Dr. Phyllis R. Silverman has joined the board of directors of the Island-based nonprofit Men’s Bereavement Group. A noted researcher in the field of grief and the needs of the bereaved, Dr. Silverman is also recognized for her contributions to the use of mutual help groups.

She recently received the lifetime achievement award of the Association for Death Education and Counselling. She was coprincipal investigator and project manager of the Harvard Child Bereavement Study. She serves as professor emerita for the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston; associate in social welfare for Massachusetts General Hospital, department of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; and scholar-in-residence at Brandeis University’s Women’s Studies Research Center.

Dr. Silverman is a consultant to the Family Bereavement Study and on the board of The Children’s Room, a program for bereaved children and adolescents, in Arlington.