Colorado State Names Renowned Medical Researcher the College of Natural Sciences’ Honor Alumnus Award Winner

Note to Editors: A print-quality photograph of Margaret Chesney is available on request.

Colorado State University will honor Margaret A. Chesney, a world leader in AIDS research and prevention studies, as the College of Natural Sciences’ 2004 Honor Alumnus Award winner at the Colorado State University Alumni Association’s annual Distinguished Alumni Awards dinner on May 7.

Chesney, who graduated from Colorado State in 1975 with a doctorate in counseling psychology, is being honored for her professional success and in recognition of her lasting dedication to Colorado State.

Chesney currently serves as the first deputy director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the lead federal agency in the support of scientific research on complementary and alternative medical healing practices, educating and training researchers and in the dissemination of research findings to the public and health professionals. She also is professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of California School of Medicine-San Francisco.

Chesney previously served as co-director of the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, associate director of the UCSF California AIDS Research Center and director of the Behavioral Science and Epidemiology Core of the UCSF/GIVI Center for AIDS Research.  

"The education Chesney received at Colorado State was the foundation for a distinguished career that, in turn, serves as a model for our students to emulate," said Rick Miranda, dean of the College of Natural Sciences.

Throughout her career, Chesney has designed and conducted original research on the relationship between behavior and chronic illness. She also has worked on the development and evaluation of psychosocial and behavioral interventions for health promotion, illness prevention and treatment.

Among many accolades, Chesney received the Annual Award for Outstanding Contributions to the American Psychological Association Division of Health Psychology in 1982 and 1986 and the President’s Award from the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. She is the recipient of several awards and honors including the Charles C. Shepard Science Award from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and is a senior fellow for the Advancement of Health. Chesney is a past president of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research and a former president of the American Psychosomatic Society.  

Chesney is author or co-author of more than 240 scholarly research papers and publications. She is associate editor of Psychology, Health and Medicine and serves on a number of editorial boards, including Psychosomatic Medicine, the British Journal of Health Psychology and the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

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