The training year will be divided into two 6-month blocks and most rotations will occur in a single block. Interns will have two rotations per block. In addition they will have a primary outpatient rotation that will be 12-months long. Each week, 8 hours will be spent in each of the three rotations. There are a number of rotations available allowing for flexibility to customize the training experience to meet the goals of each individual. All interns will have rotations that include outpatient therapy and/orassessment. Prior to the start of the training year the incoming interns will be asked to rank order their choices for rotations. Whenever possible interns will be provided with their top choices. Interns will also have a 4-hour per week research rotation for the entire year.
Research
The Department of Psychiatry has an active research program, and we are strongly committed to helping our interns further enhance their research skills. Up to 10% of an intern’s time may be protected for research-related activities. If an intern has not yet completed his or her dissertation, this time should be used to make significant progress towards defending the dissertation. If the intern has completed the dissertation by the time the internship starts, or at any point during the internship year, they are encouraged to use this protected time to link up with researchers at Penn with shared interests, and/or explore research questions that can be answered using data from any variety of data sets available. The intern should initiate this conversation with the Training Director, who can then direct him or her to an appropriate faculty mentor.
Clinical Rotations – General Adult Track
12-month Rotations
Center for Cognitive Therapy. At the Center for Cognitive Therapy, we offer training in both the psychotherapy process and the diagnostic interview process using the Cognitive Model and Evidence Based Practice. We treat a wide range of both emotional disorders and personality disorders. Supervision is offered by therapists who are both certified cognitive therapists and licensed psychologists or social workers. Primary supervisor: Mary Anne Layden, PhD, Director of Education.
Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic. The Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic (OPC) provides individual and group psychotherapy to the Penn community and to the larger West Philadelphia community. The OPC is a multidisciplinary team clinic including social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and nurse practitioners. Psychotherapy orientations include psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, and eclectic. Providers use time-efficient treatments ranging from short-term psychodynamic to trauma-informed to rational emotive behavior to dialectical behavior therapeutic approaches, as well as many in between. Primary supervisor: Jeremy Tyler, PhD, Director of Psychotherapy Services.
The Psychosis Evaluation and Recovery Center (PERC) is a SAMHSA funded program providing both first episode psychosis and clinical high risk coordinated specialty care services to individuals from Philadelphia and surrounding counties. The trainee will play a lead role in ensuring high quality specialty care for each client in coordination with a multi-disciplinary team, including psychiatrists, psychologists, family psychoeducation and support therapists, supported employment specialist, and peer support specialists. Training opportunities within this framework will be customized to each intern’s training goals. The trainee will provide individual therapy, engaging youth in recovery oriented cognitive therapy (CT-R) integrated with complementary therapeutic strategies, with the aim of promoting recovery and relapse prevention in youth who have experienced early psychosis. Training in the assessment of psychosis using both unstructured and semi-structured approaches will be provided, and the trainee will have the opportunity to participate in client and collateral interviews during the intake evaluation process, as well as to conduct symptom monitoring assessments. Other opportunities include facilitating or co-facilitating groups, including CT-R for families, psychoeducation for families, processing for patients, and cognitive remediation. In addition to on-site supervision (weekly) and team meetings (twice weekly), there are numerous training and supervision opportunities through PERC’s participation in the Pennsylvania Early Intervention Center/HeadsUp, which provides ongoing training and education for early psychosis providers across Pennsylvania, and in the Connection Learning Health System hub of the Early Psychosis Intervention Network (EPINET). Primary Supervisor: Monica E. Calkins, PhD, Associate Professor and Associate Director of PERC. **Note also available as a 6-month rotation
Center for Women’s Behavioral Wellness. Interns in the Center for Women’s Behavioral Wellness will receive supervision in the provision of evidence-based psychotherapies to women presenting with mental health conditions related to reproductive health complaints. Didactic sessions, journal clubs, and group and individual supervision will focus on providing interns with an understanding of the psychological effects of common reproductive life experiences such as pregnancy, the postpartum period, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (or other menstrual cycle related mood changes), infertility, pregnancy loss, midlife changes/menopause, and chronic health conditions that interact with reproductive health. The PCWBW is a collaboration between the departments of Psychiatry and Obstetrics and Gynecology. We provide clinical care to women throughout the lifespan and in both an outpatient psychology clinic and in an embedded women’s health clinic at HUP (The Helen O. Dickens Center). Primary supervisor: Sara L. Kornfied, PhD; Director, Maternal Wellness Initiative.
6-month Rotations
Assessment & Consultation Rotation will have two primary components. First, each intern will be expected to complete 6 full batteries on complex adult patients from the community on a variety of differential diagnostic questions, including evaluations for Learning Disabilities, ADHD, Intellectual Disability, TBI, dementia, psychoticism, executive functioning, and general diagnostic clarification. Interns will be expected to have facility with structured diagnostic interviewing, as well as the WAIS, WMS and WIAT, the CVLT, the MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF, the DKEFs, and use of computerized CPTs. Any intern not having previous experience with these specific instruments should do the rotation in the first part of the year, and should participate in summer didactic instruction specific to those measures. The second component of the rotation will be the opportunity to provide supervised supervision to clinical psychology graduate student trainees at the University of Pennsylvania completing their introductory practicum in Assessment and Consultation. Interns will provide some live supervision of the trainee’s cases, will collaborate with the trainee on choosing tests and measures and refining their diagnostic case conceptualization, will edit and comment on the trainee’s draft assessment reports, and will join the trainee and the senior supervisor for the final feedback session with the patient. This rotation is an opportunity to refine differential diagnosis and case conceptualization skills, to maintain and expand facility with various tests and measures, and to provide an invaluable service to the diverse community in the greater Philadelphia area, most of whom would never be able to access comprehensive assessment outside of our clinic. Primary supervisor: Melissa Hunt, Ph.D.
The Joan Karnell Supportive Care Program. The Joan Karnell Supportive Care Program at Pennsylvania Hospital has a long history of partnering with Penn Medicine psychology trainees in an effort to provide psychosocial care to patients struggling with cancer and sickle cell diagnoses. In this tradition, psychology interns on this rotation provide individual short-term psychotherapy (eight sessions) to patients with cancer/sickle cell diagnoses and their family members. Opportunities for couple and family treatment also occasionally arise. Our trainees take a flexible approach to treatment. Depending on the client's needs, psychotherapy might involve exploratory engagement, supportive techniques, or some combination of the two. Each intern carries a caseload of ~6 patients and has the opportunity to facilitate support and/or therapy groups with patients/caregivers. Our interns are also integrated into the medical, supportive, and palliative care teams. Supervision involves both a weekly individual meeting and a weekly group meeting. Primary supervisors: Jennifer Slipakoff,MSW, LCSW.
The Penn Medicine Autism Clinic. The Penn Medicine Autism Clinic serves individuals from 12 months of age through adulthood and provides initial diagnostic assessments as well as comprehensive behavioral/psychological evaluations for patients with prior autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses. Our mission is to use gold standard assessment tools, in conjunction with family-centered care, to facilitate parents’ understanding of their child’s unique developmental/behavioral profile and how that relates to the child’s intervention/educational needs. Families are then connected directly to quality, evidence-based intervention that is most appropriate for their children. The intern will participate in comprehensive treatment-planning evaluations for individuals with autism. Primary supervisor: Keiran Rump, Ph.D.
Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety. On this rotation, trainees will receive intensive training in exposure and response prevention (ExRP) for obsessive compulsive disorder. Participants will also receive training in prolonged exposure therapy (PE) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) depending on availability of training cases. Additionally, participants will receive training in a variety of evidence-based treatment manuals for other anxiety-related disorders depending on the chief complaints of patients on their caseload. Trainees will conduct individual therapy and group therapy. Primary supervisors: Lily A. Brown, Ph.D., Director & Elizabeth Turk-Karan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor.
The Center for Weight and Eating Disorders. The Center for Weight and Eating Disorders provides evidence-based individual psychotherapy services and psychological evaluations for bariatric patients preparing for surgery. Interns will be trained and supervised in the administration of bariatric evaluations and letter-writing, while interacting with a multi-disciplinary team. They will also have a small caseload of patients seeking psychotherapy for presenting problems such as binge eating disorder, weight management (often by referral of medical specialists), night eating syndrome, bariatric-related issues, and body image issues. Primary supervisor: Courtney McCuen-Wurst, PsyD, LCSW
Consultation/Liaison Service. This rotation takes place in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where interns are part of the C/L team. The C/L team is contacted whenever medical inpatients in the hospital are reporting emotional distress or other psychiatric concerns. Interns respond to these calls with a bedside evaluation of the patient to determine what services they might benefit from. This often leads to conducting short-term therapy while the patient is in the hospital, and then helping them find a place to continue treatment after discharge. Interns work alongside psychiatrists and social workers for an interdisciplinary team approach. Primary supervisor: Samantha Zwiebel, M.D.
Inpatient Psychiatry Unit. The inpatient unit is located at Pennsylvania Hospital, which is part of the Penn Health System in the Center City neighborhood. Interns provide evaluation and therapy for inpatients and are an important component of the treatment team. Each morning, interns will round on the unit with the attending psychiatry and other providers followed by case conference. Interns will spend 3 months each on a unit focused on mood disorder-spectrum cases and 3 months on a psychosis-spectrum unit.Primary supervisor: Reed Goldstein, Ph.D.
Pain Medicine. Over 80 million adults in the United States suffer from chronic pain. Often patients with patient present with multiple medical and psychiatric co-morbidities which requires a multimodal approach. The PENN Pain Medicine Center provides diagnostic assessments, a variety of interventions including neuromodulation, injections, medication management and behavioral health care. The behavioral medicine clinic sees 10-12 patients per day and provides preoperative psychological evaluations, CBT/ACT and co-management of patients with chronic pain and concomitant substance use disorders. Interns will be involved in direct patient care under supervision, exposure to interventional pain care and provided opportunity for scholarly activity (case reports, review articles). Primary Supervisor: Martin D. Cheatle, PhD, Associate Professor
Penn Memory Center. The Penn Memory Center (PMC) is made up of a multidisciplinary team with expertise in neurology, gerontology, psychiatry, neuropsychology and social work. The PMC serves as a unified Penn Medicine source for those age 65 and older seeking evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, information, and research opportunities related to symptoms of progressive memory loss, and accompanying changes in thinking, communication and personality. This one day/week position is designed for a trainee who is interested in learning about neurodegenerative disease, working with older adults, and obtaining experience with cognitive screening for individual's with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias. Primary Supervisor: Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton, Ph.D., ABPP-CN
Penn Trauma Violence Recovery Program: The Penn Trauma Violence Recovery Program (PTVRP) provides individualized psychosocial support, goal setting, and service connection to Philadelphia residents treated for violent injury at Penn Trauma to promote holistic recovery and prevent recurrent violent injury.Some patients, particularly those with prolonged hospital stays, would also benefit from supportive psychotherapy prior to hospital discharge.The psychology intern will provide 8 hours per week of clinical care to PTVRP participants prior to hospital discharge, dedicated to patients with prolonged hospital stays and/or substantial distress .The intern will conduct indicated psychological assessments and bedside, trauma-informed psychotherapy. Psychiatry consultation will be obtained as needed.This rotation will provide psychology interns with exposure to the challenges faced by patients recovering from violent injury and will provide patients with timely, psychological care that can speed their recovery and streamline management of mental health challenges. Primary Supervisor: Lily Brown, Ph.D.
Clinical Rotations – Child/Developmental Disabilities Track
** Interns in this track may select rotations available in the Adult General Track based on availability and training goals.
a. Intervention Rotations
Pediatric Anxiety Treatment Center at Hall Mercer(PATCH). PATCH provides evidence-based assessment and treatment for youth ages 5-18 with anxiety and related disorders at Hall Mercer Community Mental Health Center. PATCH therapists are trained in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) with an emphasis on exposure therapy, the most demonstrated-effective psychotherapy for these disorders. CBT involves a partnership between the therapist and family and helps children learn to modify their thoughts and behaviors so that anxiety no longer has control over their lives. We treat a range of presenting concerns, including generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, social anxiety, specific phobia, school anxiety, panic attacks, selective mutism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, tics, and trichotillomania. PATCH provides a unique opportunity for interns to deliver evidence-based practices within a community mental health setting. Many cases in the PATCH program have complex comorbidities and require clinicians to engage in collaboration with other behavioral health providers, such as psychiatrists and case managers. Primary supervisors: Keiran Rump, Ph.D.; Julie Worley, Ph.D.
Juvenile Detention. Hall-Mercer Community Mental Health Center, the behavioral health division of Pennsylvania Hospital, provides on-site services at Philadelphia's only secure juvenile detention facility. The detention center holds youth ages 13-20 years old who are awaiting the outcome of their court hearings. The Hall Mercer Juvenile Justice (JJ) team is charged with providing screening, assessment, brief intervention, and referral to in-house psychiatric care for all youth that have been identified as at-risk for mental health challenges. For youth with increased length of stays, treatment is initiated when indicated. The JJ team is grounded in CBT approaches to care, having training specifically in trauma-focused modalities such as TF-CBT and Cognitive Behavioral Interventions for Trauma in Schools. This rotation will offer training in these CBT modalities as well as evidence based screening, assessment, and brief intervention strategies to support the clinical experience of interns. Supervision is provided by a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.
Assessment of Anxiety in Autistic Youth. On this rotation, trainees will serve as independent evaluators for a NIMH-funded randomized effectiveness trial comparing two treatments for anxiety among autistic youth in community mental health. Trainees will conduct comprehensive diagnostic interviews and anxiety severity ratings before and after treatment to determine the relative efficacy of each treatment tested in this trial. They will receive comprehensive training and supervision in the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule (ADIS) – Child and Parent Versions, the Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale modified for Autism (PARS-A), and the Ambiguous Situations Interview. Trainees will receive one hour of supervision each week to review cases and ensure assessments are administered and scored reliably. There will be opportunities to contribute to publications as part of this rotation if this aligns the intern’s training goals. Primary supervisor: Andrew G Guzick, PhD
b. Assessment Rotation
Penn Medicine Autism Clinic.The Penn Medicine Autism Clinic provides initial diagnostic assessments as well as comprehensive behavioral/psychological evaluations for patients with prior ASD diagnoses for individuals from 12 months of age through adulthood. Interns will have the opportunity to participate in parent interviews, child assessment, feedback sessions, treatment planning, and report writing. Supervision is provided by a licensed psychologist.
c. Consultation Rotations
School District of Philadelphia: Autism SupportA team of consultants from the Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research provide ongoing consultation and support to the School District of Philadelphia’s programming for students with ASD. Consultation regarding the use of evidence-based practices for students with ASD, including classroom and behavior management, the use of visual supports and daily routines to support student engagement, and individualized instruction based in applied behavior analysis, is provided to teachers and staff within kindergarten-through-fifth grade autism support classrooms throughout the School District of Philadelphia. Consultation is also provided at the school-wide level to improve opportunities for inclusion for children with ASD within the regular education setting. Interns will participate in the delivery of school-based consultation to improve teachers’ use of evidence-based practices for their students with ASD. Supervision is provided by a licensed psychologist.
BRIDGE:Interns provide consultation to school mental health clinicians on concrete strategies to guide their consultation with teachers. Consultants provide an initial training to clinicians, followed by two months of weekly in-person support and two months of phone consultation. These clinicians participate in brief, ongoing consultation meetings with teachers. The objective of these meetings is for clinicians to help teachers implement effective classroom strategies to address behavioral and emotional challenges exhibited by students in the classroom. Supervision is provided by a licensed psychologist.
Clinical Rotations – Neuropsychology track
Neuropsychology intern rotations are within the Neurology Department at the University of Pennsylvania Health System and located at two hospitals, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Hospital. The rotations will be available as 1 or 2 day per week placements, for 6 or 12-month rotations, based on availability and preference. Some rotations may also offer opportunities to provide supervision to more junior trainees. The neuropsychology track intern may have the option to take one 6-month rotation outside of the neuropsychology track, based on availability and training goals.
Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center (PD&MDC) Rotation: The PD&MDC at the University of Pennsylvania has been recognized by the National Parkinson Foundation as one of 45 worldwide "Centers of Excellence" and is among the largest of its kind in the country. Our center provides comprehensive evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, and management for a range of movement disorders, including but not limited to Parkinson’s disease, atypical and secondary parkinsonism, Huntington’s disease, essential tremor, ataxia, functional movement disorders and etc. Neuropsychological evaluations are conducted to assess cognitive and neuropsychiatric functioning and to assist with clarifying diagnosis and treatment planning, such as appropriateness for deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery and other interventional procedures. In addition to weekly supervision, the intern will be involved in monthly DBS case conference meetings, presenting findings of the neuropsychological evaluation when their patients are discussed in surgical conference. The intern will also participate in feedback sessions with patients and their caregivers, providing recommendations for evidence-based interventions specific to the movement disorders population. Supervisor: Baochan Tran, PsyD, Clinical Director, Neuropsychology Division
General Neuropsychology Rotation: Penn Neurology has 17 divisions and programs, including divisions of epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, cognitive and stroke, neurodegenerative disease specialty centers (e.g. Penn Memory Center and Frontotemporal Degeneration Center), a neuro post-COVID clinic, and a specialty center for evaluation and treatment of patients with Traumatic Brain Injury. This rotation will include assessment of patients referred from across the department for comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations. Interns will be involved in all aspects of the evaluation, including interviews, testing, report writing, and feedback. Supervisor: TBD
General Neuropsychology Rotation with Bilingual option: Penn Neurology has multiple specialty centers for assessing and treating patients with neurodegenerative disease (e.g. Penn Memory Center and Frontotemporal Degeneration Center), a dedicated neuro post-COVID clinic, and a specialty center for evaluation and treatment of patients with Traumatic Brain Injury. This rotation will include assessment of patients referred from these clinics for comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations. Interns with be involved in all aspects of the evaluation, including interviews, testing, report writing, and feedback. Bilingual (Spanish speaking) interns will have the opportunity to perform evaluations with Spanish-speaking patients alongside the bilingual supervisor.Supervisor: Katya Rascovsky, PhD
Penn Memory Center, Psychotherapeutic Intervention in MCI Rotation: The Penn Memory Center (PMC) is made up of a multidisciplinary team with expertise in neurology, gerontology, psychiatry, neuropsychology and social work. The PMC serves as a unified Penn Medicine source for those age 65 and older seeking evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, information, and research opportunities related to symptoms of progressive memory loss, and accompanying changes in thinking, communication and personality. The Cognitive Fitness Psychotherapy Group is an 8-week intervention group for individuals with MCI, who are experiencing symptoms of depression and/or anxiety. The group employs an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) approach to address distressing thoughts and feelings and incorporates compensatory strategies to implement use of ACT tools. This is a one day/week position. Supervisor: Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton, PhD, ABPP/CN, Chief, Neuropsychology Division
Penn Memory Center, Brief Assessment Rotation. Brief Assessment Rotation. The Penn Memory Center (PMC) is made up of a multidisciplinary team with expertise in neurology, gerontology, psychiatry, neuropsychology and social work. The PMC serves as a unified Penn Medicine source for those age 65 and older seeking evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, information, and research opportunities related to symptoms of progressive memory loss, and accompanying changes in thinking, communication and personality. This one day/week position includes brief clinical screenings for individual's with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias. The intern will attend weekly consensus conference and present the brief cognitive screening to the multidisciplinary team. Primary Supervisor: Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton, Ph.D., ABPP-CN
Research Opportunities: The neuropsychology track intern will have the opportunity to engage in a research project once their dissertation is complete. There are ample opportunities within the Neurology Department, associated centers (e.g. Penn Memory Center, Penn Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center) and with several rotation supervisors to find a match for the intern’s area of research interest.
Clinical Rotations – Student Health and Counseling track (**NEW**)
Student Health and Counseling provides comprehensive holistic care to University of Pennsylvania students. As a doctoral intern you willreceive training and experience in performing the central responsibilities of a psychologist in a multidisciplinary university counseling environment. Our professional staff consists of clinical psychologists, counseling psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, social workers, licensed professional counselors, behavioral health consultants, and trainees. There are opportunities to participate inindividual psychotherapy, group therapy, same day/urgent diagnostic assessment, crisis management, and consultation. We strive to foster an intern’s growth through an emphasis on self-awareness, cultural competency, collaboration, and the impact of social identities on all aspects of their work. At Student Health and Counseling we provide primarilyshort-term individual therapy and group therapy to a population of high-achieving students from diverse ethnic, racial, geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Interns will experience a spectrum of diagnostic categories and clinical presentations including depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, academic stress, disordered eating, and relationship problems.
Primary Supervisor: Michele Downie, PhD, Associate Director
