Alex Pieterse’s research and clinical work revolve around the fact that the experience of racism leaves a psychological impact. This fact, however established it is today, has not always been considered as such. In 2012, when Pieterse published a statistical review in the Journal of Counseling Psychology on the mental health-related outcomes associated with racism, there was little empirical examination on the subject. “While there was a lot known about this phenomenon,” he says, “there weren't many quantitative examinations.”

Pieterse was able to demonstrate a positive correlation between experiencing racism and psychological distress, a measure made from a composite score of depression and anxiety, as well as a decline in psychological well-being. “There’s still pushback,” he says, but since he published that study, psychologists have also started to look at experiences of racism as a type of psychological trauma. “I think a more widespread appreciation of that phenomenon is emerging,” Pieterse says.

A licensed clinical psychologist and associate professor, Pieterse received a Ph.D. from Teachers College at Columbia University, where he also focused on anti-racism advocacy and the impact of self-awareness on the psychotherapy process. More recently, his research has turned toward methods for addressing racial trauma in clinical supervision. Pieterse and his colleagues developed the Anti-Racism Behavioral Inventory (ARBI) in order to assess the efficacy of anti-racism trainings in counseling and counseling psychology programs in the United States.

Pieterse has also maintained a psychotherapy practice alongside his research. “My identity as a clinician continues to be an important part of how I see myself, even as an academic, and continues to inform the types of questions I want to ask as a scholar,” he says. As he prepares to join the Lynch School in January 2022, he looks forward to leading a research center focused on understanding and ameliorating racial trauma. This center will build on the work of the Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture (ISPRC), which was directed for two decades by Augustus Long Professor Janet Helms until her retirement this spring. Pieterse’s own mentor and colleague, the emeritus Teachers College professor Robert Carter, was Helms’s former advisee. “It’s humbling to be able to build on the work of a scholar like Janet,” Pieterse says. “It feels like carrying on a legacy.”

He is also looking forward to hosting the ISPRC’s well-known annual conference, the Diversity Challenge, which attracts individuals from disciplines outside psychology who are asking important questions about race from different perspectives. He cites public health, sociology, and education as fields he’s excited to keep including in this growing conversation.