Thank you very much for your interest in the Psychology and Medicine Postdoctoral Fellowship.
The application period for candidates starting in Fall 2022 is now closed. We will resume accepting applications in December 2023 for candidates starting Fall 2024. Please check back with us in late November or early December 2023 for specific dates for the start and end of the application period for candidates starting in Fall 2024.
Underrepresented minorities are encouraged to apply.
If you have any questions about our program, please send us an email or give us a call (415-476-7285).
Description of program and admission procedure
Program Focus. This NIMH-funded postdoctoral program trains researchers to link basic psychological theories and research to preventing and ameliorating disease. There are two areas, and cross-cutting both areas is a consideration of racial/ethnic disparities in mental and physical illness and the mechanisms by which they occur. The two areas are: (1) Health-behavior: Fellows in this area focus on research examining sleep processes, eating, exercise, and risk-taking behavior to understand and modify health-risk behaviors. (2) Stress, depression, psychobiology and disease: Fellows in this area focus on theoretical and biological approaches to studying stress, and other affective states that can contribute to poor physical or mental health. There is an emphasis on life span approaches, specifically developmental processes as a critical period. We emphasize common pathways to multiple disease outcomes, especially those spanning mental and physical illness.
Program Structure. Fellows will be appointed for two years. In some instances, an optional third year may be possible. It is expected that about one-third of the fellow's time will be spent in formal seminars. All fellows take a core Biology and Affective Science and a Research Process Seminar in both years of the fellowship and may take other courses and seminars. The remaining two-thirds of the fellows’ time will be conducting research. Fellows will participate in their faculty mentor's research laboratory and will develop their own research study or work with a faculty mentor on secondary data analyses.
Faculty. There are 25 faculty in our program (3 Co-director faculty, 6 leadership faculty, 16 teaching/mentoring faculty) including psychologists, psychiatrists, internists, pediatricians, sociologists, and biostatisticians. Fellows will be expected to work with a primary mentor from among the faculty.
Stipend. Stipend levels are set by NIMH and depend on years of related experience.
Admission Procedure
Qualifications. The program is designed primarily for PhD and/or MD psychologists or psychiatrists who have a strong foundation in theory and methods and seek an opportunity to deepen and/or expand their research skills. In order to qualify for this federally funded grant, an applicant must be a U.S. citizen, a non-citizen national or a foreign national possessing a visa permitting permanent residence in the U.S.; having a temporary or student visa is not acceptable under this grant. However, we would be happy to consider applications of non-citizens if applicants are able to find funding individually through their own government or other sources.
Application. Applicants should send a current curriculum vitae and a research statement (no longer than 4 pages) describing (1) your educational and research background, (2) areas of interest, and (3) what you would like to accomplish in your postdoctoral training. These documents can be sent as PDF attachments by e-mail to [email protected].
Applicants should also arrange for three letters of reference to be sent directly to us from the referees. Referees can email them as PDF attachments to [email protected]. E-mail reference letters should have the referrer's digital signature and be sent from the referrer's e-mail address.
Review process. Soon after the closing date for applications, we will review all applications, identify the most competitive applicants and conduct phone/zoom interviews to inform final decisions and to determine appropriate faculty mentors. Final decisions will be made on the basis of the strength of the applicant, fit with the program, and maintaining a balance of interests among the fellows.
Fellows must begin the program by September 2024 and must have completed their PhD or MD and have supporting documentation by that time.
The Faculty of the Department of Psychiatry of the University of California, San Francisco, affirms as one of its major priorities the training of women and minorities for academic careers.
For further information, please contact:
Russell Heiman
Program Assistant
Health Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
University of California, San Francisco
675 18th St., PB-5250
Box 0984
San Francisco, CA 94143
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 415.476.7285