Dr. Lester's Research Background Benefits Psychology Students

Bastyr University psychology faculty member Naomi Lester, PhD, says her career choice as a research health psychologist was only logical. As the daughter of a botanist and geneticist and the sister of an engineer, she learned at an early age to look at things scientifically and systematically and to appreciate the wonders of nature and people.

"Teaching and doing research in health psychology is a natural choice for me," she says.

And, as one of Bastyr's most popular instructors, the appropriateness of her choice is evident. "She is one of the best teachers I've come across," says Betsy Petrie, a second-year student in the psychology program. Many students mirror that respect and appreciation.

The appreciation is reciprocal. "I really like how enthusiastic the students are and how they are really interested in learning things because they want to be here, not necessarily because they have to be," says Dr. Lester. Among the things she likes most about her university job is that, in addition to teaching the subject matter and advising students, she is also "fostering larger skills in the students, like critical thinking."

While Dr. Lester is not teaching, she is conducting research projects, including studies on adaptive and maladaptive methods for coping with chronic pain. She enjoys including information from her research and other people's research in her classes. "With the small class sizes at Bastyr, there is a lot you can do, from talking about research to actually doing research projects-it's not all lecture," she says. "There is the freedom to try innovative teaching methods."

Dr. Lester is known for teaching the five-part research sequence in the psychology program, including Introduction to Statistics, Research Methods, Experimental Psychology, Research Project and Research Presentation. "My role is to teach students the nitty-gritty, including how to design a good study, write a survey, test subjects ethically, gather data, analyze it, how to write it up and present it," she says. Dr. Lester also teaches courses such as Stress and Disease Process; Drugs, Behavior and Health; and Principles of Well-Being.

Dr. Lester feels that one of the strengths of Bastyr's psychology program is that it offers students a strong grounding in basic psychology and research methodology along with many integrative, forward-looking courses not found at other institutions. According to Dr. Lester, "Very few other bachelor's degree programs in psychology include courses such as Healing Myths and Rituals, Holistic Interventions for Addictions, Jungian Psychology, and Buddhist/Taoist Psychology."

As part of the curriculum, students conduct independent research studies, choosing their own projects and gathering their own data. Some of the projects conducted by students have included how meditation and art therapy can help people with chronic illness, how people communicate with health care practitioners, ways to help children eat healthy foods, and the use of mammograms by women in different ethnic groups.

Says Dr. Lester, "This grounding in research helps students to be taken seriously elsewhere. They know what they are talking about, plus they can push the envelope. We give students what I call both the roots and the branches. We provide the "roots"-the strong foundation in research and traditional psychology topics such as social, abnormal and developmental psychology; but also the branches, which involves the integrative, holistic, spiritual aspects of health and well being."

Although Dr. Lester's own "roots" can be found in Wisconsin, she traveled extensively throughout her 20s before earning her PhD at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland and doing her post-doctoral fellowship at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina. She taught at the University of North Florida for three years before moving her family across the country to Washington. She then worked for a year at University of Washington before settling at Bastyr a few years ago. When she's not at Bastyr, Dr. Lester enjoys being outdoors in the great Northwest with her husband and son.

Her advice to students, no matter what their interests? "Get a really good rigorous education that is solid and packed full of core research oriented topics as well as integrative ways of thinking. Think holistically and don't be confined to the state of the world as it is-dream big and go out and change the world."

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