Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Clinical Psychology Training Consortium
Postdoctoral Fellowship Description: RESEARCH FOCUS
Title:
Site:
Postdoctoral Fellowship: Interventions for Trauma Related Psychopathology in Veterans
Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Supervisor(s):
Tracie Shea, Ph.D., Primary Supervisor
Jennifer Lambert, Ph.D., Secondary Supervisor
Description of Site
The Providence VAMC consists of the VA Medical Center located at 830 Chalkstone Avenue, Providence, RI, and
Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) in Middletown RI, New Bedford MA, Hyannis MA, Nantucket MA and
Martha’s Vineyard, MA. The Providence VAMC provides services for veterans in RI, southeastern MA and eastern CT.
The medical center has 238 beds, 250,000 outpatient visits per year and is adding greater than 400-500 new patients per
month. It is a primary and secondary health care facility providing a full range of patient care services with state-of-the-art
technology. The Providence VAMC is a community leader in medical education and research. Comprehensive health care
is provided in areas of medicine, surgery and psychiatry, including over 32 sub-specialty clinics. The Providence VAMC
is a part of VISN 1 that includes facilities in RI, CT, MA, VT, NH and ME. It is affiliated with the Brown University
Medical Schools. Over 300 University residents, interns, postdoctoral fellows and other students are trained at the
Providence VA Medical Center each year. The Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center has a total of four buildings
dedicated to providing Research Investigators with opportunity to collaborate on basic, animal and clinical research.
Building #32, in which the PTSD research program is housed, consists of over 15,000 square feet of lab and office space
that is dedicated to research. It houses a recently funded RR&D Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology
(CfNN), and HSR&D’s Research Enhancement Award Program (REAP) as well as PTSD research space. The space
includes exam rooms, a gait and motion lab, a virtual reality lab, a large conference room, several meeting rooms, a large
physical therapy area, and offices used by investigators and research staff.
The PTSD Clinic is part of the Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences Service at the Providence VAMC. It is a very busy
outpatient treatment program for Veterans of all eras. The clinic caseload is around 1500 veterans, and on average the
clinic receives 9 to 10 new referrals a week. The clinic provides comprehensive assessments, individual and group
therapy, and medication management. Empirically supported treatments for PTSD, including Prolonged Exposure and
Cognitive Processing Therapy are provided, in addition to a range of groups using cognitive behavioral approaches.
Fellowship Aims
1. To provide the fellow with broad post-doctoral training in the area of PTSD and other trauma-related
psychopathology
2. To provide the fellow with a strong working knowledge of research in the area of trauma and treatment in
Veterans
3. To provide the fellow with research training and experience in preparation for a research career in
intervention research and trauma related psychopathology
Fellowship Timeline
The duration of the fellowship is 2 years, contingent upon satisfactory progress. The anticipated start date is July 1, 2014
Research Activity Plan (77.5%)
The fellow will be exposed to various aspects of Trauma and PTSD research via participation in the following activities:
1

Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Clinical Psychology Training Consortium
Postdoctoral Fellowship Description: RESEARCH FOCUS
Study coordination: The fellow will collaborate with the PI (Dr. Shea) to coordinate a randomized clinical
trial funded by VA RR&D. The RCT will examine the efficacy of a cognitive behavioral intervention
compared to a supportive intervention for the treatment of anger problems in veterans returning from recent
deployments (57.5%)

Grant writing: The fellow will be encouraged to develop a grant idea and submit a grant proposal by the end
of the fellowship term. (10%)

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. (10%)
Clinical Activity Plan (12.5%)
Opportunities for additional clinical experience will be provided as part of the position. (12.5%)

Treatment services: Study treatments (as above) and/or PVAMC PTSD Clinic patients (Trauma focused and
other empirically supported treatments) (3 hours per week)

Clinical assessment: Study assessments including the SCID and CAPS and/or PVAMC PTSD Clinic
assessments (2 hours per week)
Path toward licensure: YES___x__ NO_____
Didactics (10%)
Post-Doctoral Seminars: The fellow will participate in the following post-doctoral seminars through the Brown
Postdoctoral Training Program. (10%)
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)
Optional Didactics (Mandatory for T32/F32/ and Investigator Funded Fellows):
Academic Friday – Grantsmanship seminars, Special Topics in Statistics
Supervision and Evaluation
Supervision will be provided in the form of both weekly individual supervision (Drs. Shea) and bi-monthly group
supervision (Drs. Shea and Lambert). Clinical supervision will be provided in the form of both weekly individual
supervision (Drs. Shea or Lambert) and bi-monthly group supervision (Drs Shea and Lambert).
Every 6 months for the duration of the fellowship, the fellow and the supervisors will 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:





Access to space to complete research responsibilities
Access to space for clinical care
A computer and project specific software
Internet access
Telephone
2
Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Clinical Psychology Training Consortium
Postdoctoral Fellowship Description: RESEARCH FOCUS
Reporting and approval
This fellowship will be part of the Adult track. The position has been discussed and approved by the XX track faculty in
their monthly meeting of xx/xx/xx.
_____________________________________
Postdoctoral Fellowship Track Coordinator
______________________________________
Associate Director for Investigator Funded Fellowship Positions/NIH Funded Fellowship Positions
______________________________________
Director, Brown Clinical Psychology Training Consortium
3