP), and a member of National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN). He served as a board member from 2009 to 2013 on the American Board of Couples and Family Psychology (ABPP). From 1996 to 1998, he served on the board of the Missouri Psychological Association as Treasurer and served on the Insurance and Managed Care Committee and the RxP Taskforce. He was a member of the doctoral faculty in neuropsychology at Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield Missouri, has presented at state and national conferences, and is a published author. Dr. Lawson practices within an integrated care system and supervises psychologists and mid-level providers. He owns and operates facilities certified by the National Institute of Behavioral Health Quality, National Health Services Corp, the Missouri Department of Alcohol and Drug as an outpatient substance abuse program. Dr. Lawson has owned a Rural Health Clinic and is the founder and Director of a not-for-profit Tri-County Adult Day Care. President, 5 year term.
Keith Petrosky, PHD
ABMP Director
Keith Petrosky, PHD, ABMP, is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. He did his doctoral studies at Temple University. His dissertation involved research on depression in children and a comparison of the theories of Beck and Seligman. Dr. Petrosky is in full time private practice in the Main Line Philadelphia suburb of Exton where he treats adults, children, and families. He has served as a psychological consultant for a regional cardiology program for fifteen years where he directed a lifestyle change program for heart attack and post-surgical heart patients. He provides pain management services for several large physician practices and does pre-surgical psychological evaluations. He does short-term disability evaluations for Philadelphia area corporations. He is a consultant to several private boarding schools and medical schools where he evaluates students and provides recommendations to help them succeed in their studies. He developed a number of hospital-based programs, including an integrative health and healing program for cancer patients and an anxiety management program for patients anticipating surgery. He has developed his own stress management program that was used successfully in corporations and hospitals. Dr. Petrosky is a board member of the National Alliance of Practicing Professional Psychologists and the American Board of Medical Psychology.
Robert DeFrancisco, PhD
ABMP Director
Robert DeFrancisco, PhD, ABMP is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and National Register Psychologist .
He received his BA in Psychology from Clemson University in Clemson , South Carolina . He then proceeded to get his Masters and Doctorate in Psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi. He completed two year internship at the Escambia, Conecuh, Monroe and Clarke County Mental Health Institute in Monroeville, Alabama. He then went onto complete a post doctoral fellowship at the University of Kentucky Medical School in Lexington, Kentucky. There he studied under the world famous founder of Rational Behavior Therapy and pacesetter in Cognitive Behavior Therapy , psychiatrist, Dr Maxie Maultsby.
A lifetime member of the American Psychological Association(APA) Dr. DeFrancisco is a Certified Forensic Psychologist in the State of Alabama where he has conducted hundreds of forensic evaluations. In addition to his long time private practice he has consulted at numerous Nursing Homes , County Jails , Hospitals and has been an Adjunct Professor at several Universities. Dr. DeFrancisco completed his training in Clinical Psychopharmacology with a Masters Certificate (FICPPM). as one of the pioneers under Dr Sam Feldman’s program, the International College of Professional Psychology . He then went on to become a Board Certified Medical Psychologist and a Certified Psychopharmacologist by the NeuroScience Institute in Carlsbad , California.
Dr DeFrancisco has published and written several articles regarding the RxP Movement in Psychology
Cherie B. Ruben, Ph.D.
ABMP Director
Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Board-Certified Medical Psychologist
Dr. Ruben graduated from Columbia University in 1987, proud to be in the first co-ed class and to have done her junior year abroad at Cambridge University. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 1992, attending Syracuse University. After an internship (1991-1992) at Erie County Medical Center, she worked in Buffalo for 23.5 years at Jewish Family Service (1992-2016) which overlapped working for the past 25 years in Derby, New York at Community Concern / Harmonia Collaborative Care (2000-present).
Training in Psychopharmacology was initiated (shortly after being licensed in 1994) through Prescribing Psychologists’ Register. She completed the coursework for FPPR designation and later the FICPPM. She passed the PPR exam and the PEP exam (2001). Preceptorship hours were under psychiatrist Dr. Napoli.
Her experience on psychology and psychopharmacology boards commenced over 20 years ago. She was the President of the Psychological Association of Western New York from 2002-2003. She has continued to serve on that board as the Social Chair. For almost 20 years she has been part of the New York State Psychological Association’s RxP Taskforce. She had a three-year term as a Member-At-Large on APA’s Division 55 Society for Prescribing Psychology (2020-2022) and had an article in Division 55’s The Tablet.
Additional non-psychology related board experience includes being past Vice-President for the Lake Shore Community Players and past Vice-President for Western New York Phi Beta Kappa Association. She is currently President of the Opera Foundation of Buffalo, often known as the Singing Psychologist.