Martin S. Wallach Award

Martin Wallach was a graduate student in the University of North Carolina Clinical Psychology Training Program. There he kept his Hodgkin’s disease a secret until it was revealed for the UNC faculty by a routine Veterans Administration training site physical examination. Martin Wallach completed his Ph.D. training and joined the University of North Carolina Department of Psychiatry faculty, where he displayed courage and a tenacious ability to work toward his goals, despite the limitations of his disease.

Following Dr. Wallach’s death on May 27, 1965, Mrs. Paula Wallach initiated the establishment of a memorial fund in honor of her husband. Dr. Mary Clarke—in conjunction with Drs. Arthur Prang, Hans Strupp, and Earl Baughman—worked with Mrs. Wallach toward defining appropriate uses for the memorial fund, which came to be defined in the Trust Agreement. This Trust, among other things, established the yearly award for an outstanding clinical psychology student on the UNC campus and an intern at  North Carolina Memorial Hospital.

Today, it is now referred to as the UNC School of Medicine Clinical Psychology Internship.

The following description is an interpretation of what Dr. Wallach strived for in his professional activities and training of clinical psychologists.

The Wallach Award intern displays significant progress toward excellence as a scientist-practitioner. This includes an appreciation of the empirical basis of psychological work (including diagnosis, treatment, and consultation) in the intern’s chosen area of clinical practice; demonstrated strengths in written and oral expression; and high ethical standards. Additionally, the awardee demonstrates a thoughtful style, conscientiousness, genuine care and respect for clients and colleagues, and advocacy of the needs of underserved populations, which characterized Dr. Martin Wallach.