Harvard Medical School - Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital

POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP in CLINICAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGY

The Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) seek candidates for a 1-2 year fellowship in Neuropsychology, to begin July 1, 2006. The joint BWH/MGH fellowship is a program of Harvard Medical School.

Clinical experience will consist of adult neurological cases including dementia, epilepsy, brain tumor, developmental syndromes, neurobehavioral disorders, MS, and other progressive conditions. At one of the sites (MGH), the fellow will receive training in both pediatric and adult cases. The fellowship will be primarily outpatient based but will include some inpatient consultation. Specialized experience will be offered in the epilepsy surgery program including Wada Tests and intraoperative cortical mapping.

The Fellow will have the opportunity to participate in ongoing clinical research or develop a project which is do-able within the training time frame. There are numerous ongoing research projects at both sites in the areas of memory, aging, and neuropsychological aspects of disease. fMRI methods are widely used in neuropsychological research projects throughout the medical center. Didactic opportunities abound in the BWH/Longwood area and MGH. The training experience is enriched by a highly collaborative teaching environment in which the Fellow will be working in close contact with a number of pediatric and adult neuropsychologists, behavioral neurologists, psychiatrists, and others with a special interest in brain and behavior.

Stipend is 34k for the first year and 37k for the second, plus excellent benefits. An academic appointment will be made as a Clinical Fellow at Harvard Medical School.

Applicants should be US citizens and graduates of APA accredited programs in clinical psychology or neuropsychology and should have completed an APA-approved predoctoral internship. Completion of the doctoral degree is required before the fellowship start date.

Interested applicants should e-mail one (e-mail is preferred) or snail mail two copies of application materials (letter of interest, CV, three letters of recommendation, graduate transcript, two sample reports) to:

Aaron Nelson Ph.D., ABPP/ABCN

Chief of Neuropsychology

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology

221 Longwood Avenue

Boston MA 02115

e-mail: anelson@partners.org

 

Training Director: Aaron Nelson PhD, ABPP/ABCN

 

The Harvard-Partners Consortium in Neuropsychology, all major teaching hospitals of Harvard Medical School and founding members of Partners Healthcare System . Each site offers a unique and distinctive training experience with common core didactics across the consortium. The program adheres to the guidelines for postdoctoral training as articulated by Division 40 of the American Psychological Association and the Houston Conference on Specialty Education and Training in Clinical Neuropsychology.

 

BWH and MGH are the two largest teaching hospitals of Harvard Medical School. For 15 consecutive years, BWH and MGH have alternately ranked first and second in NIH funding among independent hospitals in the nation. Residents, besides the appropriate hospital appointments, will have appointments as clinical fellows at Harvard Medical School. At all sites, the resident will have office space and a personal computer with an e-mail account and access to the WWW, patient medical records, and research databases including Ovid and PubMed. The resident will also have borrowing privileges and unrestricted access to all electronic journals and resources at Harvard Medical School's Countway Library of Medicine.

 

 

Training Sites

 

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Site Director: Aaron Nelson PhD, ABPP/ABCN

 

BWH is a 702-bed tertiary care medical center, located in the heart of Boston's Longwood Medical Area. The Longwood Medical Area, a world-renowned center for clinical care, research, and medical education, is home to Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center, Children's Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Joslin Diabetes Clinic, Harvard Institute of Medicine, and hundreds of research laboratories. At Brigham and Women's Hospital, the resident will train in the Brigham Behavioral Neurology Group (BBNG), a consortium of Neuropsychologists, Behavioral Neurologists, Neuropsychiatrists, Social Workers, and Occupational Therapists.

 

Training will include the clinical evaluation and treatment of adults with neurobehavioral disorders including dementia (probable Alzheimer's disease, degenerative dementias, vascular dementia), epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, brain tumor, toxic/metabolic disorders, stroke syndromes, traumatic brain injury, developmental syndromes, ADHD, and learning disability. Specialized experience including WADA testing and intraoperative cortical mapping is available through the epilepsy surgery program. The majority of clinical experience will be gained with outpatients. The general expectation is that the Resident will complete three evaluations per week.

 

Under the supervision of senior neuropsychology staff, the resident will conduct initial interviews; administer, score, and interpret the results of neuropsychological testing; and construct comprehensive case reports which will be co-signed by the supervising senior staff member. The resident will receive no less than 2 hours of supervision per week. Issues emphasized in supervision include clinical diagnosis, translation of testing results to patients, caregivers, and referral sources; and the recognition of and appropriate response to cultural differences and sensitivities.

 

The Resident will participate in ongoing clinical research or develop a project which is do-able within the training time frame. There are numerous ongoing research projects in the areas of memory, aging, and neuropsychological aspects of disease.

 

 

Faculty

Aaron Nelson, Ph.D., ABCN/ABPP, Chief, Neuropsychology

Andrew Budson, M.D., Neurologist

Kirk Daffner, M.D., Chief, Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology

Zeina Chemali, M.D., Neuropsychiatrist

Barry Fogel, M.D., Neuropsychiatrist

Melissa Frumin, M.D., Neuropsychiatrist

Mary-Ellen Meadows, Ph.D., Neuropsychologist

Kenneth Kosik, M.D., Neurologist

Dorene Rentz, Psy.D., Neuropsychologist

Dennis Selkoe, M.D., Neurologist

Reisa Sperling, M.D., Neurologist

 

 

 

Massachusetts General Hospital

Site Director: Janet Cohen Sherman PhD

 

MGH is the third oldest general hospital in the United States, and comprises an 820-bed facility located in downtown Boston, adjacent to Beacon Hill. Its Neurology and Psychiatry Departments are world-renowned, and it recently opened only one of two Proton Beam Units in the world, allowing for state of the art treatment of patients with brain tumors. Research facilities in cognitive neuroscience are located at MGH East, providing opportunities for the fellow to become involved in research studies utilizing functional imaging techniques. The MGH also has an A.P.A. approved Internship in Clinical Psychology with specialty training tracks in Neuropsychology, Cognitive Behavior Scientist, Child-Adult Clinical Psychology and Adult Clinical Psychology.

 

At MGH, the resident will train at the Psychology Assessment Center, situated on the main MGH campus. Supported by the departments of Neurology, Pediatrics and Psychiatry, the Center provides comprehensive neuropsychological testing and psychological assessment of children and adults, and the majority of clinical experience at MGH will focus on neuropsychological assessment in the pediatric population. Children who are served by the Psychology Assessment Center include children with medical conditions (epilepsy, brain tumors, leukemia, TBI); children with developmental learning disabilities (dyslexia, NVLD); children with ADHD and children with psychiatric disorders. MGH has a newly formed pediatric epilepsy program, allowing for training in childhood epilepsy and WADA testing in children; a program in pediatric oncology in which the resident can participate in clinical and research projects aimed at understanding the cognitive sequelae of different treatment protocols (chemotherapy; Proton Beam Radiation); and a Reading Disorders Unit in which children with reading problems are neurologically assessed and can participate in therapeutic programs utilizing phonological tutoring methods.

 

The majority of clinical experience will be gained from outpatient assessments and will be supervised by senior staff members with no less than two hours of supervision per week. The resident will be expected to perform two full child evaluations per week, and may also perform occasional adult assessments in order to obtain experience with adults who have developmental disorders. The resident will be involved in all aspects of the evaluation as well as feedback to families. The opportunity to gain experience with school-based meetings (i.e., IEP meetings) will also be provided.

 

Faculty

Janet Cohen Sherman, Ph.D., Clinical Director, Adult & Pediatric Neuropsychology

Dennis K. Norman, Ed.D., ABPP/Cl , Chief of Psychology, Child & Adult Clinical Psychology

Ellen Braaten, Ph.D., Developmetnal and Pediatric Neuropsychology

Gretchen Felopulos, Ph.D. Developmetnal and Pediatric Neuropsychology

Cathy Leveroni, Ph.D., Neuropsychology

Amy Morgan, Ph.D. Pediatric Neuropsychology

Lauren Elyse Pollak Ph.D., Neuropsychology

Margaret B. Pulsifer, Ph.D., Pediatric Neuropsychology

 

 

 

 

Core Didactics

 

Didactic opportunities abound in the BWH/Longwood medical area and MGH. The training experience is enriched by a highly collaborative teaching environment in which the resident will be working in close contact with Harvard Medical School faculty members in Behavioral Neurology, Psychiatry, and others with a special interest in brain and behavior.

 

Neuropsychology Seminar: Residents will attend the weekly Neuropsychology Seminar which features faculty from the Harvard-Partners Consortium as well as other Harvard-affiliated teaching institutions.

 

Neuropsychology Case Conference: Residents will attend a weekly case conference, bringing together advanced trainees from throughout the Harvard system.

 

Behavioral Neuroscience Seminar : The weekly Behavioral Neuroscience Seminar (September-May) features lecturers of all disciplines from Harvard, the greater Boston neuroscience community, and elsewhere.

 

Site Specific Didactics

 

While training at MGH, the resident will participate in Neurology, Behavioral Neurology, Psychiatry Grand Rounds, and case conferences, with an option of attending the Developmental Neuropsychology course.

 

While at BWH, the resident will participate in academic activities associated with the Brigham Behavioral Neurology Group including interdisciplinary Clinical Rounds, Memory Disorder Rounds, Neurology Grand Rounds, Psychiatry Grand Rounds, and Journal Club.

 

Other didactic experiences may be incorporated, time permitting. Residents may also serve as supervisors for other less advanced trainees. The resident will receive ongoing evaluation by senior staff to ensure competence and adherence to professional ethical standards.

 

Appointment and Benefits

 

The resident will be appointed Clinical Fellow at MGH, Spaulding, BWH and at Harvard Medical School. A highly competitive stipend is offered. The resident will receive full employee benefits through Partner's HealthCare System, including health, dental and vision coverage; life insurance; and paid vacation time. Applicants may receive further information on employee benefits by contacting the Partners HealthCare System's Employee Benefits Office at (617) 726-8133.

 

Application Procedure

 

Applicants must be US citizens who have completed all doctoral degree requirements from an APA-accredited program in Clinical Psychology or Clinical Neuropsychology. This requirement is defined as having on the first day of the residency, either the diploma in hand or a letter from the director of graduate studies verifying the completion of all degree requirements pending institutional graduation ceremonies. Applicants must also have completed an APA-accredited predoctoral internship in clinical psychology (with a substantial neuropsychology component) or clinical neuropsychology. Applicants meeting these requirements should submit two copies of the following for each site to which they are applying:

 

a) Letter of intent.

b) Three (3) Letters of Recommendation

c) Curriculum Vitae

d) Two (2) Neuropsychological test reports

e) Official Transcript of Graduate Study

f) Copy of Psychology License, if available

g) Harvard-Partners Consortium application form. If applying to more than one site, please indicate 1st, 2nd choice etc. Print from your web browser to complete.