The International Center for Responsible Gaming Monday announced that Dr. Rory A. Pfund has been selected for the 2024 ICRG Scientific Achievement Award. The award recognizes Pfund’s outstanding contributions to gambling studies and his impact on advancing research in gambling disorder and responsible gambling.
The award will be presented October 7 at the ICRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction in Las Vegas.
“We are honored to present Dr. Rory Pfund with the 2024 Scientific Achievement Award,” said ICRG President Arthur Paikowsky in a statement. “His groundbreaking research has not only contributed to our understanding of gambling disorder but has also laid the foundation for future advancements in the treatment and prevention of addiction. We look forward to seeing how his work will continue to shape the field.”
Pfund received his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Memphis in 2020, where he is a research assistant professor. He also works at the Tennessee Institute for Gambling Education & Research.
Pfund has authored over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, many of which focus on the treatment and prevention of gambling disorder. According to an ICRG statement, his work has set “new standards in the field by applying cutting-edge meta-analytic methodologies to evaluate the efficacy of psychological treatments for gambling harm.”
Pfund also has developed an open-access meta-analytic database for the larger Metapsy project. The database includes data on psychological treatments for mental health conditions worldwide, with gambling disorder as the first and only addiction disorder currently represented.
According to the ICRG, Pfund’s research has been instrumental in achieving the official recognition of cognitive-behavioral therapy for gambling disorder as an empirically supported treatment by the American Psychological Association’s Society of Clinical Psychology. The gambling disorder had not been included on the SCP’s treatment list since its designation as an addiction in 2013.
In addition to his research, Pfund is leading a new three-year study funded by the ICRG to develop a web-based intervention to prevent gambling problems among college students in Tennessee.
