2014 Richard C. Tees Distinguished Leadership Award Winner: Dr. Peter Graf

Dr. Peter Graf more than fulfills the criteria for the Richard Tees Distinguished Leadership Award.

Peter's dedication to CSBBCS is unquestionable. He has been a leader in the society for a very long time and has held the position of Secretary/Treasurer on the executive committee since 2005. In that position he has kept the continuity of the organization and mentored new executive officers in their positions. He has been instrumental in moving the society to take a more active role in advocacy by responding to research funding and other science-related issues that arise in Canada. All of that is not to mention the numerous behind-the-scenes duties of the Secretary/ Treasurer of a large national organization which he seems to handle with ease.

Peter has not limited his work with scholarly organizations to CSBBCS. Concurrent with his work on the executive of CSBBCS, he served on the board of directors for the Canadian Psychological Association and was elected president of that organization. He can be credited with the re-establishment of a seat on the CPA board for a member of CSBBCS and increasing the ties between the two organizations for the betterment of psychology in Canada as a whole. This rapprochement can only serve to strengthen all areas of psychology in Canada.

Peter is one of the most influential researchers in memory in the world. His career has been characterized by transformative ideas followed by very careful exploration of an area. He always seems to be in the forefront of field. His work has had a tremendous impact on research and theory in memory. For example, his ground-breaking paper on implicit and explicit memory for new associations in normal and amnesic subjects (co-authored with Daniel Schacter) has been cited over 1,000 times. More recently, he has shown himself to be a leader in the study of prospective memory. From 1995 to 2013 his work has been cited, on average, over 500 times a year. His scholarly accomplishments have been recognized by his election as fellow of APA, APS, and CPA.

Although Peter's contributions to basic research in memory are widely known and admired, perhaps less known (at least for now, I think that will change soon) is his work applying his knowledge of memory and cognition to obsessive-compulsive disorder, cognitive training in older adults, and to solving usability problems of technology for older adults. This application of basic research to solving real problems in society demonstrates the generality of his research and the creativity of his thinking.

In summary, Peter is a remarkable leader, an exceptional researcher and, due to his extraordinary leadership and service to the BBCS community is most worthy of the Richard C. Tees Distinguished Leadership Award.