Biography

Robert M. Kaplan, Ph.D. is Fred W. and Pamela K. Wasserman Distinguished Professor of the Department of Health Services at UCLA and Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine.   He is also director of the UCLA/RAND health services training program and PI of the UCLA/RAND CDC Prevention Research Center.  From 1997 to 2004 he was Professor and Chair of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, at the University of California, San Diego. He is a past President of several organizations, including the American Psychological Association Division of Health Psychology,  Section J of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Pacific), the International Society for Quality of Life Research, the Society for Behavioral Medicine, and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research.  He is a Past Chair of the Behavioral Science Council of the American Thoracic Society.  Dr. Kaplan is currently Editor-in-Chief of Health Psychology and is the former Editor-in-Chief of the Annals of Behavioral Medicine. He has served as Associate Editor of the American Psychologist, and Consulting Editor of four other academic journals. Selected additional honors include APA Division of Health Psychology Annual Award for Outstanding Scientific Contribution (For junior scholar 1987 and again for a senior scholar 2001), SDSU Distinguished Research Lecturer, 1988, and Health Net Distinguished Lecturer in 1991, University of California 125 Anniversary Award for Most Distinguished Alumnus, University of California, Riverside, American Psychological Association Distinguished Lecturer, Distinguished Scientific contribution award from the American Association of Medical School Psychologists, National Leadership Award, from the Society of Behavioral Medicine in 2003, and President’s Award for Career Achievement from the International Society for Quality of Life Research in 2004.  In 2006, he received the Distinguished Research Mentor Award from the Society of Behavioral Medicine.  His public service contributions include various NIH, AHRQ and VA grant review groups, and service on the local American Lung Association (ALA) Board of Directors and the regional research committee for the American Heart Association.  He served as a member of both the NHLBI Behavioral Medicine Task Force and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) National Academy of Sciences Committee on Health and Behavior. In addition he served on the expert advisory policy panel for the CDC-NIH Public Action Plan to Prevent Heart Disease and Stroke.  Kaplan currently serves on the National Advisory Committee for the Decade of Behavior. Further, he is the chair of the Cost/Effectiveness Committee for the NHLBI National Emphysema Treatment Trial (NETT). Dr. Kaplan is the author, co-author or editor of more than 18 books and approximately 450 articles or chapters. The ISI includes him in the listing of the most cited authors in the world (defined as above the 99.5th percentile).    In 2005 he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences.