Lequisha Turner, a predoctoral psychology intern at the Munroe-Meyer Institute, has been selected to sit on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Committee on Improving the Health and Wellbeing of Children and Youth through Health Care System Transformation.
The committee will conduct a consensus study to examine promising mechanisms and levers for innovations that can be implemented in the health care system to improve the health and wellbeing of children and youth.
Turner was selected to the committee following a competitive process, as the National Academies sought experts in the various categories of scientific endeavor, balanced viewpoints and a diversity of demographics, backgrounds and perspectives.
Keith Allen, PhD, director of the MMI Department of Psychology, nominated Turner for the committee position.
“We are extremely proud of her selection,” Dr. Allen said. “We know that her contributions will be invaluable. We also are pleased because she has elected to stay at MMI next year and do a fellowship in psychology.”
Turner is a predoctoral intern at the UMMC Munroe Meyer Institute Department of Psychology and a faculty member in the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Grace Abbott School of Social Work. She specifically works with children, adolescents and families from historically underserved communities. She has provided behavioral health care in a federally qualified health center, a school-based health clinic and in multiple integrated primary care locations. She also is a member of the American Psychological Association’s Division 17 Society of Counseling Psychology and Division 45 Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race. Turner obtained both her BA and MSW from UNO and is completing her PhD in educational psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“I am honored and excited to serve on the committee,” Turner said. “My goal is to confront health care inequities and promote holistic wellbeing for future generations.”