Joanna Arch on Disciplined Time Tracking, Grant Writing, and the Blending of Passion and Profession
Release Date: 08/08/2019
Dr. Jackie Persons on Integrating Research into Private Practice and Advancing CBT
Research Matters Podcast
Dr. Jacqueline (Jackie) Persons is a distinguished clinician, researcher, and Clinical Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. She served as president of the Association of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies (ABCT) in 1999 and currently works in private practice at the Oakland Cognitive Behavior Therapy Center. With over 35 years of experience, Dr. Persons is recognized globally for her pioneering work in integrating research into private practice, particularly in the areas of case formulation and measurement-based care. In this insightful conversation, we dive into Dr....
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Patricia Arean, PhD: Effective Strategies for Community Engagement and Digital Innovations in Mental Health Research.
Research Matters Podcast
Dr. Patricia Arean is is the Director of the Division of Services and Intervention Research at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), as well as a clinical researcher and former professor at the University of Washington’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. With over 30 years of experience, Dr. Arean has focused her career on increasing access to mental health services for underserved communities. She has led multiple research initiatives, including the UW Alacrity Center, which aims to redesign psychosocial interventions for underserved populations, and the Creative...
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Tony Biglan, Ph.D., on balancing funding with following your true passions
Research Matters Podcast
Tony Biglan, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist at Oregon Research Institute and Co-Director of the Promise Neighborhood Research Consortium. For the past thirty years, he has conducted research in the development and prevention of child and adolescent problem behavior. He is a former president of the Society for Prevention Research and was a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Prevention.
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Dean McKay, Ph.D., A.B.B.P. on mental health in academia, getting into grad school, authorship, and personal planning
Research Matters Podcast
Dean McKay, Ph.D., A.B.B.P. is Professor of Psychology at Fordham University where he is a member of the clinical psychology doctoral program. His lab, Compulsive, Obsessive, and Anxiety Program (COAP) provides instruction to undergraduate, masters, and doctorate levels. Dr. McKay’s expertise is in anxiety and obsessive-compulsive behavior, with his current focus being on Covid-19 related stress and anxiety.
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Steven C. Hayes, PhD, on controversy, his lab culture, and how political organizing can help you in science
Research Matters Podcast
Dr. Hayes is a Nevada Foundation Professor of Psychology in the Behavior Analysis Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. An author of 46 books and nearly 650 scientific articles, he is especially known for his work on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which is one of the most widely used and researched new methods of psychological intervention in the last 20 years.
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Jessica Borelli, Ph.D., on Work/Family Conflict, Gender Roles, and Intervention Research with Diverse Communities
Research Matters Podcast
Jessica Borelli, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Psychological Science at the University of California, Irvine. She is a clinical psychologist specializing in the field of developmental psychopathology, and her research focuses on the links between close relationships, emotions, health, and development.
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James Kirby, PhD, and Jeffrey Kim, on incorporating physiological data in psychological research
Research Matters Podcast
James Kirby, Ph.D., is a researcher and senior lecturer at the University of Queensland in Australia, who studies the effects of kindness and compassion. Jeff Kim, a graduate student under Dr. Kirby, joins my discussion with Dr. Kirby on measuring and incorporating physiological data into their research. Today’s conversation is focused on measuring heart rate variability.
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Bethany Teachman, PhD, and Jeremy Eberle, on embracing an open-science mindset
Research Matters Podcast
My two guests today, Bethany Teachman, Ph.D. and director of the PACT lab at the University of Virginia, and Jeremy Eberle, a 4th-year graduate student in her lab share the steps they’ve taken to embrace the open-science mindset and open-science practices in their lab.
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Jessica Schleider, PhD, on Open Science and Replicability Practices and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Academia
Research Matters Podcast
Jessica Schleider, PhD, is an assistant professor of clinical psychology at Stony Book University and a graduate of the Clinical Psychology Program at Harvard University. When in graduate school, she learned about open science – not from her courses but from the Twitter-spere and later from The Black Goat Podcast. What she learned was compelling and unsettling and kept her up at night as she thought about the state of scientific research in general and her research in particular.
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Maria Karekla, PhD, on wearables in research and getting a psychophysiology lab up and running
Research Matters Podcast
Dr. Maria Karekla is an assistant professor at the University of Cyprus where she studies anxiety and cravings and specializes in utilizing psychophysiological measurements in her research. I decided to interview her because she has one of the few labs in the world that has done research comparing consumer grade wearable physiological measurement devices to research grade stationary devices.
info_outlineJoanna Arch is an associate professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is also a member of the Cancer Center in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. Her research initially focused on anxiety disorders, but she’s recently added a focus on cancer patients. Being married to an oncologist and having a personal interest in existential issues helped her embrace her initial reservations about entering work on cancer, which can be very emotional and challenging. Once she braved the waters, though, she found increased meaning, drive, and satisfaction in her work.
An avid runner and trained as a classical musician, Joanna understands the power of discipline, and she brings structured discipline to her work day. In today’s episode, you’ll hear how Joanna stays focused and maximizes her time at work, whether it’s with students, in the lab, or writing grants.
Speaking of grants, Joanna’s favorite part of writing grants and papers is -- wait for it -- editing. The hardest part for her is getting started. When it comes to grants, she’s tasted both success and failure, and she understands that rejection is just part of the grant-application game. That said, she’s determined to learn from each failure, each bit of criticism, every line of feedback. She’s also keen on recognizing her own weaknesses and getting help when needed.
In this episode, you’ll learn…
- How things changed for Joanna about a year ago after she received tenure
- How Joanna stays healthy and productive as a faculty member
- About the “zone of genius” and how Joanna monitors her time and plans her week
- How to stay connected to your purpose and avoid burnout
- How to deal with rejection in academia
- Joanna’s grant writing tips
- How Joanna transitioned her career from a focus on treatment of anxiety to including psychological issues unique to cancer patients
Tips from the episode
On structuring and tracking time to increase productivity…
- Use an Excel spreadsheet to track every minute of the workday
- Review tallies at the end of each week
- Brain dump at the end of each week and create a list of what you want to accomplish in the coming week
- Schedule small tasks for when you’re a passenger in transit
- Create writing goals and block/schedule writing time
- Track your mood throughout the day to understand what tasks most light your fire and then plan accordingly
On writing and applying for grants
- Understand that applying for grants is a hyper-competitive space and have realistic expectations about the odds
- Be responsive to feedback
- Don’t give up. Keep hitting.
- When a paper is rejected, write responses (for yourself) to each point made by the reviewer, even if you aren’t going to resubmit to that journal
- Be honest about your weaknesses and get help in those areas
- Break down the writing process into small parts
Links from the episode:
- How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing by Paul J. Silvia
- The National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity
- About Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- Arch Lab
- Joanna’s bio at Colorado.edu
Research Matters Podcast is hosted by Jason Luoma, who can be found on Twitter @jasonluoma or Facebook at: facebook.com/jasonluomaphd. You download the podcast through iTunes, Stitcher, or Spotify.