The American Psychological Foundation has announced the winner of its 2026 Gold Medalist for Impact in Psychology. The winner is UConn School of Medicine’s Sarah Feldstein Ewing, Ph.D.
Feldstein Ewing is being recognized for her impactful, innovative, and transformational work in the field of psychology. As a licensed clinical child and adolescent psychologist, she is an expert on adolescent substance use, and its neural and behavioral mechanisms of change.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled! It is such a delight to receive this award. It is a true honor to be recognized for exploring the intersection between basic brain mechanisms and behavioral treatment outcomes for adolescents,” says Feldstein Ewing of UConn where she serves as professor of psychiatry, vice chair for research, and Health Net Inc. Chair in Alcohol and Substance Abuse at UConn School of Medicine
Feldstein Ewing is a leading researcher who has spent over two decades pioneering the integration of neuroimaging with real-world clinical interventions to improve adolescent behavioral health treatment. With more than 170 peer-reviewed publications, four books, and over 16 years of continuous NIH/NIAAA funding as principal investigator, she has built a groundbreaking translational research program from the ground up. Her work continues to bridge neuroscience and real-world treatment, with a focus on improving outcomes for young people.
“Join us in congratulating Dr. Ewing on receiving this honor,” shared the American Psychological Foundation in its April 2026 announcement.
The American Psychological Foundation CEO Michelle Quist Ryder, Ph.D. also shared in the award letter to Feldstein Ewing: “Congratulations on behalf of the American Psychological Foundation (APF) Board of Trustees and Staff for receiving a 2026 APF Gold Medal Award for Impact in Psychology.”
“Sarah congratulations on this tremendous honor and recognition of your work,” applauds Dr. David C. Steffens, chair of the Department of Psychiatry at UConn School of Medicine.
Feldstein Ewing’s research has long been interested in the intrinsic strengths of adolescents during this unique developmental period and how those strengths can be harnessed to improve adolescent addiction treatment. She is using novel avenues of brain imaging to evaluate how adolescents respond to different elements of behavioral treatment, the most commonly used form of treatment in this age group. Ultimately, she aims to use translational data from the developing brain to help inform and guide treatment outcomes for young people engaged in substance use. Her findings to date suggest that, when they are receiving behavioral treatments, adolescents’ brains respond in totally different ways than adults. She proposes that, in fact adolescents’ brains and behavior are so different that it merits the creation and development of totally new definitions of what is clinically significant substance use behavior in this age group, along with clinical metrics, and avenues to more impactfully treat teen substance use. Her research is looking to evaluate unique, out-of-the-box behavioral interventions, such as the one she has created from her adolescent brain findings called “ADAPT: Adolescent Developmentally Appropriate health Promotion Therapy,” which maximizes the gifts of the adolescent brain to reduce risk and enrich resilience. Using her MRI approaches, she is also using hyperscanning, tandem use of MRI to explore the efficacy of widely used interventions, such as motivational interviewing.
