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Boston Children's Hospital/Pain Treatment Service

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Boston Children's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts

Starts on Tuesday, September 2, 2025

Applications due Monday, December 16, 2024

This training experience is not an APPIC Member program and is not APA Accredited. Applicants should be aware that this training experience has not undergone a formal external quality review process.

Elements of quality clinically focused postdoctoral training

This training experience is a planned and programmed sequence of training that aims to ensure preparation for advanced practice rather than one that is focused on providing supervised hours for licensure. Yes

This training experience ensures that training takes precedence over service delivery regarding the nature, content, volume, and quality of the postdoc’s activities. Yes

This training experience ensures that postdocs receive at least two hours of individual supervision per week for the duration oof the experience. Yes

This training experience is administered by a doctoral-level licensed psychologist who directs and organizes the training experience and its resources, is responsible for the selection of postdocs, and monitors and evaluates the goals and activities of the experience. Yes

This training experience has two or more doctoral-level licensed psychologists who have sufficient time to provide quality supervision and training.   Yes

This training experience includes regularly scheduled structured educational activities that help postdocs its defined goals. These activities may include didactics, seminars, case conferences, and/or research activities. Yes

This training experience has written Due Process and Grievance procedures. Yes

This training experience has the stable and necessary financial (e.g., stipend) and physical resources (e.g., computers, physical space) needed for effective training. Yes

Program Overview

The Pain Treatment Service (PTS) at Boston Children’s Hospital is a multidisciplinary program specializing in pediatric pain management. Our program is the largest pediatric pain management program in the country and has served as a training ground for many current leaders in the field of pediatric pain management across disciplines. Psychology fellows in this program will develop their skills in the assessment and treatment of a wide range of chronic pain conditions. The program includes an outpatient chronic pain clinic, outpatient headache clinic, intensive day hospital pediatric pain rehabilitation programs, and a pain-CBT group workshop. Physicians, physical therapists, psychologists, nurses, and fellows work collaboratively on a clinical team to address the complex problems faced by patients and their families. Fellows’ clinical time will be divided between 6 months in outpatient pain clinic settings and 6 months in intensive interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation programs, with involvement as a facilitator in our Comfort Ability Program workshops throughout the training year. Fellows are also able to choose a training elective in areas such as interventional pain management, young adult treatment, and inpatient care.

Position

We anticipate accepting 1 or 2 postdoctoral fellows for the 2025-2026 training year. The fellowship is a 12-month position with a primary clinical focus in the above-noted clinical care settings. Clinical hours and supervision for licensure will be provided. Fellowship activities will occur at our primary clinical site located in Brookline, MA, near the main BCH Longwood campus.

Ample opportunities exist for participation in seminars and lectures in the Psychiatry and Anesthesia Departments of Boston Children's Hospital as well as through multi-site pediatric pain psychology trainee didactic series.

Approximately 25% of the fellow’s time is available for participating in ongoing research projects and/or program development initiatives. Examples of current research opportunities include studies of virtual reality in pediatric pain care, treatment outcomes in intensive interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation, studies related to our Comfort Ability workshops, efforts to improve equitable access to pediatric chronic pain treatment, and studies of stress-based biological risk factors related to chronic pain. Development and completion of independent projects is also supported. Applicants with previous experience with and commitment to applied clinical research are preferred.

The position requires a one-year commitment. The option for a second-year advanced fellowship is available with consideration of funding and matching fellow/program interests.

Questions about the Pain Treatment Service fellowship are best addressed via email to Deirdre Logan, PhD (deirdre.logan@childrens.harvard.edu).

Additional Information

Agency Type
Childrens Hospital
APPIC Membership
No
APA Accredited
No
Recognized Specialty
Clinical Health Psychology
Emphasis or focus area
Child/Adolescent
Research Time
Less than 25%
Training Director
Kevin Tsang, PsyD
Contact Email
kevin.tsang@childrens.harvard.edu
Contact Phone
617-355-7989
Virtual Interviews
Virtual Only
Duration in Months
12
Hours Per Week
40
# of Licensed Supervisors
10
Number of Positions
2
Applications recieved last year
6
Stipend
$70,000
Will follow APPIC Selection Standards
Yes
Estimated offer date
Friday, February 7 2025
Unfilled Positions
2
Fringe Benefits
The basic salary level for a first-year postdoctoral fellow (2025-2026) is expected $70,000 full-time equivalent. Funding for military personnel or candidates with external federal or grant support will be approved at the level authorized by the funding agency so long as that amount exceeds the basic stipend level. Benefits include medical/dental insurance, 20 vacation and 5 professional leave days, and 10 hospital holidays yearly.
Research opportunities
Approximately 25% of the fellow’s time will be spent participating in ongoing research projects. Current research opportunities include studies of school functioning in adolescents with chronic pain syndromes, treatment outcomes in intensive interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation, innovative treatments for chronic pain (e.g., VR-based interventions), studies related to our Comfort Ability group-based pain coping workshops, family influences on the pediatric pain experience, and studies of stress-based biological risk factors related to chronic pain. Development and completion of independent projects is also supported. Applicants with previous experience with and commitment to applied clinical research are preferred.
Additional Comments
Information about the Boston Children's Hospital, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Psychology Fellowship Program, including all fellowship offerings for the coming training year, can be found here: https://www.childrenshospital.org/departments/psychiatry/training-programs/psychology-fellowship-program. A full brochure describing all fellowship opportunities available in psychology at Boston Children's Hospital can be obtained via the website above or by contacting Courtney Kellogg at courtney.kellogg@childrens.harvard.edu. Applicants must have (1) completed an APA-/CPA-/PCSAS-accredited doctoral program; (2) prior to beginning fellowship, will have completed an APA-/CPA-accredited internship; (3) prior to beginning fellowship, will have defended dissertation and all other doctoral requirements.
Application Instructions
APPA CAS will be utilized for application submission. Interested candidates are asked to prepare the following: a letter of interest/personal statement, curriculum vitae, APPA CAS application, three letters of reference, and a certified transcript of doctoral work (submitted directly to APPA CAS). Letters of reference should be requested electronically in APPA CAS and uploaded directly by the letter writer. For questions, please contact Dr. Deirdre Logan (deirdre.logan@childrens.harvard.edu).

This record was last updated on Wednesday, November 13, 2024

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