Brown Clinical Psychology Training ConsortiumPost-Doctoral Fellowship in Reducing Ethnic Health Disparities: Motivating HIV+ Latinos to Quit Smoking
Site:
Butler Hospital
Supervisor(s):
Raymond Niaura, Ph.D.
Cassandra Stanton, Ph.D.
Kate Morrow, Ph.D.
Description of Site
Butler is the premier psychiatric treatment, teaching and research hospital serving Rhode Island and southeastern New England. It provides assessment and treatment of all major psychiatric illnesses and substance abuse. Butler is affiliated with the Brown Medical School and is the flagship for the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, which has been recognized by its peers as one of the top ten in the United States. The transdisciplinary group at Butler Hospital is studying the genetic, biological and psychosocial underpinnings of nicotine addiction. The program is one of seven in the country that has been designated as a Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center (TTURC) funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH). The transdisciplinary group is conducting several NIH funded research studies that integrate expertise from multiple disciplines to better understand psychosocial influences on smoking uptake in youth and develop effective and culturally-sensitive community-based smoking cessation interventions. Among these projects the group heads up Project Aurora, a NIDA study supporting this fellowship that is focused on providing Latino HIV-positive patients throughout Southern New England with a culturally-targeted intervention to help them quit smoking.
Fellowship Aims
- To provide the fellow with broad post-doctoral training in the area of nicotine addiction, cultural diversity and health disparities, and psychosocial issues related to HIV infection.
- To provide the fellow with a strong working knowledge of behaviorally-based smoking cessation techniques, culturally-targeted interventions, Latino health issues, particularly as they pertain to providing services to an HIV-positive patient population.
- To provide the fellow with research training and experience in preparation for a research career in behavioral medicine.
Fellowship Timeline
The duration of the fellowship is 2 years, contingent upon satisfactory progress. The anticipated start date is flexible but typically July 1, 2007.
Research Activity Plan (50% time)
The fellow will be exposed to various aspects of behavioral medicine research via participation in the following activities:
- Study coordination (approximately 30% time): The fellow will collaborate with research supervisors Drs. Niaura and Stanton and other members of the research team to implement “Project Aurora”, a recently funded NIDA grant entitled, “Reducing Ethnic Health Disparities: Motivating HIV+ Latinos to Quit Smoking”.
- Grant writing (approximately 10% time): The fellow will also be encouraged to develop a grant idea and submit a grant proposal by the end of the fellowship term. The fellow will be encouraged to develop their own research ideas in addition to collaboration on existing projects. For interested applicants who qualify as "individuals currently underrepresented in the biomedical social sciences," we offer a unique opportunity to submit a grant proposal to support an independent study under the umbrella of our larger grant. Supervisors will assist fellows in preparing a research supplement to our NIDA grant (please see this link for more information http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-05-015.html#SectionV1)al . Manuscript preparation and submission (approximately 10% time): The fellow will be encouraged to collaborate on manuscript preparation and poster submissions at national conferences. Individually tailored goals will be established in this area.
- Included as part of these research activities will be participation in Aurora weekly research meetings and review of literature in relevant areas to the project. The fellow will be provided with a series of readings in the area of ethical research with human subjects, nicotine addiction, HIV infection, and Latino health issues.
Clinical Activity Plan (40% time)
Opportunities for supervised clinical experience will be provided as part of the position.
- Clinical responsibilities will include acting as a part-time Interventionist for Project Aurora and conducting smoking cessation interventions with HIV-positive Latino patients at immunology clinics throughout Southern New England. Training will be provided, as well as weekly clinical supervision. Due to the targeted Latino patient population in this study, bilingual (Spanish/English speaking) clinicians are preferred.
Didactics (10% time)
Post-Doctoral Seminars: The fellow will participate in the following post-doctoral seminars through the Brown Post Doctoral Training Program.
- Mandatory Didactics:
Core Seminars (1 per month)
DPHB Academic Grand Rounds (1 per month)
Clinical Ethics – if intending to sit for licensure (1 per month)
Behavioral Medicine Seminars (1 per week when available)
- Optional Didactics:
Academic Friday – Grantsmanship seminars, Special Topics in Statistics and Alcohol Center seminars.
Supervision and Evaluation
Supervision will be provided in the form of both weekly individual supervision (Drs. Niaura and Stanton) and regular group clinical supervision (Dr. Morrow).
At the conclusion and midpoint of the fellowship, the fellow and the supervisors are requested to provide formal evaluations, and evaluations of the program relative to the goals and learning objectives of the fellowship.
Resource Requirements
Fellow will be provided with the following resources:
- Office space
- A computer and project specific software
- Internet access
- Telephone
- Access to Brown University/Medical School library and other academic resources