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One of our favorite parts of the Annual OCD Conference is the Saturday evening keynote address and the IOCDF awards presentation.  We are extremely excited to announce the individuals that we have chosen this year, and we hope that you share our enthusiasm. So, without further ado, we are pleased to announce our 2018 Conference Keynote Speaker and our IOCDF Award Winners.

2018 Keynote with Dr. Drew!

It is our goal to choose a keynote speaker who can deliver something fresh, relevant and actionable to our audience.  Given how active the discussion around mental health stigma had been both in the media, and within our community, we felt that this was the perfect year to have a keynote speaker who could speak with authority, expertise, and insight on this topic.

That is why we are thrilled to announce that the renowned physician, Dr. Drew Pinsky, commonly known as Dr. Drew, will be giving the Keynote address this year!  His address will focus on stigma reduction and advocacy as it relates to discussing mental health issues in the public sphere. Dr. Drew’s keynote topic is especially timely and relevant for the OCD community.

Dr. Drew is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine, and is a globally recognized specialist in addiction and related mental health issues.  He delivers his wisdom on a variety of programming including KABC’s Dr. Drew Midday Live with Lauren Sivan, the iTunes top-rated Dr. Drew PodcastThe Adam and Drew Show co-hosted by Adam Carolla, This Life with co-host Bob Forrest, Weekly Infusion with Dr. Bruce and MTV’s Teen Mom reunion specials.

Our 2018 Conference Keynote is sponsored by the Peace of Mind Foundation.

2018 IOCDF Award Winners!

Each year, we take time at the Annual OCD Conference to honor the individuals who have gone above and beyond in their service and dedication to the OCD community. We would like to congratulate the 2018  award winners who will be honored at the 25th Annual OCD Conference in Washinton D.C.! And the winners are…

From left to right: Alec Pollard, PhD; Judy Rapoport, MD; Marc Summers; Stuart Ralph

 

Service Award Winner: C. Alec Pollard, PhD

Alec Pollard, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Family & Community Medicine at Saint Louis University and the Director of the Center for OCD & Anxiety-Related Disorders at the Saint Louis Behavioral Medicine Institute. Dr. Pollard is also the Clinical Director of the IOCDF’s Behavioral Therapy Training Institute (BTTI), and a member of the IOCDF Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in 1982 at the Temple University Behavior Therapy Unit where he first developed a specialization in the treatment of OCD and related disorders. Alec has been a member of the IOCDF and its Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board for over 20 years. He has served on the Foundation’s Speaker’s Bureau and Conference Planning Committees and has given over 100 presentations at conferences and other IOCDF-sponsored events. In 1994, Alec was appointed chair of a Task Force to develop a model for training therapists in effective treatments for OCD. The proposed model, known as the Behavior Therapy Training Institute (BTTI), became the IOCDF’s signature training program. Under Alec’s leadership as Clinical Director, the BTTI has trained over 1,500 clinicians in evidence-based treatments for OCD. As Chair of the Training Sub-Committee, Alec helped develop a BTTI specifically to address pediatric issues, expand the BTTI outside of the United States, and create additional training products, including consultation groups, preconference workshops, and 3-day Advanced Forums on topics like treatment-resistance, BDD, Hoarding Disorder, and Autism-Associated OCD.

Career Achievement Award Winner: Judith Rappoport, MD

Judith Rapoport, MD, recently retired as the chief of the Child Psychiatry Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health(NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. Her decades-long research program focused on diagnosis in child psychiatry, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Dr. Rapoport’s research group at NIMH also studied clinical phenomenology, neurobiology, and treatment of Childhood Onset Schizophrenia. She is the author of the pioneering and bestselling book, The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Washing: The Experience and Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (Plume, 1989), about obsessive compulsive disorder.

Illumination Award Winner: Marc Summers

Marc Summers is an American television personality, comedian, game show host, producer, and talk show host. He is best known for hosting Double Dare for Nickelodeon, Unwrapped for Food Network, and recently he was Executive Producer for both Dinner Impossible and Restaurant Impossible also for Food Network.

In 1996, during an interview with Dr. Eric Hollander on Biggers & Summers, Summers revealed that he has obsessive compulsive disorder. He then went public about his condition on various television shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Today Show. In 2000, Summers published a book about his experience, called Everything in Its Place: My Trials and Triumphs with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Summers also participated in a series of VHS videos for Freedom from Fear, a non-profit organization with the goal of addressing anxiety disorders and other related behavioral disorders. He continues to use his platform to share his experience and educate others about OCD.

Hero Award Winner: Stuart Ralph

Stuart is the founder of The OCD Stories podcast – a weekly show that offers hope and inspiration to those affected by OCD. He works passionately to inform fellow OCD sufferers and share stories to help others feel less alone. He has interviewed countless professionals and experts in the field of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder for his podcast, as well as other well-known OCD advocates to help spread the word about the disorder. Since beginning the podcast, Stuart has produced over 120 episodes as well as published various personal stories on his website theocdstories.com.  He also recently published his first book, The OCD Stories, which contains 16 stories by people who have or are dealing with OCD.

Congratulations to all of all 2018 award winners!

With so many new and exciting things on tap for this summer, we can’t wait to welcome you to Washington, D.C! If you have any questions about the above or anything else Conference-related, you can reach us by phone at 617-973-5801 or by email at conference@iocdf.org.

For more information about the Conference program, visit ocd2018.org.

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