Spurlock Congressional Fellow Selected

Rhonda Mattox, M.D., has been selected as APA’s 2013 Jeanne Spurlock Congressional Fellow. Mattox is the medical director for United Family Services in Little Rock, Ark. She completed a psychiatry residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She was also a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a National Institute of Mental Health Services Research Fellow.

While at the University of Arkansas, Mattox studied the portrayals of mental illness by clergy in media and worked with writers and executive producers of media entertainment organizations to integrate accurate portrayals of mental health into story lines of popular sitcoms. She has a particular interest in the impact of media violence on children and the accurate portrayal of mental health in media.

Mattox will begin her fellowship on Capitol Hill this spring as a Health Policy Fellow in the office of Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), who is the dean of the House of Representatives and serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as its six subcommittees. ■