Brown Clinical Psychology Training Consortium
Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Physical Activity Research
Site:
The Miriam Hospital and Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine
Supervisor(s):
Bess H. Marcus, Ph.D.
David M. Williams, Ph.D.
Description of Site
The Brown Medical School Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine is based at The Miriam Hospital, an adult medical/surgical hospital of 130 medical and 120 surgical beds. The Centers conduct research in three major research areas that address the leading lifestyle causes of disease burden and death. Other research projects cut across the leading chronic diseases and conditions that affect health and quality of life including: cancer, cardiovascular, respiratory, diabetes, and infectious diseases. The Centers employ over 20 faculty and 60 staff members.
Fellowship Aims
- To provide the fellow with broad post-doctoral training in the area of physical activity and behavioral medicine by participating in interventions that focus on primary and secondary prevention of disease, in addition to those with environmental and policy implications.
- To provide the fellow with a strong working knowledge of multiple-risk factor interventions that target physical activity behavior at home, in work-sites or primary care settings.
- To provide the fellow with research training and experience that will prepare the fellow for a future career as an independent investigator in the area of behavioral medicine and physical activity research.
Fellowship Timeline
The duration of the fellowship is 2 years, contingent upon satisfactory progress. The anticipated start date is July, 2008.
Research Activity Plan (80% time)
The fellowship is primarily a research position. The fellow will be exposed to various aspects of physical activity research via participation in the following activities:
- Study coordination: The fellow will collaborate with the PI (Bess H. Marcus, Ph.D. and David Williams, Ph.D.) to coordinate or assist in the coordination of one of several large clinical trials recently funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), or the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). (40% time)
- Review of the physical activity literature and other relevant literature: The fellow will be provided with a series of readings in the area of physical activity and behavioral medicine research (5% time).
- Grant writing: The fellow will be encouraged to develop an independent grant idea and submit a grant proposal by the end of the fellowship term. (15% time)
- Manuscript preparation and submission: 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. (15% time)
- The fellow will be required to participate in weekly research meetings on relevant studies and a monthly physical activity journal club conducted at the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine located in the CORO building (5% time).
- The fellow will participate in the weekly postdoctoral research seminars offered through the Brown University Post Doctoral Training Program (10% time).
Didactics (10% time)
The fellow will participate in the weekly postdoctoral research seminars offered through the Brown Postdoctoral Training Consortium (10% time).
Clinical Activity Plan (10% time)
Opportunities for additional clinical experience will be provided as part of the position. Fellows with clinical degrees are encouraged to meet the requirements for licensure in Rhode Island by the end of the fellowship.
The goal of the Health Psychology/ Behavioral Medicine fellowship track is to enable fellows to gain a thorough understanding of the relationship between behavior and physical health/illness, the role of behavior change in chronic disease prevention and the biopsychosocial model of illness, and the application of this knowledge to clinical practice and research. The fellow is expected to be thoroughly competent in the knowledge-base and proficient in the clinical skills required for their specialty. These skills may be obtained through:
- Treatment services: Fellows may provide intervention conducting group/ individual therapy with specific population.
- Clinical assessment: Fellow may administer assessments that are appropriate to a specific population for study purposes.
Supervision and Evaluation
Supervision will be provided in the form of both weekly individual supervision (Drs. Marcus and Williams) and bi-monthly group supervision (Drs. Marcus and Williams). The fellow will also participate in regular peer-supervision with other first and second year post-doctoral fellows.
The Fellow will have the opportunity to participate in clinical and supervision hours at a rate that will result in eligibility to sit for the national Examination for the Professional Practice of Psychology (EPPP) and other state licensing procedures during the second year of fellowship training.
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 personal desktop computer and project specific software
- Internet access
- Telephone