Philip Cushman Research and Educational Fund

Philip Cushman, a moral and political luminary in the field of psychology, died on August 22, 2022, the victim of a hit-and-run accident.

A beloved teacher, scholar, and clinician, Phil is remembered for his听rich analysis of how the self has been conceptualized in the field of psychology, along with his historical and critical exploration of the moral and political horizons of psychotherapy.

With the establishment of this endowed Fund, created to honor Phil and foster his moral imagination for the field of psychology, we will continue this critically important work for generations to come.

About the Fund

Through Philip Cushman鈥檚 teaching, research, mentorship, and practice, he called for a rigorous interrogation of the relationship between our configurations of self and the socioeconomic and political realities which they frequently reflect and reinforce. He called for psychology to develop the capacity to more closely consider fundamental human questions of justice and morality in its descriptions of human identity and its treatments for psychological suffering. Phil鈥檚 passion for teaching had everything to do with his belief that future generations must receive the type of investment, care, and challenge which would enable them to rise above being 鈥渕aintainers of the status quo.鈥 For good to be done in this world, particularly through the field of psychology, we must be engaged in a multigenerational project that upsets the complacency of and complicity of this helping profession and calls it to a deeper and greater standard.听

2024 Student Fellows

As a scholar who values theoretical, quantitative, and qualitative research rooted in lived experiences, I believe in a pluralistic approach to research methods and a commitment to community-based participatory action...
Sophia Shieh, Duquesne University, PhD (2029)

Sophia Shieh
Sophia Shieh
2024 Philip Cushman Scholarship Recipient
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Sophia Shieh

Sophia Shieh

2024 Philip Cushman Scholarship Recipient

Sophia is currently pursuing a PhD in clinical psychology at Duquesne University, with a focus on existential-phenomenological and psychoanalytic approaches to therapy. She holds a BA in Applied Psychology and Human Development, with minors in Philosophy, Medical Humanities and Culture, and Leadership in Community Settings from md传媒国产剧 College. Additionally, she earned a Master鈥檚 in Education and Developmental Psychology from the University of Oxford.

Sophia has conducted research on veterans' health and trauma through a National Science Foundation internship, worked with patients experiencing psychosis and severe mental illness (SMI), and contributed to community reintegration projects with peer specialists at McLean Hospital. She also worked at an NCTSN-funded child trauma center at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, where she focused on mental health policy and trauma-informed program evaluation, implementation, and training across DCFS agencies, child welfare, juvenile justice, and family court systems using an anti-racist/anti-oppressive framework. Her clinical work emphasizes trauma-informed care and the socio-political contexts underlying the human psyche and therapeutic encounters.


Lydia Li
Lydia Li
2024 Philip Cushman Scholarship Recipient
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Lydia Li

Lydia Li

2024 Philip Cushman Scholarship Recipient

Lydia Li serves as a mental health counselor at Clinical Alliance Services. She has experience in college counseling and substance use disorder settings. She earned her master鈥檚 degree in Mental Health Counseling and Behavioral Medicine at the md传媒国产剧 University School of Medicine, and her bachelor鈥檚 degree in Philosophy and History of Mathematics and Science from St. John鈥檚 College. Her current academic interests lie in the intersection between phenomenological philosophy and psychotherapy.听

Lydia's research involves Phenomenological Therapy as a counseling theory by delving into the clinical implications of Merleau-Ponty鈥檚听Phenomenology of Perception. She conceptualizes the root of pathology in mental health conditions as the separation between the self and others, while one is inextricably linked to others, as well as the severance between the mind and the body, while one is consciousness embodied.听From a phenomenological perspective, the goal of psychotherapy is to help the client reunite the self with others and restore the connection between body and consciousness. Her recent presentation also outlines the treatment methodology of Phenomenological Therapy.

The spirit of this research is akin to Philip Cushman's impactful legacy by being interdisciplinary, drawing from Merleau-Ponty鈥檚 phenomenology and applying its profound implications to therapy...
Lydia Li, Clinical Alliance Services
My passion for integrating the humanities into clinical psychology aligns with Philip Cushman鈥檚 belief that future generations must be nurtured, challenged, and invested in, enabling them to rise above being mere 鈥渕aintainers of the status quo"...
Wenqing (Shelly) Xue, md传媒国产剧 College '25

Wenqing (Shelly) Xue
Wenqing (Shelly) Xue
2024 Philip Cushman Scholarship Recipient
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Wenqing (Shelly) Xue

Wenqing (Shelly) Xue

2024 Philip Cushman Scholarship Recipient

Wenqing Xue is currently enrolled as an undergraduate student at md传媒国产剧 College, studying Applied Psychology & Human Development with a double major in Philosophy. Before coming to the U.S., she was born and raised in Qingdao, China. She works as a research assistant at the Center for Psychological Humanities and Ethics, and has done research in the Laboratory听for Affective and Translational Neuroscience at听McLean Hospital and the Affirm Lab at md传媒国产剧 College. Interested in clinical practice, she also interned at non-profits听in community settings. With a passion for the intersection of humanities and science in the area of mental health, Wenqing plans on pursuing a degree in Counseling Psychology after graduation to become a practicing therapist.

In her presentation, In Between the Possible and Impossible: A Media Analysis, she examines Kierkegaard's听definition of anxiety as 鈥渇reedom's actuality as the possibility of possibility鈥 鈥 in contemplation over selfhood, the unchangeable historical facets of human existence create tension with an autonomous imagination for possibilities allowed by inner self-consciousness. In media illustration, the story of Lee Ji-an in听My Mister听and Jang Geu-rae in听Misaeng (Incomplete Life)听manifests the听tension between the possible and the impossible听respectively in personal and professional life. Drawing from Kieregaard鈥檚 existential philosophy to understand the progressing trajectory of the two persons as they navigate through major life challenges, this poster manages to entangle what is in between the 鈥渄izziness of freedom鈥 and the despair of necessity:听a hopeful, concrete ground.

2024 Philip听Cushman听Lecture

Orna Guralnik: Love and Ideology
Orna Guralnik: Love and Ideology
October 16, 2024
7:00-8:30pm
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Orna Guralnik: Love and Ideology

Orna Guralnik: Love and Ideology

October 16, 2024

7:00-8:30pm

Additional Information

In honor of Phil鈥檚 memory, the members of the Cushman family established the Philip Cushman Research and Educational Fund. Housed in the Center for Psychological Humanities and Ethics at md传媒国产剧 College, the Fund fosters the work to which Phil dedicated his life. Aiming at significant impact upon clinical training programs, academic departments, and the formation of a next generation of clinicians, the Fund supports academic scholarship and develops offerings which examine the moral, socioeconomic, and political questions at play within the field of psychology.

The goal of the Fund is to carry forward Phil鈥檚 commitment to theoretical, interdisciplinary, and moral inquiry through public facing offerings and student-oriented training programs. Several examples include the Center hosting an annual Philip Cushman Lecture, offering public lectures and workshops engaging areas of inquiry aligned with Phil鈥檚 aims, supporting students on an interdisciplinary research team dedicated to scholarship kindred to Phil鈥檚 work, and funding the dissemination of students鈥 research at conferences which are impactful upon the field of psychology. We anticipate these activities and offerings will reach a minimum of 8,000 students per year, carrying forward the concerns that Phil explored in his scholarship, teaching, and practice.