We are so excited and proud of the Bernier Lab’s Anna Diss, who was award the 2016 Guthrie Prize from the University of Washington Department of Psychology!

Named for the late psychology professor Edwin R. Guthrie, the prize was established to encourage excellent writing about psychology that is both broad in scope and accessible to the non-specialist.  Anna, a UW undergraduate majoring in psychology, won the award for her paper titled “Exploration of the Broader Autism Phenotype in Families with Autism-Related Genetic Events,” sponsored by the Bernier Lab’s Dr. Jennifer Gerdts.

We are proud to announce that Dr. Raphael Bernier
won the Wayne J. Katon Outstanding Mentor Award!

This award is from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences: “This prestigious award acknowledges the time, dedication, and attention that faculty members devote to foster the career development and academic success of colleagues and trainees in the areas of research, clinical practice and education. The award allows the department to honor and celebrate the valuable efforts of faculty members who embody Dr. Katon’s spirit of mentoring. One recipient per year will be selected.”

Congratulations to Dr. Bernier for winning the 2016 Outstanding Mentor Award! Raphe won through the outstanding supporting of graduate students, research staff, and senior research team members!   Thank you Raphe, for all that you do to continually support and mentor us, you truly deserve this award!

Some excerpts from his nomination letters:

“Raphe currently serves as mentor for 31 individuals in our lab, including 9 undergraduate research volunteers, 7 full-time research assistants and coordinators, 7 graduate students, 3 postdoctoral students, 1 senior clinical psychologist, and 1 junior faculty member. In querying the lab to participate in this nomination, the response was immediate and unanimously positive. This is exemplary of his unique and important role in all of our professional development.”

“Raphe’s philosophy to mentorship comes through in all of his interactions with his mentees. He believes that a productive team is a team that is happy, and he fosters a positive work environment by making sure that the individual needs of his team members are met… Raphe does not subscribe to the traditional values of restricting authorship to senior researchers, instead crediting and encouraging students and younger researchers to contribute for authorship (he says “we learned how to share in kindergarten”).”

“It is extremely rare to find a person who has mastered the tricky art form of balancing an ambitious vision for scientific productivity while remaining steadfast in creating time and opportunities for others to ensure the success of those around them. Raphe is this type of leader. Despite the immense demands of overseeing a productive lab at the UW and being the Clinical Director of the Seattle Children’s Autism Center, Raphe’s genuine desire to make time to support us as we pursue and cultivate our own interests and skills is uncompromising. Raphe’s door is always open; he never shies away from a chance to meet over a challenging dataset or over a beer to discuss professional development and life decisions.”

As the Spring quarter comes to an end, we want to give an extra special Thank You to all of our volunteers (aka 499s)!  Each of you are an important part of our team, and we greatly value the work you do. So THANK YOU to each and everyone one of you for your commitment to our team, hard work in our lab, and the generosity of your time.

Are you interested in becoming a volunteer? Find more information on our Volunteers & Internships page.