Martha Banks facts for kids

Martha E. Banks (born July 1951) is a retired clinical psychologist. She is known for her work on topics like women, race, trauma, and disability. Dr. Banks studies how these different parts of a person's identity connect and affect their experiences. She also works as a research neuropsychologist and computer programmer at ABackans DCP Inc. A neuropsychologist is a scientist who studies how the brain affects behavior.

Dr. Banks helped start a group called the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues. This group later became the Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race. It is part of the American Psychological Association (APA). She was the President of the Society for the Psychology of Women from 2008 to 2009. She also served on important committees for the APA.

About Martha Banks

Martha Banks was born in Washington D.C. in 1951. She grew up in Newport, Rhode Island. Both of her parents went to Brown University. This meant Dr. Banks had different chances for education compared to many other African American girls in the 1960s.

Education and Early Career

Dr. Banks earned her first degree, a Bachelor of Science (B.S.), from Brown University in 1973. She then went to the University of Rhode Island for graduate school. There, she received her Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in 1978. She earned her PhD in clinical psychology in 1980. Her PhD paper was about "Emotions and Music."

From 1983 to 1996, Dr. Banks worked as a psychologist at the Brecksville Veterans Administration Hospital. She also taught at the College of Wooster for a few years. She was there from 1989 to 1991 and again from 2003 to 2005.

Research and Work

Dr. Banks's research and clinical work has focused on women with disabilities. She has studied how these women might be at higher risk for physical and psychological abuse. Some of her studies looked at brain injuries that victims of domestic violence might get.

With a colleague named Rosalie Ackerman, Dr. Banks helped create special tests. One was the Ackerman-Banks Neuropsychological Battery. This was one of the first tests to include results from different ethnic groups. They also developed the Post-Assault Traumatic Brain Injury Interview and Checklist.

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Banks has received many awards for her important work. In 2003, she got the Sue Rosenberg Zalk Award. This award was for her great service to the Society for the Psychology of Women.

In 2008, the APA gave her a special award for her leadership. They recognized her leadership in areas like women and psychology, ethnic minority issues, and rehabilitation psychology. In 2012, she received another award from the APA. This was the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Committee on Women in Psychology. The award noted that she was a "pioneer" in combining ideas about women's rights with issues faced by women with disabilities. It also said she helped psychology understand how gender, race, and disability connect.

Her old university, the University of Rhode Island (URI), also honored her. She received the President's Distinguished Achievement Award in 2010. In 2013, she got the University Diversity Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Books by Martha Banks

Dr. Banks has written and edited several books:

• Banks, M. E., Gover, M. S., Kendall, E., & Marshall, C. A. (Eds.). (2009). Disabilities: Insights from across fields and around the world [3 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. ISBN: 978-0-313-34605-7.
• Banks, M. E., & Kaschak, E. (2003). Women with visible and invisible disabilities: Multiple intersections, multiple issues, multiple therapies. Haworth Press.
• Banks, M. E., Kendall, E., Marshall, C. A., Gover, R. M., & Bornemann, T. (Eds.) (2009). Disabilities. insights from across fields and around the world. Praeger.