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NIH Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships

Former NIMH Trainees   |    Current NIMH Trainees   |    Current Faculty   |   


The Health Psychology Program houses two NIH training programs, one funded by NIMH and one by NIGMS. Descriptions of both are below, and the persons to contact for more information. All predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States, and applicants are not eligible if they have received 3 years of prior PHS support. Under-represented minorities are encouraged to apply when openings occur.

NIMH 15750 Biobehavioral Training in Mental and Physical Health

The primary goal of this program is to train research scientists in the development and application of basic theories and research in psychology to issues of physical and mental health and their interrelationship. Our program for predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows includes coursework and intensive supervised research in laboratory, clinical, and community settings. Our program has strong expertise in a number of important biobehavioral processes relevant to mental health and physical illness including stress processes, ethnic disparities, comorbidities across the lifespan, and health promotion and prevention. These areas of concentration in the program are supplemented by further expertise among the faculty in human and animal models of specific mental disorders and physical diseases. For more details contact Dr. Chris Dunkel Schetter, PI, dunkel@psych.ucla.edu; or Annette Stanton, CoPI, astanton@.ucla.edu

NIGMS Integrated Training in the Population, Behavioral, and Biomedical Sciences

This program is a collaborative arrangement between Health Psychology and California Center for Population Research (Cameron Campbell, PI; Julienne Bower, CoPI). It is funded to train predoctoral students from behavioral and social sciences in biomedical theory, evidence, and methods and mentors them to integrate these approaches into health psychology and population health research. The overarching goal is to train interdisciplinary investigators who examine complex pathways through which demographic, socioeconomic, and psychological processes influence and are influenced by health and disease. For more details, contact Dr. Julienne Bower, CoPI, jbower@ucla.edu or Chris Dunkel Schetter, CoInv, dunkel@psych.ucla.edu

Predoctoral Fellowships

The NIMH training grant provides 2 fellowships for predoctoral trainees in health psychology or other areas of psychology. The NIGMS training grant provides 2 fellowships for predoctoral trainees in health psychology. Students are typically appointed in their second or third year of training and area funded for two years. The training grant pays for registration fees and provides a stipend set by NIH standards ($21,180 per year in 2010-2011) plus health insurance, conference travel and training related expenses. Invitations to apply for openings are circulated to all Psychology graduate students when they occur, typically in March.

Postdoctoral Fellowships

The NIMH training grant provides 2 fellowships for postdoctoral trainees focusing on mental health as it intersects with any of our other areas of expertise. Applicants must have completed a PhD in an accredited psychology program or related field. Opening are advertised and inquiries are accepted at any time. Each postdoctoral fellow enters the program with a designated primary and secondary faculty mentor, one of which is from the core faculty. Address inquiries to Prof. Chris Dunkel Schetter at dunkel@psych.ucla.edu

Professor Chris Dunkel Schetter
Director of Health Psychology
Department of Psychology

University of California, Los Angeles
1285 Franz Hall
Box 951563
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563
dunkel@psych.ucla.edu

All predoctoral and postdoctoral NIMH trainees must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States, and applicants are not eligible if they have received 3 years prior PHS support. Underrepresented minorities are encouraged to apply.

Former NIMH Trainees

Kathryn Brooks

brooksk@ucla.edu

Psychological and biological pathways linking social relationships and physical health, social support and negativity, attachment, stress and allostatic processes.

Keely Muscatell

kmuscatell@ucla.edu

Neural mechanisms by which social stressors have the ability to upregulate biological stress processes to influence health. How acute and chronic stressors are represented in the brain using functional MRI. How stressors can lead to increases in inflammation, changes in gene expression, and ultimately, detrimental health outcomes.

Christine Robbins

crobbins@ucla.edu

Stress and coping processes in women's reproductive health, stress-reduction interventions including mindfulness meditation training, pre- and postnatal health behaviors.

Gretchen Sholty

gsholty@ucla.edu

The influence of psychosocial stress on the onset and course of schizophrenia, with a particular focus on the biological mediators of stress-symptom relationships and the psychosocial and genetic factors that influence these relationships.


Lynlee Tanner

lrtanner@ucla.edu

Partner and family relationship predictors of postpartum depression and anxiety; ethnic and cultural variations in PPD and its predictors; influence of early partner relationship functioning on pregnancy outcomes and infant/child development.



 

Heidi Kane, Ph.D.

kane@psych.ucla.edu

Stress and coping processes with an emphasis on social support and caregiving in romantic relationships; biopsychosocial pathways through which romantic relationships influence health; social perception processes in close relationships.

Current NIMH Trainees

Predoctoral Trainees

Andrea Niles, M.A.

aniles@ucla.edu

Interested in the relationship between anxiety disorders and physical health and whether treatments for anxiety disorders can have beneficial effects on physical functioning.  In particular, her research focuses on how emotion regulation strategies such as mindfulness and cognitive reappraisal may be beneficial for physical health. 

Elizabeth Raposa, M.A.

raposa@ucla.edu

Interested in the relationships among interpersonal stress, depression, and health. In particular, she is interested in exploring the effects of early adversity on inflammatory processes and later depression, and the role that interpersonal relationships might play in buffering or exacerbating these effects.

Alyssa Cheadle, MTS.

alyssacheadle@gmail.com

Interested in the connections between health and positive pro-social values and behaviors promoted by religious and spiritual worldviews. Her current research focuses on how religious and spiritual beliefs and behaviors may be beneficial for mental health

Postdoctoral Trainees

Jenn Hahn Holbrook Photo.jpg  

Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook, Ph.D.

jhahn@psych.ucla.edu

Cognitive, evolutionary, and health psychology. Role of hormone in shaping maternal psychology and behavior. Three main research areas: understanding the evolutionary origins of maternal attachment and care giving behaviors, elucidating how hormonal shifts surrounding the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and lactation influence women's psychological health and cognition, and determining the role of stress in both motivating and undermining maternal behaviors and coping.

Ben Tabak, Ph.D.

btabak@psych.ucla.edu

Intersection of genetic, neural, and psychological aspects of social processes (e.g., cooperation, reactions to interpersonal conflict, empathy, and altruism) and how these factors contribute to health and well-being. His recent research focuses on the effects of oxytocin and vasopressin on social cognition and behavior, as well as genetic and neural predictors of social anxiety.

Eynav Accortt, Ph.D.

eaccortt@psych.ucla.edu

Physiological (immune, endocrine, metabolic) risk factors that put women at higher risk for depression, anxiety and other mental disorders. Her research focuses on mood and anxiety disorders during the female reproductive life cycle and in response to illness. As a clinical scientist, she is also interested in testing the effectiveness of alternative and cognitive-behavioral interventions for depressed and anxious women in pregnancy, postpartum and following diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

 

 

 

Core Faculty in Psychology

 Christine Dunkel Schetter, Director
  dunkel@psych.ucla.edu
 Annette Stanton, CoDirector
  astanton@ucla.edu
 Julienne Bower
  jbower@ucla.edu
 Naomi Eisenberger
  neisenbe@ucla.edu
 Michael Irwin
  mirwin1@ucla.edu
 Jennifer Krull
  krull@psych.ucla.edu
 Hector Myers
  myers@psych.ucla.edu
 Rena Repetti
  repetti@psych.ucla.edu
 Ted Robles
  robles@psych.ucla.edu
 Shelley Taylor
  taylors@psych.ucla.edu

  Janet Tomiyama

  tomiyama@psych.ucla.edu 



Affiliated Faculty, NIMH Training Grant Behavioral Issues in Mental and Physical Health

 Peter Bentler - Psychology
  bentler@ucla.edu
 Mary Jane Rotherman Borus - Medicine
  Rotheram@ucla.edu
 Thomas Bradbury - Psychology
  bradbury@psych.ucla.edu
 Ty Cannon - Psychology
  cannon@psych.ucla.edu
 Michelle Craske - Psychology
  craske@psych.ucla.edu
 Oscar Grusky - Sociology
  grusky@ucla.edu
 Connie Hammen - Psychology
  hammen@psych.ucla.edu
 Anna Lau - Psychology
  alau@psych.ucla.edu
 Steve Lee - Psychology
  stevelee@psych.ucla.edu
 Ty Cannon - Psychology
  cannon@psych.ucla.edu
 Bruce Chorpita - Psychology
  chorpita@ucla.edu
 Andrew Christensen - Psychology
  christensen@psych.ucla.edu
 Thomas Coates - Medicine
  tcoates@mednet.ucla.edu
 Steve Cole - Medicine
  coles@ucla.edu
 Robert Kaplan - Public Health
  rmkaplan@ucla.edu
 Benjamin Karney - Psychology
  karney@psych.ucla.edu
 Andrew Leuchter - Psychiatry
  afl@ucla.edu
 Matthew Lieberman - Psychology
  lieber@ucla.edu
 Lara Ray - Psychology
  lararay@psych.ucla.edu
 Steven Reise - Psychology
  reise@psych.ucla.edu
 Teresa Seeman - Medicine
  tseeman@mednet.ucla.edu
 Judith Siegel - Public Health
  jmsiegel@ucla.edu
 Steve Shoptaw - Medicine
  sshoptaw@mednet.ucla.edu
 Nim Tottenham - Psychology
  ntottenham@psych.ucla.edu
 Gail Wyatt - Psychiatry
  gwyatt@mednet.ucla.edu
 Cindy Yee-Bradbury - Psychology
  yee@psych.ucla.edu
 Lonnie Zeltzer - Pediatrics
  LZeltzer@mednet.ucla.edu

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