Clinical Health Psychology Fellowship

The Clinical Health Psychology Fellowship program is offered within the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. It is one of the four fellowships offered under the Medical Psychology Fellowship Program. The Clinical Health Psychology Fellowship program follows the scientist-practitioner model and is designed to prepare fellows for a career in health psychology. 

The Clinical Health Psychology Fellowship is a one year, full-time postdoctoral fellowship with the potential option to extend to a second year.  The fellowship typically recruits 2-3 fellows per year. There are 2 positions available for the 2025-2026 training year.

Our fellowship is funded by the UVA Graduate Medical Education Program, which trains more than 800 residents and fellows in 83 ACGME-accredited specialties, subspecialties, and training programs.

Fellows engage in daily clinical practice to increase their knowledge and understanding of clinical health psychology and how psychological factors influence health and well-being. Fellows receive comprehensive training in the application of psychological principles to the prevention, treatment, and management of physical health conditions. They also receive in-depth experience working with patients who have chronic illnesses, medical conditions, and those seeking behavioral interventions to improve their overall health and well-being.

Fellows engage in a minimum of 20 hours of direct patient care services each week. Clinical experiences typically consist of either one or two specialty inpatient or outpatient rotation(s) and outpatient work in the UVA Behavioral Medicine Center. Within the outpatient Behavioral Medicine Center, the fellow will provide psychological interventions with adults experiencing various psychiatric and medical comorbidities and conduct pre-surgical evaluations.

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

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, 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 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. Research time will vary based on fellow interest and available research opportunities.

Areas of research being conducted by training faculty 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

The current salary for our postdoctoral fellowship is $58,614 for first year fellows and $59,028 for second year fellows.

Benefits include:

• Health insurance
• 11 UVA Health holidays
• 15 days of paid annual leave (in addition to UVA Health holidays)
• Up to 14 days of paid sick leave
• Up to 10 days of professional leave for conferences, trainings, etc.
• ½ day Professional Development time per week
• Additional benefits information available on the UVA GME website

Eligibility requirements for the fellowship include:

1. Completion of APA-accredited doctoral program (PhD/PsyD) in Clinical or Counseling Psychology
2. Completion of an APA-accredited internship
3. Health psychology experience preferred

To apply, 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 2025.

Send completed application materials to:

Heather Bruschwein, PsyD, ABPP

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