Griffith University’s Professor Paul Martin has been awarded with a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) as part of this year’s Australia Day Honours.
Professor Martin from the Menzies Health Institute Queensland (formerly Griffith Health Institute) received the accolade for service to medicine in the field of psychology as he continues his work on new approaches to the treatment of headaches.
Last year Professor Martin began trialling an approach designed to enable people to cope with the triggers of their headaches called Learning to Cope with Triggers (LCT) which aims to desensitise them to triggers such as food, noise etc.
And he has recently met with success in the development of a unique app which sufferers can use as a diary of their headaches to record the regularity and severity of their pain.
The app, which directly records and downloads information into data files, is already becoming a very useful tool for headache researchers around the world.
“I am delighted to receive the award as a recognition of my achievements, but the achievements occur in a context and reflect the opportunities given to me by my employers and the colleagues I have worked with over the years,” said Professor Martin.
“Hence I see the award as one for me, but also one for psychology and one for Griffith.”
Alongside teaching in Griffith’s clinical psychology program, Professor Martin’s research covers health psychology, stress and social support, depression and postnatal depression, interventions to assist premature babies, internet-based assessment of cardiovascular risk, and mindfulness based cognitive therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy.
Professor Martin trained at the University of Oxford before migrating to Australia and taking up appointments at Monash University, University of Western Australia, University of New England and RMIT University.
He has held a number of professional leadership positions including National President of the Australian Behaviour Modification Association, Director of Science and then President of the Australian Psychological Society.
He was President of the 27th International Congress of Applied Psychology and has published eight books and over 130 journal articles and chapters.
He is also a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society.
Professor Adam Shoemaker, Griffith University Acting Vice Chancellor, called the award “a very well-deserved honour indeed”.
Professor Martin was among three of the Griffith community to receive Australia Day honours. The others included Professor Emeritus Nancy Viviani and Mr Chris Madden.http://app.griffith.edu.au/news/2015/01/27/australia-day-honours-for-griffith-academics/?src=hp