Universal Psychology Postdoctoral Directory

Elements of quality clinically focused postdoctoral training

Program Overview

The Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) Program is a state-of-the-art, multidisciplinary training program, established in 1992 at the Boston Children's Hospital with support from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The LEAH program, one of seven in the U.S., provides leadership training in adolescent health for psychologists, nutritionists, social workers, nurses, and physicians so that they can become effective clinicians, teachers, program directors, and productive researchers in a variety of health care settings. We also train post-doctoral researchers in public health, epidemiology, and health disparities. We are proud of the commitment to interdisciplinary collaborations and the accomplishments of our graduates.

The Setting

The Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital was founded in 1951 as the first clinic specially targeted to the needs of adolescent patients. It is the site of the oldest adolescent medicine training program in the United States and for more than 70 years has provided comprehensive primary and specialty clinical care to diverse adolescents and young adults 10-25 years old from Boston, the suburbs, New England, and beyond. The Adolescent/Young Adult Medical Practice at Longwood and the satellites have more than 19,000 patient visits per year. Patients represent the range of racial/ethnic groups residing in the Boston area. One-third of patients in our clinic have Medicaid. Clinical services include primary and subspecialty care, integrated mental health treatment, family based treatment, psychopharmacology, HIV testing and care, reproductive health and gynecological services (menstrual problems, endometriosis, family planning and Long-Acting Reversible Contraception [LARC], sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy), all mental health diagnoses, including specialty programs for eating disorders, obesity, binge eating disorders, and internet addiction, and complex care problems, including chronic fatigue, transplant, HIV, and special health care needs.

Clinical Training

Clinical experience is gained with a focus on empirically validated treatments in an outpatient integrated medical and mental health setting within the Adolescent/Young Adult Practice. The training includes conducting evaluation and providing treatment in a primary and outpatient specialty care program that addresses a range of presenting challenges, including: depression, anxiety, trauma, ADHD, family issues, coping with chronic medical illness, substance use, and gender issues as well as the provision of services in the multidisciplinary wellness program (health behaviors, eating behaviors, and nutrition) and eating disorder program (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and ARFID). There are also opportunities to be trained in providing consultative evaluations for chronic fatigue or complex medical problems. The Psychology training directors provide supervision and teaching and assist each fellow in selecting a component of the program for additional focused learning during the training year.

Education

The LEAH Fellows in Adolescent Medicine, Nursing, Nutrition, Social Work, and Psychology all participate in interdisciplinary and discipline-specific curricula, including seminars in adolescent medical problems, reproductive health, general mental health issues with an emphasis on eating disorders, HIV positive and at-risk youth, advocacy, public policy, prevention, human differences, health equity, adolescent development, research skills, and teaching.

The Program has more than 30 dedicated internationally recognized faculty who teach the seminars and continuing education courses, author research articles and reviews, write grants, and collaborate with state and federal programs and community-based organizations. The faculty and fellows give presentations to professional audiences, families and youth, schools, and public health conferences in addition to providing consultations for technical assistance to schools, professional organizations, government agencies, and other sites. The psychology fellow also teaches mental health concepts to medicine trainees (e.g., pediatric residents and medical students) who rotate through the clinic.

Research

The program is committed to undertaking research vital to the promotion of adolescent health and, therefore, involvement in research projects is an important component of training. The Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine has an active research program with many nationally renowned, funded investigators who provide excellent mentoring to trainees. In addition, the program provides protected time for the fellow to complete a project, abstract, and/or article for publication.

Qualification & Training

In conjunction with the directors of the psychology program, each psychology fellow selects the specific components of their experiential phase of the program. The intent is to match the interests of the fellow with training opportunities at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and then to plan a schedule that includes direct service, research, teaching, and leadership projects. A major objective is for the psychology fellow to be in multidisciplinary learning and service delivery environments that will advance adolescent/young adult health.

The Director of the LEAH Postdoctoral Psychology Fellowship is Grace Jhe, PhD, who can be reached at grace.jhe@childrens.harvard.edu. The Associate Director of the LEAH Postdoctoral Psychology Fellowship is Michelle Codner, PsyD, who can be reached at michelle.codner@childrens.harvard.edu. The LEAH Coordinator is Jennifer Liu Goluszka, who can be reached at 617-355-5482 or jennifer.liugoluszka@childrens.harvard.edu, and the PI of the LEAH Program is Sarah Pitts, MD, who can be reached at sarah.pitts@childrens.harvard.edu.