Dr. Mia Smith Bynum, associate professor of family science and director of the Black Families Research Group in the University of Maryland School of Public Health, was selected as a fellow in the American Psychological Association’s Society for Family Psychology.

Dr. Smith Bynum is trained as a child clinical psychologist and is an expert in parenting communication about difficult topics, racial identity, adolescent mental health, and the factors that contribute to the mental health of ethnic minorities generally. She studies the process of racial socialization and how Black parents talk with their kids about coping with racial discrimination. She is co-author of the well-cited publication Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity for African Americans and its corresponding self-report measure, Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity.

The APA selects fellows who are APA members that show evidence of “unusual and outstanding contributions or performance in the field of psychology” on a national level. The Society for Family Psychology consists of psychologists who focus on families, in their many configurations, and has developed the Journal of Family Psychology.