Clinical Health Psychology Fellowship

The Clinical Health Psychology Fellowship at the University of Virginia offers a variety of clinical health psychology training opportunities within the UVA Health System and prepares fellows for careers in clinical health psychology. The fellowship is part of the Department of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences.

The fellowship consists of clinical activities, didactics, professional development, research, teaching, and supervision. Clinical experiences consist of either two 6-month or one 12-month specialty rotation(s), as well as outpatient work in the Behavioral Medicine Center.

The Behavioral Medicine Center provides outpatient psychological evaluation and treatment services for a variety of patient populations and presenting concerns. The Center has collaborative relationships with many medical subspecialties within the Health System, which serve as primary referral sources.

The fellowship adheres to the scientist-practitioner model of training using an evidence-based treatment approach with primarily an adult population.

Clinical activities include specialty rotations (two 6-month or one 12-month) and outpatient work in the Behavioral Medicine Center.

Specialty rotations include:
• Bariatric Surgery
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Hematology/Oncology
• Inpatient Behavioral Medicine Consultation/Liaison
• Pediatrics
• Transplant
• Research

Within the outpatient Behavioral Medicine Center, fellows provide psychological interventions with adults experiencing various psychiatric and medical comorbidities. The opportunity to conduct psychological evaluations for bariatric surgery, solid organ transplantation, and functional neurological disorder (nonepileptic spells) is available. Fellows will also gain experience with pre-surgical evaluations on the Bariatric Surgery and Transplant rotations. The Pediatric rotation also offers evaluations for pediatric transplantation and pediatric bladder and bowel dysfunction.

Educational and Professional Development Activities

Fellows will receive at least 2 hours of individual supervision and 1 hour of group supervision per week. Group supervision includes a combination of case supervision, didactics on clinical health psychology topics that integrate current research, and Journal Club. Fellows are expected to present patient cases and journal articles during the year. Fellows also typically receive training and experience in clinical supervision with doctoral-level clinical psychology graduate students.

Additional educational activities:

• Psychiatry Grand Rounds (required)
• Psychiatry Clinical Case Conferences (optional)
• Teaching opportunities with Psychiatry residents (optional)

In addition to these opportunities, the fellow will have a half day per week of protected time for professional development activities. Fellows are expected to take the EPPP within the first 6 months of fellowship and may use this professional development time to prepare for the EPPP. Upon passing the EPPP, the fellow may use the time for research or other professional development activities.

The Program Director also holds a monthly seminar for all psychology postdoctoral fellows across subspecialty areas during the academic year to discuss various topics related to professional development (e.g., negotiating an employment contract, setting up a private practice).

Research Activities

Fellows have the opportunity to participate in research in the course of their fellowship and research time will vary based on fellow interest and available research opportunities.

Areas of research being conducted in the Behavioral Medicine Center include:

• Cardiology
• Cystic fibrosis
• Psychobehavioral factors related to use of diabetes technology
• Organ transplant
• Bariatric surgery outcomes and psychological factors
• Behavioral emergencies in the inpatient medical setting

Please submit the following:

• Brief cover letter – please discuss goals for fellowship as well as clinical and research goals
• Application Form
• Curriculum vitae
• 3 letters of recommendation
• Graduate school transcripts

Application Deadline: Monday, December 9, 2024

Interviews will be conducted virtually in January 2024.

Send completed application materials to:

Heather Bruschwein, PsyD, ABPP

Clinical Health Psychology Training Director
Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences
hab9z@uvahealth.org