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On Site with a
Most-Cited Researcher
By Robert A. Steer, EdD, as told to Mary Ann Littell

Robert A. Steer, EdD, professor of psychiatry, UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine.

As a psychologist with expertise in computers and statistics, I have been involved in numerous research projects throughout my career - so many, in fact, that I now find myself unexpectedly listed among the most highly cited researchers in the world. This designation, which is given by the Institute for Scientific Information, means that "the individual is among the 250 most cited researchers for their published articles within a specific time period. Citation is a direct measure of influence on the literature of a subject."

As a professor of psychiatry at the UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine (SOM), my primary responsibility involves helping clinicians design and conduct research projects. I have collaborated with many researchers about a variety of topics, including depression, substance abuse, suicide ideation, alcoholism, child sexual abuse, geriatric issues, headaches, and pain. My major interests include the application of computers to the evaluation and treatment of psychopathology in psychiatric patients and the development of psychological and psychiatric scales to improve diagnosis and treatment.

I like to say that I work with geniuses: the clinicians who generate the great ideas for research studies. They are out front, while I work behind the scenes. Because of my statistical skills and experience with data management, I help them translate their ideas into operational hypotheses that can be tested. The researchers are the ones who get the grants, and I provide them with the tools to do their work.

My interest in computer technology goes all the way back to my college days. I first began working with computers in 1961, as an undergraduate at Haverford College. Back then, faculty and students were just starting to get access to large mainframe computers, but few people knew how to use them. I was fascinated by these computers and spent a lot of time learning how to use them. Because I was majoring in psychology, I wondered, 'How do I tie these two things together?'

As a graduate student at Columbia University's Teachers College, where I earned my doctorate in counseling psychology, I was offered a job as a research assistant because of my computer skills. The chair of the counseling department, Donald E. Super, PhD, needed someone to help him with the statistical analyses of the data from his famous Career Pattern Study. The job was a perfect fit for me and gave me a chance to hone my computer skills even more. Eventually, I completed my counseling psychology internship at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Coatesville, PA, and my doctoral dissertation was about retirement satisfaction among educators. I was starting to see a definite connection between computers and technology.

In 1973, I became Chief of Addictive Research and Evaluation at the West Philadelphia Community Mental Health Consortium and was again offered the position because of my statistical expertise as well as my knowledge of psychology. When I first met the counselors who worked there, I noticed that most of them seemed very dejected. They were also questioning whether their work with heroin addicts had any lasting effects. Counselors who work with chronically mentally ill or substance abuse patients often feel that their efforts are futile because the patients keep being re-admitted for the same problems. Today, the phenomenon I observed would be called professional "burn-out."

I wanted to develop a project to help the counselors, and my medical director asked me to contact Aaron T. Beck, MD, a psychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Beck sent me one of his psychiatric residents, A. John Rush, MD, who helped me conduct group counseling sessions with the staff. My introduction to Tim Beck turned out to be a pivotal point in my career, and we have now been collaborating on research projects for more than 31 years. Tim was a world-renowned psychiatrist back then, but I had never heard of him. Over the years, he has developed a number of instruments for assessing mental illness, such as the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, etc. In 1988, Tim became an adjunct professor of psychiatry at SOM, and we began adapting his scales for administration, scoring, and interpretation by desktop computers. He has actively participated in a variety of different research projects, not only with me, but with other SOM faculty members and psychiatric residents.

According to surveys, the Beck Depression Inventory is the most frequently used psychological test in the world, and the other Beck scales are also widely used. I have co-authored the majority of the manuals for Tim's scales and published numerous articles about them. Many of these articles have also involved other faculty members from SOM's Department of Psychiatry, such as David Rissmiller, DO, the acting chair, and Geetha Kumar, MD, the vice-chair. Tim and I are continuing to revise and refine his instruments for use in a variety of different areas. The tests have been adapted for geriatric, pediatric and HIV patients. In response to requests from HMOs to construct an instrument that can be used to screen for depression in medical outpatients, the Beck Depression Inventory-FastScreen for Medical Patients was developed. Because the Beck scales are so widely used, it's no wonder that I am so frequently cited!

I was hired at SOM in 1984 as a "bridge scientist"- to help clinicians develop their research projects. I currently teach courses in psychological testing and psychometrics, which is the psychological science of measuring cognitive or mental phenomena, such as personality or intelligence. I also help psychiatric residents and medical students with various research projects. At work, I speak computerese, statistics, the jargon of the American Psychological Association's Manual of Style, and even English (sometimes).

In addition to my position in the Department of Psychiatry, I am an adjunct professor in SOM's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology because of my work in helping Theresa Scholl, PhD, with her studies about adolescent pregnancy. For a number of years, I have collaborated with Esther Deblinger, PhD, the Clinical Director of SOM's New Jersey CARES Institute in Stratford, and she has recently received a major grant to study the effects of short- and long-term cognitive therapy vs. short- and long-term exposure therapy for the treatment of sexually abused children. I also have co-authored studies with SOM Dean R. Michael Gallagher, DO, and Loretta Mueller, DO, about cluster headaches in men and migraines in women.

Since 1992, I have represented SOM on the Academic Information Technology Advisory Committee (AcITAC) and have twice served as its chair; this is the Committee that is responsible for recommending the types of new educational, research, and clinical technologies, such as videoconferencing and distant-learning applications, that might benefit all of the UMDNJ schools. Finally, I have also had the privilege of being the chair of the Camden/Stratford Campus Committee on Research Integrity since 1990.