COE Grad Named to Prestigious Public Health Fellowship

Sylvia Shellenberger, a graduate of the UGA College of Education and now a professor at Mercer University in Macon, was named to represent the American Psychology Association at the U.S. Public Health Service's prestigious primary care policy fellowship this spring.

The service established the fellowship in 1991 to train health care leaders to be effective advocates for improving primary care. Each year, the Public Health Service seeks nominations from professional organizations and selects the top candidates to serve as fellows.

In her more than 20 years of teaching, research and advocacy work, Shellenberger's main priority has been promoting collaboration between psychologists and physicians. As a professor in the department of family and community medicine at Mercer University School of Medicine, she teaches medical students to work in rural areas.

She developed a curriculum at Mercer to train primary-care physicians to manage the psychological and family problems of their patients and several other family medicine programs have implemented her model.

Shellenberger is also a tireless advocate for health care, particularly rural health care. She has chaired one of Georgia's advisory committees on Medicaid and has served for six years on APA's Rural Health committee, where she meets with legislators twice a year to voice the needs of rural families and communities.

"I'm looking forward to developing a new network of primary-care practitioners and policy-makers who see, or will come to see, the importance of including psychologists in primary care," says Shellenberger.

Shellenberger is the second psychologist to be selected as a fellow. Her broad experience in primary care and strong advocacy background make her an ideal candidate for the program, according to APA officials.

The fellowship is held over one week in March and two weeks in June.