For 3rd and 4th year psychology graduate students at UC Berkeley. 

About this training program

NIH is prioritizing translational research in recognition that gains in knowledge of psychopathology and treatment will best be made by individuals and groups with core training in both “basic” science and clinical science. This NIMH funded training program aims to produce a generation of predoctoral students who can cut across the insularity and fragmentation that still exists across sub disciplines within psychology. We hope to use this training program to produce scholars who can integrate models that recognize the biological underpinnings of, as well as the contributions of psychological and social factors to, the onset and course of severe mental illness. 

Although progress has been made in developing and disseminating evidence-based treatments for most forms of mental illness across the past few decades, there are still gaping holes in our knowledge base. Hence, there is a major need for a new generation of specially trained leaders in such efforts. These leaders will need to learn the new and emerging technologies and to be able to contribute to inter-disciplinary teams that capitalize on the overlap, convergence, and integration that is increasingly possible across the sub-disciplines within psychology and between psychology and other fields. Future treatment development researchers will succeed only to the extent that they can integrate knowledge across levels of explanation and can collaborate with researchers across domains.

One goal of this training program is to encourage applications from students across areas of the department so as to foster rich cross fertilization between sub-disciplines. Also, to be well equipped for a career in science, people with strong biological backgrounds will have to learn a lot about behavior to complete good basic neural research. People who are in traditionally non-biological areas of psychology will need to learn a lot about biological and neural science tools.

The specific goal of this NIMH funded training program is to prepare predoctoral students in the Department of Psychology at UC Berkeley for independent scientific careers in the identification of mechanisms underlying severe mental illness and the use of this knowledge to develop and test novel interventions. This program will emphasize neuroscience training and uncovering biological mechanisms, but the training will be delivered within a multi-systems, mechanisms-focused framework in which (a) biological, cognitive, affective, biological, behavioral, social, cultural and developmental contributors to illness are all considered as sources for deriving novel treatments and (b) intervention research is used to test important mechanisms that underlie psychopathology.

The tenure of the award is two years (the second year of funding will be contingent upon satisfactory completion of all requirements during the first year) and will include a stipend, partial fees and tuition, assistance with travel expenses and other allowances including health benefits. Selection for the annual intake of new fellows will take place in April/May each year.

Underrepresented and ethnic minority students are encouraged to apply. Students who have a disability are encouraged to apply.

What are the eligibility criteria?

1) You have an interest in processes/mechanisms relating to mental illness and you are conducting (or planning to conduct) research that contributes to knowledge on mental illness.

2) You have an interest in neuroscience and you are conducting (or planning to conduct) research that includes a method from neuroscience (broadly defined)

3) You are in your 3rd or 4th year of graduate school in the Department of Psychology at UC Berkeley and in good standing

4) You have planned (and have obtained the approval of your mentor) to spend your 4th/5th years (for 3rd year students) and 5th/6th years (for 4th year students) of graduate school deeply immersed in conducting research (i.e., your commitment to other activities – including clinical work – will be minimal)

5) You are planning a career primarily focused on research

6) You are willing and able to fully participate in the training program which will include attending a core seminar in the spring of 2013, attending meetings (3 per year) and workshops (2 per year, you will give a research presentation at one per year) and you will submit two written progress reports each year. There will be required coursework to ensure all fellows complete their tenure in the training program with strong training in both mental illness and neuroscience (see below for details on required coursework).

7) You are an American citizen or permanent resident.

Who are the training faculty?

Allison Harvey and Steve Hinshaw are the Program Directors.

The training faculty include: Oz Ayduk (psychology); Sonia Bishop (psychology); Silvia Bunge (HWNI/psychology); Ron Dahl (public health); Julianna Deardorff (public health); Allison Harvey (psychology); Sheri Johnson (psychology); Robert Knight (HWNI/psychology); Ann Kring (psychology); Robert Levenson (psychology); Emily Ozer (public health); Lonnie Snowden (public health); Matt Walker (psychology); Qing Zhou (psychology).

Training faculty are augmented by other Bay Area faculty with expertise in mental illness and/or neuroscience who will participate in the training seminar and specialized workshops including Cameron Carter (UC Davis), Tom Neylan (UCSF), Mark D’Esposito (UCB), Bill Jagust (UCB), Terence Ketter (Stanford), Owen Wolkowitz (UCSF), David Card (Economics, UCB) and Richard Scheffler (Economics, UCB)

A Selection Committee consisting of training faculty from the three participating areas of the psychology department will make the final selection of trainees. In addition to considering the overall quality of the applications, the Selection Committee will also attempt to create balance in terms of area of interest and faculty mentors.

Coursework

Neuroscience: At least one graduate level neuroscience course will be required in the first year (e.g., cellular and molecular neurobiology, developmental, systems level analysis, human cognitive neuroscience). Note that fellows who enter the program with a substantial background of course work in neuroscience may apply for exemption from this requirement.

Mental illness: At least one graduate level course in psychopathology, diagnosis or intervention (e.g., Proseminar in Clinical Science Psy230 or Introduction to Clinical Methods Psy237H).  Following successful completion of a ‘basic’ clinical science class, fellows will be required to participate in one Treatment Development Clinic. The latter is a unique and exciting feature of the training program developed by the Clinical Science area. Each year, Clinical Science faculty members offer two or more Treatment Development Clinics. Each clinic (Psych 236) defines a clinical population and an intervention issue. The students meet in a 2 or 3-hour weekly class. The topic of interest is studied by reviewing the empirical literature, defining and developing an intervention based on the basic science evidence reviewed, marketing and delivering the intervention, and evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention. Fellows in the Clinical Science area (i.e., those pursuing a PhD in Clinical Psychology) will typically serve as the therapists in these clinics, under the close supervision of a Clinical Science faculty member (but this will vary, depending on the type of intervention). Fellows who are not pursing a PhD in clinical psychology will typically gain patient contact experience by devising methods and collecting data on mechanisms (of the disorder or the treatment). Note that fellows who have already completed these courses will be exempt from this requirement.