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Home > News and Events > Lectures And Seminars > Matilda White Riley Lecture
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The Matilda White Riley Lecture |
The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
(OBSSR)
is pleased to sponsor this lecture in the behavioral and social sciences named in
honor of Matilda White Riley (1911-2004). In addition to serving as the Associate Director
for Behavioral and Social Research at the
National Institute on Aging,
Dr. Riley provided leadership across the NIH in her role as chairperson of landmark committees regarding health
and behavior. She was co-chair of the joint ADAMHA and NIH Steering Committee for the Institute of Medicine's
Project on Health and Behavior (1979-1982) and chair of the trans-NIH Working Group on Health and Behavior(1982-1991). In these capacities she served as the senior NIH spokesperson on the behavioral and social
sciences, encouraged coordination among NIH Institutes, oversaw the production of numerous reports to the
Congress on behavioral research at the NIH, provided advice to several NIH Directors, and initiated the
behavioral and social sciences seminar series at the NIH. In effect, she laid the groundwork for
and was the precursor to OBSSR.
This award honors an individual whose research has contributed to behavioral and social
scientific knowledge and/or the application of such knowledge relevant to the mission of the
National Institutes of Health. The recipients' research reflects Matilda Riley's commitment
to research characterized by values such as:
- Strong linkages among theory, methods, and research topics/goals;
- Recognition of complexity of and dynamic interplay among processes at multiple levels of explanation (i.e., a biopsychosocial perspective);
- Encouragement of research on behavioral and social factors in physical health and of the application of such knowledge in clinical practice and health policy;
- Advocacy of a life-course perspective, both at the level of individuals and of societies (i.e., development/aging of people and the reciprocal influence of societal processes on development and of people as they develop/age on society);
- Emphasis on the potential for improving the lives of people and society (i.e., research should be significant.);
- Conceptual expansion of “health” beyond biological outcomes (disease and death) to include “effective functioning” (functional health), such as cognitive, affective and social functioning, and quality of life; and
- An optimistic view on the ability of social and behavioral science to develop interventions to improve the lives of people of all ages.
The recipient of the awards delivers a presentation at the National Institutes of Health in
Bethesda, Maryland. OBSSR provides the selected speaker with an honorarium and a suitable
commemorative plaque or sculpture as well as posts the lecture on the OBSSR HomePage.
Matilda White Riley Lecture Archives
- Deborah Olster (Chairperson), OBSSR
- Rebecca Clark, NICHD
- David Chambers, NIMH
- Emmeline Edwards, NCCAM
- Sarah Johnson, OBSSR
- Peter Kaufmann, NHLBI
- William Klein, NCI
- Lisa Onken, NIDA
- John Phillips, NIA
- Linda Weglicki, NINR
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