SETTINGS AND PLACEMENTS  

Each year, additional postdoctoral clinical-research positions are available based upon grant funding. These positions are added to the website as they become available and are announced on the APPIC Postdoc Listserv.

GRADY HEALTH SYSTEM

The Grady Health System, the primary teaching facility of the Emory University School of Medicine, is a Level 1 Trauma Hospital that serves a primarily inner-city, minority, and low income population from metropolitan Atlanta and Fulton and DeKalb Counties . The Grady Health System includes a general hospital (the largest in Georgia and among the largest in the country) and a children’s hospital, as well as multiple outpatient clinics for children and adults. Professional services at Grady Health System are provided under contract with Emory University School of Medicine and Morehouse School of Medicine, so that the hospital is a teaching hospital. Grady is involved in training for all the mental health disciplines; clinical psychology, psychiatry, social work, nursing, occupational and recreational therapy. Thus, there are many opportunities to engage in interdisciplinary seminars and treatment programs. Emory University is located approximately 15 minutes driving time from Grady Health System. The psychology faculty includes 7 full-time and 2 part-time licensed clinical psychologists. In addition, there is an American Psychological Association accredited internship training program based at Grady Health System, which received initial accreditation in 1980, and was fully re-accredited in 1986, 1991, 1996, and 2001. The internship program recently was expanded to include a position at the Center for Rehabilitation Medicine.

Adults with Serious Psychiatric Disorders. The following half-time positions can be combined with other half-time positions at Grady Health System, for the equivalent of one full-time position. There will be the equivalent of 1-2 full-time positions devoted to work with adults with serious psychiatric disorders. Half-time primarily clinical positions are available in the Psychiatric Evaluation and Brief Treatment outpatient unit and the Adult Day Treatment Psychosocial Rehabilitation Program. There is a half-time clinical-research position focused on examining psychiatric versus psychosocial rehabilitation with seriously mentally ill young adults. Responsibilities for the positions devoted to work with individuals with serious mental illness include assessments, interventions, crisis management, consultation, clinical-research, clinical administration, supervision and teaching, and program development and evaluation. Research is ongoing in a number of areas including: suicide, intimate partner violence, schizophrenia and substance abuse, psychosocial rehabilitation-program evaluation, interactions between PTSD and serious mental illnesses, efficacy of short-term inpatient and outpatient/community interventions, and neuropsychological correlates of psychiatric conditions.

Women’s Health . Pending funding, this one-year, full-time position includes a half-time clinical-research position in the Avon Breast Cancer Center (pending funding). The other 50% time entails involvement on a clinical-research project focused on a group intervention for preventing suicidal behavior in abused, African American women. Responsibilities for the Avon Breast Cancer Center include evaluations; individual, group, and family therapy; and clinical-research activities. The clinical-research position entails serving as a clinical coordinator for projects funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (funding confirmed). In this latter role, the postdoctoral fellow is a member of an interdisciplinary research team and is expected to take a leadership role in the research efforts of the team (e.g., data analysis, manuscript preparation, etc). The person will also be involved in the conduct of group, individual, and family interventions for abused, suicidal African American women. This person will also aid in the recruitment of study participants, which includes community outreach efforts.

• Schizophrenia Clinical Research. This one-year, half or full-time position will allow the postdoctoral fellow who is interested in clinical research to serve as a Project Coordinator for a study involving patients with schizophrenia and their family members. There are likely two positions associated with this project. Responsibilities of the fellow will include: coordination of participant recruitment, administration of research assessments, supervision of research assistants, data entry and data set management, and collaboration on manuscript preparation. The fellow will also be responsible for co-leading inpatient groups for persons with serious and persistent mental illness.
• Clinical Child Psychology/Pediatric Psychology. One or two, one year positions, pending funding, will be available working with children and their families. Each half-time position can be combined with any other half-time position. There will be two half-time positions (or one full time position) based in the community sponsored through the Georgia Parent Support Network. These postdoctoral fellows will be housed at the Fulton County Family Resource Center , where children and adolescents of all ages temporarily stay when they are initially placed in the custody of Child Protective Services. The responsibilities for this position include the conduct of cognitive, academic, social-emotional, and personality testing (2-4 per months), short-term individual or family therapy, crisis/trauma counseling, and diagnostic evaluations on an as-needed basis. The fellow may also attend interdisciplinary team meetings and consult with mental health professionals as needed to assist with proper child placement and treatment decisions. In addition, there may be a half-time position working in the Teen Services Clinic providing reproductive/sexual health services for adolescent females and males, including assessments, crisis intervention, and therapy (individual, group, family). The fellow at this placement will work on an interdisciplinary medical team and will be a primary contact person for the psychosocial needs of the teens. Depending on the availability of funding for these clinical child psychology/pediatric psychology positions at Grady, the placement(s) will be combined to make full-time positions.

CHILDREN’S HEALTHCARE OF ATLANTA (CHOA)

• With 430 licensed beds in two hospitals (Egleston and Scottish Rite), more than 15,500 inpatient visits annually, and an extensive and comprehensive interdisciplinary outpatient program (6 immediate care centers, 5 primary care centers, other facilities providing specialty care), CHOA is one of the largest pediatric healthcare systems in the country. CHOA is recognized for excellence in cancer treatment, cardiology, transplant services, etc. and is ranked as top ten children’s hospital in America .
• Pediatric Psychology - Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Four full-time pediatric psychology postdoctoral fellowship positions include a specialty in Hematology/Oncology at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s two hospital campuses at Egleston and Scottish Rite. These positions provide inpatient and outpatient services to children and adolescents receiving treatment for cancer and blood disorders (hemophilia, sickle cell). Clinical responsibilities include consultation with interdisciplinary teams or single disciplines; individual, group, and family therapy; and psychological and neuropsychological evaluations.

Maternal Substance Abuse (MSA) and Child Development Project

This program combines the resources at two sites, the MSA laboratory in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Fetal Alcohol Center at the Marcus Institute, which is a clinical site serving developmentally disabled children that is affiliated with the Department of Pediatrics. The MSA project carries out longitudinal research on several cohorts of children, adolescents, and young adults prenatally exposed to alcohol, cocaine and tobacco and, through a contract with the Department of Human Resources in Georgia , is involved in a range of prevention activities focusing on the impact of maternal substance abuse and secondary disabilities affecting offspring. The Fetal Alcohol Center provides diagnostic and intervention services to children exposed to alcohol and other drugs and their families and carries out clinic research within in this setting. The postdoctoral fellow, therefore, has the opportunity to be involved in a wide range of activities and collaborations with other scientists and practitioners. At the

Marcus Institute, fellows’ clinical activities include participation in interdisciplinary diagnostic evaluations, individual evaluations, and therapy with children and families. At the MSA laboratory, fellows participate in longitudinal research studies, both through research activities and direct contact with research participants. Prevention activities include the design and implementation of workshops and teaching modules, as well as outcome research. Fellows may design and carry out their own independent research or prevention activities as well.

EMORY UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF REHABILITATION MEDICINE

The Division of Neuropsychology and Behavioral Health is an integral part of the multidisciplinary Department of Rehabilitation Medicine in the Emory University Medical School . Housed in the Center for Rehabilitation Medicine on the Emory Medical School campus, the Division provides neuropsychological services to a 56-bed inpatient adult rehabilitation hospital with dedicated stroke, brain injury, spinal cord, orthopedic, day hospital, and outpatient programs. Consults are also received from various departments within the Medical School including Rehabilitation Medicine, Neurology, the Emory Epilepsy Center , Psychiatry, Neurosurgery, and Cardiac Surgery. Services include neuropsychological assessment, cognitive rehabilitation, individual psychotherapy, behavioral health interventions (e.g., biofeedback for pain disorders), and amobarbital testing and corticol mapping in seizure surgery candidates. Faculty provide consultation to interdisciplinary teams on cognitive and behavioral disorders and play a vital role in developing rehabilitation programs for persons recovering from stroke, traumatic brain injury, tumor surgery, and other conditions affecting the central nervous system. Neuropsychology faculty also maintain an active research program and serve as project directors or consultants on a number of federal grants.

Neuropsychology. The postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology meets International Neuropsychological Society/American Psychological Association Division 40 training guidelines. The program has been reviewed and approved by the Association for Postdoctoral Programs in Clinical Neuropsychology (APPCN). Neuropsychology fellows only participate in the Emory University School of Medicine Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in Professional Psychology for one year.

The fellowship provides two years of intensive training and supervised clinical experience in neuropsychological diagnosis, cognitive rehabilitation, and team consultation. Neuropsychological assessments incorporate both quantitative and qualitative approaches to testing and are focused on the diagnosis of cognitive syndromes, the specification of functional strengths and weaknesses, and the development of detailed and practical recommendations for patient rehabilitation. The approach to cognitive rehabilitation emphasizes the enhancement of real world performance using compensatory aids and strategies. Fellows conduct neuropsychological examinations (including Wada testing and corticol mapping assessments), provide feedback to patients and family members, provide consultation to rehabilitation teams, develop and carry out cognitive rehabilitation programs, and acquire supervisory skills as they work with practicum students and technicians. Optional supervised psychotherapy experiences also are available.

In addition to receiving individual supervision, fellows participate in a variety of conferences and seminars including Rehabilitation Medicine, Neurology, and Psychiatry Grady Rounds; and a weekly Neuropsychology Case Seminar. Fellows also attend weekly brain dissections in the Neuropathology Department of the Emory Medical School . Fellows are involved in research and are expected to develop a research idea by the end of the first year and to conduct a study during the second year. Fellows are provided with supervised grant writing experience.

 

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