Norman B. Anderson, Ph.D, is the Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Psychological Association. Founded in 1892, APA is the primary scientific and professional association for psychologists in the United States. Trained as a practitioner and as a scientist, Dr. Norman Anderson has dedicated much of his professional life to studying the relationships between health and behavior, and health and race. His priorities at APA include bringing psychology's broad expertise to healthcare, the public and policy makers, and to expanding the role of psychologists in our nation's healthcare system, the workplace, and education.

Prior to joining APA, Dr. Norman Anderson was Professor of Health and Social Behavior at the Harvard University School of Public Health, where his interests centered on health disparities and mass media approaches to public health. Norman Anderson is widely known as the former Associate Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, and the first Director of the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR). At NIH, he was charged with facilitating behavioral and social sciences research across all of the [then] 24 Institutes and Centers of the National Institutes of Health. Under his purview was behavioral and social research in such areas as cancer, heart disease, mental health, diabetes, aging, and oral health. Appointed by then NIH Director Dr. Harold Varmus in 1995, Dr. Norman Anderson worked closely with the scientific community nationally to quickly establish the Office's long-term goals and to develop strategies for achieving them, resulting in the first OBSSR Strategic Plan. Under his leadership, the Office organized funding initiatives totaling over $90 million in five years. The success of the Office prompted Congress to triple its budget, enabling it to have greater latitude in developing NIH-wide funding activities.

Prior to going to NIH, Dr. Norman Anderson was Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology: Social and Health Sciences at Duke University. There he studied the role of stress in the development of hypertension in African Americans and directed the NIH-funded Exploratory Center for Research on Health Promotion in Older Minorities. He received several awards for his research, including: (1) the 1986 New Investigator Award from the Society of Behavioral Medicine, (2) the 1991 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Health Psychology from the American Psychological Association and (3) a Research Scientist Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Dr. Norman Anderson is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, the Society of Behavioral Medicine, and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, and is a Past-President of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. He is also Past-President of the Board of Directors for filmmaker Steven Spielberg's STARBRIGHT Foundation of Los Angeles. He serves on the Advisory Committee for Public Issues for the Advertising Council, and chairs the National Academy of Science's Panel on the Future of Research on Race, Ethnicity, and Health in Later Life. Norman Anderson is Editor-in-Chief of The Encyclopedia of Health and Behavior (Sage, 2004). In addition, Anderson and his wife, health and fitness writer P. Elizabeth Anderson have co-authored a book for lay audiences entitled, Emotional Longevity: What Really Determines How Long You Live (Viking, 2003).