MIRECC / CoE

V22 MIRECC Fellowship

VA Advanced Fellowship Program in Psychosis and Major Mental Illness for Physicians and Psychologists

Desert Pacific (VISN 22) Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC)

The Desert Pacific MIRECC has two related fellowship programs, one based at the San Diego VA and one based at VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare Center. These programs are recruiting physicians and psychologists (or other associated health fellows) for a 2 year fellowship program. The primary goal of these fellowship programs is to train physicians and psychologists to become leading clinical researchers in psychosis and other major mental illnesses. Over the course of the two-year program, fellows are trained in academic, clinical, and health systems research, advanced clinical care service delivery, and program administration in an interdisciplinary setting. The fellowship combines individual mentored research and clinical training with state-of-the-art educational experiences. A special emphasis of the fellowship program at both sites is to train fellows to conduct translational research that brings basic science to clinical practice. Trainees will spend 75% of their time on a research project and research training that focuses on psychosisor major mental illness and 25% in a VA clinical program that supports the Fellow’s training goals.

The opportunities for training will primarily reside in the research, clinical, and educational programs at each of the sites. In addition to the resources at the “home” site, fellows can also avail themselves of the general resources of the Desert Pacific MIRECC and seek out training opportunities at any of the MIRECC-affiliated locations. The Desert Pacific MIRECC research programs are internationally recognized in a broad range of research areas including cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging electrophysiology, neuropsychology, animal models, geriatric psychiatry, psychosocial interventions, cognitive remediation, clinical psychopharmacology, health services, and implementation science. The Co-Directors and the MIRECC faculty have a strong commitment to translational research that links basic science to clinical research and clinical research to services research.

Eligible physicians must have completed ACGME-accredited training in psychiatry or related specialty, be board eligible or board certified, and have an active, unrestricted U.S. license to practice. International medical graduates must also have a current visa and an ECFMG certificate that is valid indefinitely. Applicants on a J-1 visa must also have current ECFMG sponsorship. Eligible psychologists (or associated clinicians) must be U.S. citizens. They must have graduated from an American Psychological Association (APA) accredited doctoral program in clinical or counseling psychology. Completion of an APA accredited internship in clinical or counseling psychology also is required for psychologists.

MIRECC faculty members (and their research interests) include the following:

Los Angeles site: Amy N. Cohen, Ph.D. (health services, family interventions), Shirley Glynn, Ph.D.(family interventions, psychosocial treatment research); Michael F. Green, Ph.D., fellowship co-director (cognitive neuroscience, functional outcome); William Horan, Ph.D. (social cognition, emotion processing), Robert Kern, Ph.D., fellowship co-director (neuropsychology, cognitive rehabilitation); Stephen R. Marder, M.D. fellowship co-director (clinical psychopharmacology, pharmacological and psychosocial interventions), Alexander S. Young, M.D. M.S.H.S., fellowship co-director (health services, quality of care, implementation science).

San Diego site:  Barton Palmer, Ph.D. (fellowship co-director), Lisa T. Eyler, Ph.D., (neuroimaging, geriatrics), Gregory G. Brown, Ph.D. (neuroimaging, neuropsychology, computational modeling), Mark Geyer, Ph.D. (animal models, behavioral psychopharmacology), David Braff, M.D. (psychophysiology, genetics), Gregory Light, Ph.D. (psychophysiology), and others (see VA-affiliated faculty at http:\\psychiatry.ucsd.edu\facultyDirectory.html).

To apply:

Applications should be directed to the appropriate site (Los Angeles or San Diego) based on the primary research interest of the applicant and the location of the proposed mentor.  Applicants who meet eligibility requirements should send a cover letter and curriculum vita to the relevant contact person.  The cover letter should specify the reasons for your interest in this particular fellowship training program, a brief overview of your previous clinical and research experiences, and how you see this program promoting your professional and career goals.  Our fellowship is an equal opportunity training program.  Hence, we strive to create a diverse training group and consider minority status to be a beneficial factor in achieving this goal.  Thus, we give weight to minority status in our selection rankings.

Los Angeles:

Physicians should send materials to Stephen Marder, M.D. (marder@ucla.edu). 

Psychologists (or associated clinicians) should send materials to Robert Kern, Ph.D. (rkern@ucla.edu).  See Training Handbook for additional detail about the program.

Please note that for the Los Angeles location, applications will be accepted until January 31st, 2016 for the postdoctoral fellowship position beginning in September 2016.

San Diego:

Physicians should send materials to David Braff, M.D. (dbraff@ucsd.edu).

Psychologists (or associated clinicians) should contact Barton Palmer, Ph.D. (bpalmer@ucsd.edu) for further application instructions. 

Please note that for the San Diego Psychology slot there is an application deadline of December 15, 2015 (Late applications may be considered if the position is not filled by applicants who applied by December 15th).

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