MIRECC / CoE

Biography

Dr. King is a Clinical Research Psychologist at the Center for Integrated Healthcare (CIH) in Buffalo, NY, and the Director of the CIH Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. He completed his pre-doctoral psychology internship at the VA Western New York Healthcare System and is a postdoctoral graduate of the VA Advanced Fellowship in Mental Illness Research and Treatment at CIH. He earned both his MA (Psychology) and PhD (Counseling Psychology) from the University at Buffalo - State University of New York. In addition to his research and training roles, he provides clinical services and consultation in an integrated VA primary care clinic.

Research Interests: 

Dr. King’s research interests include post-deployment health care for Veterans, rehabilitation of chronic neurobehavioral symptoms, and processes pertaining to integrated care delivery. His program of research emphasizes development and testing of brief and accessible interventions to address mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI, or concussion) and trauma-related symptoms stemming from deployment injury and/or intimate partner violence. Recent studies have explored the cognitive and emotional impacts of deployment on combat Veterans, the clinical overlap of mTBI and PTSD symptoms, and opportunities to improve women Veterans’ mental health through integrated care.

A listing of Dr. King’s published works can be found at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/16qVewc4pwqQt/bibliography/public/

Mentorship

Why do I mentor? “My experience of receiving and offering mentorship has been greatly rewarding, and one that I view as critical to professional development as a scientist-practitioner. My hope is that the individuals I mentor will continue growing as professionals, with support and encouragement, advancing their own lines of independent work to improve Veterans’ health and well-being in innovative ways.”

How do I go about mentoring? “I take a developmental approach to mentoring. Generally, we start by building a training plan to identify what mentees’ goals are relative to research, practice, and other areas of professional growth. Over the course of our work together, we then collaborate to identify opportunities to address those training goals through scheduled and ad hoc supervision, didactics, consultation, and real-world project management and grant-writing experience. Ultimately, I strive to build a collegial and supportive environment that will support mentees as they build advanced competencies in research and practice, growing their senses of self-efficacy and independence in the process.”

Areas I tend to Emphasize within Mentorship:

• Doing work that is personally and professionally meaningful;
• Developing professional goals and feasible plans to reach milestones;
• Practical experience with project implementation and administration;
• Learning to use, evaluate, and adapt manualized interventions;
• Mixed-methods approaches to addressing research questions;
• Scientific writing and communication;
• Participation in professional conferences;
• Effective time and effort management;
• Work-life fit

Accomplishments of Previous Students:

• Peer-reviewed publications
• Conference presentations
• Awarded pilot grant