The Vestermark Psychiatry Educator Award recognizes excellence, leadership, and creativity in the field of psychiatric education and is given annually to a psychiatric educator for outstanding contributions to the education and development of psychiatrists. The award was established in 1969 in memory of Seymour Vestermark, M.D., chief of the National Institute of Mental Health Training Branch from 1948 to 1959 and an authority in the field of professional mental health education. The award concentrates on the field of psychiatric education in its broadest context, with special emphasis on preparation of teachers, use of new educational tools, and improved teaching techniques in the field of mental health.
2023 Award Recipient

Dr. Laura Roberts serves as Chairman and the Katharine Dexter McCormick and Stanley McCormick Memorial Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Academic Medicine and has served as Editor-in-Chief, Books for the APA since 2016. She is a physician scientist and an internationally recognized scholar in bioethics, psychiatry, medicine, and medical education. She has written hundreds of peer-reviewed articles and other scholarly works and has written or edited many books on professionalism.
Previous Award Recipients
- 2022: No Award Given
- 2021: No Award Given
- 2020: Jeffrey M. Lyness, M.D.
- 2018: Alan Kuo-Hin Luoie, M.D.
"Why Artificial Intelligence and Computational Neuroscience Should Be Taught to Psychiatry Residents" - 2017: Sandra Sexson, M.D.
"Promoting Physician Competence Across the Lifespan: Targeted Lifelong Learning and Continuous Practice Assessment and Improvement" - 2016: Robert E. Hales, M.D. & John H. Coverdale, M.D.
"Psychiatric Faculty Development: Challenges for the 21st Century" - 2015: Geraldine S. Fox, M.D., M.H.P.E
"Stories that Stick: Teaching From the Heart Using Personal Narrative Stimulus Video" (given at IPS) - 2014: Carol A. Bernstein, M.D.
"Leading Change Through Education and Mentorship"