Clinical Psychology Training Program - UCSF Department of ...

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY 

training program 

University of California 

San Francisco 

Department of Psychiatry

UCSF Clinical Psychology Training Program 

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO 

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY 

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAM 

A two-year Fellowship composed of: 

• a general clinical psychology predoctoral internship (APA-accredited) 

• a postdoctoral research/clinical year 

Dedicated to the training of clinical psychologists: 

• committed to an academic and/or research career 

• with a strong record of both clinical and research experience 

Committed to: 

• preparing research oriented psychologists 

to work sensitively and competently with 

underserved populations, including the 

chronically mentally ill, minorities, lowincome 

individuals, and primary care 

medical patients. 

Provides specialized research training in: 

• ADHD/disruptive behavior disorders 

• neuropsychology 

• pain management 

• post traumatic stress disorder 

• recognition, prevention and treatment of 

depression 

• internet research on smoking and 

depression 

• substance abuse 

• geriatric mental health 

• violence and trauma in adults and 

children 

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 

as researchers and clinician-teachers. 

We are therefore actively seeking individuals 

who plan to undertake leadership roles 

in research and training 

in the mental health fields. 

Our faculty is explicitly committed 

to providing the mentorship and support necessary 

to facilitate successful entry into academic positions. 

CPTP Brochure, edition 2006: For class entering program on July 1, 2007 and ending on June 30, 2009


TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Program Description ...................................................................................................................................3 

Stipends .......................................................................................................................................................3 

Program Administration ............................................................................................................................3 

Deadline for Application ............................................................................................................................4 

Mission Statement .......................................................................................................................................4 

Recommended Timeline..............................................................................................................................5 

Training Sites ..............................................................................................................................................6 

Application and Selection Procedure ........................................................................................................7 

Areas of Specialization .............................................................................................................................. 8 

Clusters ........................................................................................................................................................8 

Public Service and Minority Cluster ........................................................................................................9 

Clinical Assessment and Interventions Cluster .....................................................................................12 

Sample Training Schedules ......................................................................................................................16 

Additional Research Opportunities Available to Clinical Psychology Applicants..............................19 

Faculty .......................................................................................................................................................24 

APPIC Match Policies...............................................................................................................................28 

UCSF Nondiscrimination Policy .............................................................................................................28 

Internship Accreditation ..........................................................................................................................28 

2


PROGRAM DESCRIPTION 

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Clinical Psychology Training Program in the Department 

of Psychiatry offers a two-year fellowship opportunity. The Predoctoral Fellowship consists of a clinical 

internship followed by a one-year postdoctoral clinical/research fellowship. Our graduates are expected to pursue 

careers emphasizing research and training in academic/research settings, including those affiliated with health and 

mental health service systems. Over the last ten years, 71% of our graduates have obtained research or academic 

positions upon leaving our program. 

Increasing the number of women and minorities in academic and research positions is one of our goals. 

During the last twenty years, 61% of our Fellows have been women, and 26% have been minorities. 

The predoctoral year provides general internship training in clinical psychology with opportunity to specialize 

in one of two cluster areas. Selected involvement in clinical work continues through the second, postdoctoral year, 

in which there is an emphasis on research within the area of specialization. The amount and distribution of clinical 

hours in the program meet APA internship accreditation standards as well as general licensure requirements. 

Applicants for the two-year program should have completed all other requirements for the doctoral degree, 

preferably including the dissertation, at an APA-accredited program in clinical psychology. The UCSF Clinical 

Psychology Training Program follows the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) 

Match Policies (See page 28). Advancement into the Postdoctoral Fellowship requires completion of the doctoral 

degree. Therefore, if all requirements for their degree at their home university have not been completed by the end 

of the first year (June 30, 2008), the Fellow will either remain in predoctoral status or be asked to leave the 

program. 

STIPENDS 

Stipends are $26,186 for the predoctoral year and $36,996 for the postdoctoral year. Postdoctoral stipends 

may be supplemented from research grants. Clinical “moonlighting” is not permitted. 

PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION 

DIRECTOR OF TRAINING 

Ricardo F. Muñoz, Ph.D. 

ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS OF TRAINING 

Patricia A. Areán, Ph.D. 

Alicia Lieberman, Ph.D. 

Dale E. McNiel, Ph.D. 

James L. Sorensen, Ph.D. 

PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR 

Hugo A. Sosa 

To obtain application forms and additional information, please contact: 

Clinical Psychology Training Program 

University of California, San Francisco 

401 Parnassus Avenue, Box CPT 

San Francisco, California 94143-0984 

Phone: (415) 476-7272 

psychologyinfo@lppi.ucsf.edu 

3


Deadline for receipt of applications: Wednesday, November 1, 2006 

Interviews are granted only to individuals who have submitted a completed application and are highly ranked 

by faculty. Scheduled interview dates this year are December 11 th and 15 th , 2006. Alternate dates can sometimes 

be arranged. 

MISSION STATEMENT 

The UCSF Clinical Psychology Training Program provides doctoral students in clinical psychology who are 

headed for academic and research careers with both material and personal support during a crucial transitional 

period in their professional development. Given the current state of the field, a postdoctoral year is essential to 

successfully enter academic and research positions. Thus, graduate students face the possibility of having to 

manage four environments during as many years: their graduate program, a clinical internship, a postdoctoral 

year, and their first academic or research position. At the same time, the psychologist-in-training is undergoing a 

change of identity from student, to doctoral-level professional, to licensed psychologist (and, therefore, 

independent practitioner), and to faculty member and/or principal investigator on research projects. 

The UCSF two-year program encompasses the (predominantly clinical) predoctoral internship required for the 

doctorate in clinical psychology and a postdoctoral year emphasizing research as well as providing the continuing 

supervised clinical experience necessary for licensing. Thus, the Fellow is assured of obtaining both of the 

experiences needed to continue smoothly into a scientist-practitioner career path. Our intent is to help the Fellow 

obtain the research momentum to facilitate successful entry into academic positions. We require that applicants 

carefully select the research area that best fits their goals as part of the application procedure in order to arrange for 

the faculty member in charge of that research program to become the Fellow's mentor during the two years with us. 

By becoming familiar with the mentor's work and research methods during the first year, it is possible to begin an 

empirical clinical research project which can be completed during the second year. This is why we count progress 

toward dissertation completion so highly in our selection process: the earlier the dissertation is done, the sooner 

new research plans can take shape. (In addition, of course, the postdoctoral year cannot begin unless the doctorate 

has been completed.) 

An added source of emotional support during the two years is the support provided by being one of eight to ten 

trainees, half of whom have gone through the rigorous and demanding predoctoral year and can serve as senior 

advisors to the new Fellows, but who also can benefit from the group's support as they face the challenges of 

launching a research program and beginning a job search. This is one of the advantages that the program 

framework offers over individual postdoctoral fellowships. 

We provide the Recommended Timeline for UCSF CPTP Fellows (Page 5) to make explicit our expectations 

and recommendations to prospective Fellows. Few Fellows will achieve all the illustrated milestones on time, but 

we hope that having a clear view of the two-year Fellowship goals will increase the proportion who come close to 

the mark. We include our recommendations for dissertation completion prior to starting the Fellowship because 

we have found that working on the dissertation during the predoctoral year is both extremely stressful and delays 

work on the empirical clinical research project. All other things being equal, we prefer to admit candidates whose 

dissertation proposal is approved and data collection completed prior to the APPIC Rank Order List Submission 

Deadline (February 7, 2007). We strongly encourage that data collection for the empirical clinical research project 

takes place in the 10 months ending in December of the postdoctoral year. This allows for travel for job interviews 

during January to April, and analysis and write up of results prior to leaving UCSF. We will do all we can to 

facilitate achievement of this admittedly ambitious timeline. We believe having the dissertation and the empirical 

clinical research project submitted for publication prior to starting a faculty position will greatly enhance our 

graduates' quality of life as new assistant professors. 

4

RECOMMENDED TIMELINE FOR UCSF CPTP FELLOWS 

APPLICATION YEAR 

Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun 

Prior to applying: 

1 Dissertation proposal approved 

2 Data collection underway 

PREDOCTORAL YEAR 

11/01/06 

UCSF 

application 

deadline 

3 Data collection 

completed 

12/11/06 &12/15/06 

UCSF interview 

dates 

4 Data analysis 

completed 

2/7/07 2/26/07 

Rank Match 

Order Day 

List 

5 Final draft 6 Dissertation 

completed defended & 

turned in 


Clinical Rotations 

80% time 

Clinical Rotations time 

commitment changes to 50% - 70% 

Begin planning clinical 

research project with 

research mentor 

10% time 

Seminars - 10% time 

Submit Human 

Subjects application 

Begin data collection 

20% - 40% time 

5 

Write up dissertation & submit for publication Begin drafting research statement (for job applications) 

POSTDOCTORAL YEAR 


Clinical rotations 

40% - 50% 

Empirical clinical 

research project 

continues 

40% - 50% time 

Data collection 

completed 

Data analysis 

completed 

Write up and 

submit for publication 

and/or presentation 

Seminars 10% time 

Begin preparing 

job talk 

Submit job 

applications 

Job Talks -- can 

include dissertation 

and empirical clinical 

research project 

Conclude negotiations 

Prepare for 

faculty position


TRAINING SITES 

The University of California, San Francisco, is one of ten campuses of the University of California, and the 

only one devoted solely to the health sciences. The principal teaching missions of the campus are the education of 

health practitioners in dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, the allied health professions, and the graduate 

education of research investigators and teachers in the biological and social sciences. A large and outstanding 

university, UCSF employs over 16,256 people, and regularly ranks as one of the top medical schools in the 

country in amount of research funds received from the National Institutes of Health. In addition to serving the 

local communities, patients are referred to UCSF from throughout California and all over the world for 

consultation, diagnosis, and treatment when these patients require highly specialized knowledge or procedures 

because of the seriousness or complexity of their illness. Two major teaching hospitals, the Joseph M. Long 

Hospital and the Herbert C. Moffitt Hospital, are located on the UCSF Parnassus campus. 

The UCSF Department of Psychiatry has programs located in several institutions: the Langley Porter 

Psychiatric Institute, the San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center, Mount Zion Medical Center and the VA 

Medical Center, where UCSF faculty have full responsibility for teaching, research, and patient care. In addition 

to predoctoral and postdoctoral training in clinical psychology, the department has clinical training programs in 

psychiatry, nursing and rehabilitation therapies, and academic training programs in several social science areas. 

The multidisciplinary faculty of the department includes both full-time faculty and a large volunteer clinical 

faculty. 

As part of UCSF, the Clinical Psychology Training Program shares in the educational resources of the Schools 

of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, and Pharmacy, and of the graduate programs in the life sciences. The University 

maintains a large medical library within a new state-of-the-art facility that contains excellent collections in 

psychiatry, psychology, and related fields. Its computer-based catalog and interlibrary loan service provides 

Fellows with access to libraries at the ten campuses of the University of California system. Fellows are provided 

electronic mail with access to the Internet as well as voice mail. The two major training sites for the Clinical 

Psychology Training Program are: 

Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute 

The Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute (LPPI) is a teaching, research, and clinical service facility located on 

the UCSF Parnassus Avenue campus. LPPI child and adult clinics, with 20,000 outpatient visits annually, offer 

individual, group, and family therapies to a socially and culturally diverse population. The Consultation Liaison 

Service provides psychiatric services to inpatient areas and the Emergency Department of the medical center. The 

Adult Psychiatry Clinic provides services to outpatients. The LPPI Adult Inpatient Program has about 750 

hospital admissions annually. The Partial Hospitalization Program provides care to acutely ill patients who do not 

require inpatient treatment. The Children’s Center at Langley Porter provides outpatient services to children and 

adolescents with mental disorders. 

San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center 

San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) is a 248-bed public service hospital serving diverse ethnic and racial 

minority populations of San Francisco. SFGH, the county hospital of the City and County of San Francisco, has 

been a teaching hospital for the University of California, School of Medicine since the 1800's. All clinical services 

are directed by UCSF faculty, and staffed primarily by UCSF medical residents and psychology fellows. Clinical 

services of the UCSF Department of Psychiatry at SFGH are linked to the community mental health system. Five 

inpatient units house 92 beds. A forensic unit works closely with the courts and the San Francisco Jail Psychiatric 

Services. The Psychiatric Emergency Service is the county's primary crisis clinic, and sees 5,000 patients per year. 

Other services include: the AIDS Health Project, the Community Focus and Citywide Case Management Teams 

(for long-term clinical care of chronic psychiatric patients), the Division of Psychosocial Medicine (which includes 

an Outpatient Clinic, Neuropsychology Service and Consultation/Liaison Service), the Division of Substance 

Abuse and Addiction Medicine (which includes outpatient as well as consultations to hospital wards), and the 

Division of Infant, Child and Adolescent Services, which includes Child and Adolescent Services and the Infant- 

Parent Program. 

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APPLICATION AND SELECTION PROCEDURE 

The UCSF Clinical Psychology Training Program provides a strong mentorship system to ensure that Fellows 

obtain individualized attention as they pursue their clinical and research training with us. To provide a good fit 

between the trainee and the mentor, candidates are asked to choose a specific mentor whose research area fits with 

the candidate's research interests (see description of the Clusters below). This faculty member becomes the 

candidate's mentor and coordinator of training during the two-year fellowship. It is expected that the Fellow 

will become part of the mentor's research team and carry out an empirical clinical research project with the mentor. 

It is very important, therefore, that applicants carefully choose the specific mentor with whom they would like to 

work. 

We usually receive 40 to 90 applications for four positions (two in the Public Service and Minority Cluster and 

two in the Clinical Assessment and Interventions Cluster). Each applicant is evaluated in the following areas: 

• clinical training, including experience in assessment and psychotherapy, 

• research interest as documented by training obtained and productivity (especially presentations and 

publications), 

• overall excellence as a psychologist as shown by breadth and depth of experiences and letters of 

recommendation, 

• appropriateness for cluster(s) chosen by applicant, as shown by work done in that area and familiarity 

and fit with the mentor’s work, 

• progress toward dissertation completion, 

• evidence of commitment to an academic and/or research career. 

The average number of the following academic achievements reported by the top 20 applicants for the last five 

years were: 

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 

Peer reviewed articles 2 2 1.5 1.6 1.6 

Book chapters .5 1 1 .4 .3 

Presentations 8 8.5 6 8.3 9.9 

Highly-ranked candidates will be invited for interviews with cluster leaders, potential mentors, and other 

relevant faculty or Fellows no later than December 1, 2006. These interviews are very helpful for both the 

program and the candidates to determine whether our two-year program and the cluster they have chosen are 

appropriate for them. Interviews will take place on Monday, December 11 th and Friday, December 15 th , 2006. If 

due to economic reasons an applicant cannot travel to San Francisco, we will be happy to make other 

arrangements. 

The deadline for receipt of formal application is November 1, 2006, for entrance into the program July 1, 2007. 

The program will officially start on July 1, 2007, however there will be an all-day orientation on June 29, 2007 

that fellows will be expected to attend. 

The UCSF Clinical Psychology Training Program requires specific forms in addition to the APPIC application. 

If you wish to apply please request an application packet from Hugo A. Sosa (see Program Administration, Page 3) 

or to obtain an electronic copy send an email to psychologyinfo@lppi.ucsf.edu. 

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AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION IN THE UCSF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAM 

Described below are the two major cluster areas around which the Clinical Psychology Training Program is 

organized. Each cluster area includes training opportunities in clinical settings and in associated clinical research 

projects. 

The predoctoral year is a general internship with a focus on one cluster area. Opportunities for additional 

experiences in the other cluster can be requested. The postdoctoral year emphasizes clinical research training 

within the cluster area of specialization, along with continuing advanced clinical training. All predoctoral and 

postdoctoral Fellows attend core training program seminars on Monday afternoons, consisting of a clinical 

seminar, a research seminar, and a Fellows' support group. The Director of Training meets with Fellows once 

every two months to obtain formative feedback regarding their experiences in the program. 

Candidates indicate the area of specialization that best fits their career goals by specifying in their application 

their first and second choice among the mentors/research tracks. Fellows work closely with their mentor, who 

serves as coordinator of training, research preceptor, and advocate within the program. Depending on the project, 

support for Fellow’s research may or may not come from investigator-initiated grants of their research mentor; 

additional sources of support may include multidisciplinary collaborative projects where another faculty member 

serves as the principal investigator, small grants submitted by Fellows, or other resources. 

The Table below lists the clusters and research tracks. A more detailed description of each follows. 

Description of faculty members begins on Page 24. 

CLUSTER 

MENTORS / RESEARCH TRACKS 

PUBLIC SERVICE AND 

MINORITY CLUSTER 

(Based at San Francisco General Hospital) 

Cluster Leader: James Sorensen 

Alicia Lieberman: 

Ricardo Muñoz: 

Stephen Rao: 

James Sorensen & 

Valerie Gruber: 

Early Childhood Trauma 

Internet Research on Depression and Smoking 

Pain Management Treatment Outcome Research 

Substance Abuse Research-Practice Linkages 

CLINICAL ASSESSMENT AND 

INTERVENTIONS CLUSTER 

(Based at Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute) 

Cluster Leader: Dale McNiel 

Patricia Areán: 

Sharon Hall: 

Joel Kramer: 

Dale McNiel: 

Linda Pfiffner: 

Mental Health Services Research and Geriatrics 

Substance Abuse Treatment Research 

Neuropsychological Research 

Violence and Trauma 

ADHD/ Disruptive Behavior Disorders 

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1. PUBLIC SERVICE AND MINORITY CLUSTER 

(James Sorensen, Ph.D., Cluster Leader) 


The Public Service and Minority Cluster is based at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH). The 

Department of Psychiatry at SFGH specializes in the treatment of underserved populations. Faculty and Fellows 

are committed to providing services and developing innovative interventions for such groups as the chronically 

mentally ill, low-income populations, and minorities. The Department has a strong Cultural Competence and 

Diversity Program, which is comprised of an Asian-Pacific Task Force, a Black Task Force, an HIV Task Force, a 

Latino Task Force, a Women's Issues Task Force, and a Gay-Lesbian Issues Task Force. These task forces have 

related specialty treatment teams in the inpatient units. 

Clinical 

The Public Service and Minority Cluster provides clinical training in the full range of psychiatric inpatient 

and emergency service roles, outpatient treatment via the Division of Psychosocial Medicine (which includes the 

Depression Clinic), Division of Substance Abuse and Addiction Medicine, and consultation through 

neuropsychological and personality assessment. Fellows in this cluster typically have clinical training experiences 

during the internship year as described below, with the opportunity for continued clinical training in outpatient 

therapy during the postdoctoral year: 

a) Inpatient experience: Four-month, half time rotation on 7C, the Asian-focused psychiatric inpatient unit. The 

focus is on training to function as an attending psychologist in a hospital service, including admitting and 

discharging patients, diagnostic evaluation and treatment planning, legal issues, and recommendations for 

disposition. Close collaboration with other mental health disciplines is a major part of the experience, 

including consultation with psychiatrists regarding psychopharmacological treatment issues. 

b) Crisis Intervention: Four-month, 2-days-per-week rotation at SFGH Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) 

includes learning to evaluate rapidly a psychiatric emergency, diagnose the problem, and begin appropriate 

intervention. Fellows learn to make clinical decisions regarding issues such as hospitalization, legal 

ramifications, and coordination of community services. 

c) Outpatient experience: Outpatient training at SFGH is offered in the Division of Psychosocial Medicine, most 

frequently in its Cognitive Behavioral Depression Clinic. This experience provides Fellows with training in 

individual and group cognitive behavioral therapy with English and Spanish-speaking medical outpatients. 

There may also be opportunities to train in Psychosocial Medicine's Brief Psychodynamic Psychotherapy 

program, Pain Management Program or its Trauma Treatment program. These rotations generally continue for 

two years. There are also opportunities to rotate through Substance Abuse and Addiction Medicine Services 

and Child and Adolescent Services. 

Research 

Fellows become part of their mentors’ research group during the internship year. They spend about half of 

their postdoctoral year in research activities relevant to this group. Fellows in the Public Service and Minority 

Cluster concentrate on one of the following collaborative research areas: 

a) Mentor: Alicia F. Lieberman, Ph.D. 

Research Area: Early Childhood Trauma, Disorders of Attachment, Parent-Child Psychotherapy Outcome 

Fellows in this research area will join a multidisciplinary team studying the effects on infants, toddlers and 

preschoolers of interpersonal trauma due to violence, including domestic violence and abuse. The research 

involves extensive assessments of the children and their parents for the purpose of ascertaining the incidence of 

child traumatic stress and co-morbid conditions and the child's functioning in the areas of cognitive development, 

socioemotional development, quality of attachment, moral development, and peer relations. The Child Trauma 

Research Project (CTRP) is a center of the SAMHSA National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), a 50- 

site initiative with the mandate of enhancing access to service as well as quality of treatment for traumatized 

children across the country. As a NCTSN center, CTRP is the lead program in the Early Trauma Treatment 

Network, a collaboration focusing on trauma in infancy and early childhood that also includes the Boston Medical 

Center, Louisiana State University Health Science Center, and Tulane University. Research focuses on the 

9


effectiveness of child-parent psychotherapy with young children exposed to a variety of interpersonal violence. In 

addition, child-parent psychotherapy is assessed for efficacy in a randomized treatment model. Child-Parent 

Psychotherapy has received a ranking of “well supported and efficacious” in the NCTSN grid for Evidence-Based 

Practices. This research track involves clinical training in child-parent psychotherapy incorporating 

psychodynamic, attachment theory, social learning theory, and CBT principles. The clinical and research team is 

multiethnic and places great emphasis on cultural issues in clinical intervention. The population served is 

multiethnic and includes approximately 40% monolingual Spanish-speaking families. 

Applications are encouraged from individuals committed to clinical research careers in the areas of infancy 

and early childhood attachment, trauma, and mental health. 

b) Mentor: Ricardo F. Muñoz, Ph.D. 

Research Area: Spanish/English Internet Research on Depression and Smoking 

The current focus of our research program is to develop and evaluate the use of the Internet to conduct Spanish and 

English language randomized intervention trials targeting depression and smoking. A strong emphasis of the 

program is how to reach low-income and minority populations, especially those who use public sector primary 

care medical clinics. Fellows in this track become part of the UCSF/SFGH Latino Mental Health Research 

Program (LMHRP, Muñoz, Principal Investigator), and are expected to include Spanish-speaking samples in their 

research project (see LMHRP website: http://medschool.ucsf.edu/latino/). The LMHRP is taking the lead in 

establishing an Internet World Health Research Center at UCSF. 

This research area is best suited for individuals dedicated to developing and evaluating innovative behavioral 

health interventions that can reach large numbers of people via the Internet and committed to clinical research 

careers in the prevention and treatment of depression. We greatly prefer applicants with 1) documented expertise 

in cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression and related disorders and 2) fluency in speaking, reading, and 

writing Spanish. At minimum, a documented interest in working with Latinos is required. Additional skills that 

would be very desirable are a strong background in computer applications, research methodology, and data 

analysis. 

In order to increase the trainees' experience with depression in medical outpatients, a core element of this research 

track is two years of clinical training in cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression with primary care patients at 

the SFGH Cognitive-Behavioral Depression Clinic. The cognitive-behavioral manuals we use can be found in the 

LMHRP website and are based on "The Healthy Management of Reality." 

(See: http://www.medschool.ucsf.edu/latino/pdf/healthy_management.pdf) 

See also: 

Muñoz, R. F. & Mendelson, T. (2005). Toward evidence-based interventions for diverse populations: The San 

Francisco General Hospital prevention and treatment manuals. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73, 

790-799. 

Muñoz, R. F., Lenert, L. A., Delucchi, K., Stoddard, J., Pérez, J.E., Penilla, C., Pérez-Stable, E. J. 

(2006).Toward evidence-based Internet interventions: A Spanish/English Web site for international smoking 

cessation trials. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 8. 77-87. 

c) Mentor: Stephen M. Rao, Ph.D. 

Research Area: Pain Management Treatment Outcome 

Fellows in this clinical services research area become part of the Division of Psychosocial Medicine, 

Outpatient Clinic and Cognitive Behavioral Depression Track that provides treatment for depression, anxiety, 

chronic pain and substance use to adult medical patients referred from the public health, primary care clinics of 

San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center. Clinical training at this community-based, urban site includes 

adult, outpatient services at PMC for two years, obtaining extensive experience in the use of individual and group, 

Cognitive-Behavioral therapies, Behavioral Medicine and Primary Care Psychology with low income and minority 

patients. 

10


Fellows in this area will become part of a newly emerging, multidisciplinary clinical research team, the Pain 

Management Clinical Research Team. The PMCRT is developing programmatic, effectiveness-based, treatment 

outcome investigations evaluating the roles of cognition and affect mediating the management of acute and chronic 

pain, focused especially on diverse, multicultural and underserved populations. Several projects have been 

designed for investigation at different time frames in the course of an individual’s treatment to address a central 

issue, namely, investigating the extent to which motivational strategies can enhance engagement, utilization and 

maintenance of multidisciplinary treatments for chronic, persistent physical pain. 

d) Mentors: James L. Sorensen, Ph.D., and Valerie Gruber, Ph.D. 

Research Area: Substance Abuse Research-Practice Linkages 

Primary Research Mentor: 

Primary Clinical Supervisor: 

James Sorensen, Ph.D. 

Valerie Gruber, Ph.D. 

Training in the Substance Abuse Research-Practice Linkages area focuses on narrowing the gap between 

research and clinical practice in substance abuse treatment. Fellows develop skills in conducting clinical 

assessment, treatment, and research in drug treatment programs. Fellows have the opportunity to develop 

evidence-based treatment innovations for use with substance use and co-occurring psychiatric and medical 

conditions. 

Consistent with its mission, this training area is set within the Division of Substance Abuse and Addiction 

Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital. The Division of Substance Abuse and Addiction Medicine provides 

state-of-the-art substance abuse treatment including on-site mental health and medical services, with an emphasis 

on understanding and treating clients within the context of their culture. Programs include a methadone clinic, 

office-based opiate treatment, and outpatient programs specializing in the treatment of cocaine and 

methamphetamine use disorders. The majority of clients have HIV, Hepatitis C or other chronic medical 

conditions. Many have post-traumatic stress, bipolar, attention deficit, and personality disorders, and substantial 

numbers have chronic drug induced or previously undetected psychotic disorders. Clients include large proportions 

of African-American, Latino, Asian Pacific Islander, and Native American individuals, as well as large proportions 

of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals. These programs have been the site of 40 funded research 

investigations of psychological, social, and biologically-based treatment innovations. 

Fellows choosing to train in the Substance Abuse Research-Practice Linkages area gain experience conducting 

clinically relevant research and implementing research-based interventions in clinical settings serving diverse 

urban client populations. Fellows have the opportunity to develop and test improved psychological interventions 

for substance abuse or dependence, and related psychological or medical problems. 

Fellows may also join in research activities through the California-Arizona Research Node of the Clinical 

Trials Network, and through the San Francisco Treatment Research Center. These NIDA-funded center grants 

focus on research that improves drug abuse treatment. Dr. Sorensen is Principal Investigator for the California- 

Arizona Research Node of the Clinical Trials network, and Dr. Gruber is co-investigator. Fellows can participate 

in the evaluation of treatment innovations and develop their own research using intramural or extramural funding. 

Faculty 

Drs. Sorensen and Gruber are the primary mentors in this research track. 

The Public Service and Minority Cluster faculty includes Daniella Cortez Cavenagh, Ph.D., Valerie Gruber, 

Ph.D., Vanessa Kelly, Psy.D., Alicia F. Lieberman, Ph.D., Miriam Martinez, Ph.D., Ricardo F. Muñoz, Ph.D., 

Eddie Ong, Ph.D., Stephen Rao, Ph.D., Susan Scheidt, Psy.D., and James L. Sorensen, Ph.D. (cluster leader). 

11

2. CLINICAL ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTIONS CLUSTER 

(Dale McNiel, Ph.D., Cluster Leader) 


The Clinical Assessment and Interventions Cluster offers training in evaluation, assessment, and treatment 

appropriate to a wide variety of clinical situations. The cluster’s clinical settings, based at Langley Porter 

Psychiatric Institute (LPPI), include the Adult Psychiatry Clinic, the Adult Inpatient Program, the Moffitt-Long 

Emergency Department, the Partial Hospitalization Program and the Children’s Center at Langley Porter. The 

relative emphasis among these rotations is affected by which of two tracks the Fellow applies to work in: Adult or 

Child. 

Clinical 

Clinical training for all Fellows in this cluster includes rotations in the Adult Psychiatry Clinic, the Adult 

Inpatient Program, and the Moffitt-Long Emergency Department. Fellows who pursue the Adult Track also 

do rotations focused on psychological/neuropsychological assessment and in the Partial Hospitalization 

Program. Those who pursue the Child Track also do rotations in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Service. 

I. Required Rotations for All Fellows: 

a) Clinical experience in the major components of the Adult Psychiatry Clinic. Fellows gain experience in shortterm 

and long-term individual psychotherapy and may lead long-term groups. Training and supervised 

experience is available in cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, and psychodynamic approaches. Trainees may 

participate in the Coping with Depression Program, a comprehensive evidence-based treatment program for 

major depression. Trainees may also gain experience in short-term cognitive-behavioral groups focusing on 

specific issues such as depression, stress reduction, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, people with 

HIV, people with medical illness, and shyness and social anxiety. Experience in marital and family therapy is 

also available. 

b) Acute care experience in LPPI's Adult Inpatient Program, including functioning as primary therapist for 

patients with major psychopathology who range in age from late adolescence to the elderly. Supervised 

experience in differential diagnosis, case formulation, development of treatment plans, supportive 

psychotherapy, crisis-oriented family intervention, working with a multidisciplinary team including 

collaboration with psychiatrists regarding medication issues, and working with community resources and the 

legal system (e.g., regarding civil commitment). 

c) Crisis intervention experience in the Moffitt-Long Emergency Department. Fellows learn to assess rapidly 

behavioral emergencies, perform differential diagnoses, and begin appropriate interventions. Fellows learn to 

make clinical decisions regarding issues such as hospitalization, legal aspects of emergency care, and 

coordination of community services. 

II. Additional Rotations for Fellows in the ADULT TRACK: 

a) Fellows receive training in neuropsychological and psychological assessment of patients with actual or 

suspected neurological diseases or disorders, patients with a wide range of psychiatric disorders, and pediatric 

and general medical patients with neurobehavioral disorders. Consultations are provided to various clinical 

services at Langley Porter. In addition, an elective rotation at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center in the 

Department of Neurology is possible. Experiential training in assessment is complemented by relevant case 

conferences, grand rounds, and seminars (e.g., neuropsychological assessment, neuroanatomy and brain 

cutting, pharmacology, etc.) Fellows develop individually tailored training plans in the amount and types of 

their assessment activities pertinent to their professional goals (e.g., those intending to become clinical 

neuropsychologists have different training plans than those intending to become general clinical 

psychologists.) 

b) In the Partial Hospitalization Program, trainees gain experience in case management, individual and group 

psychotherapy, and family intervention, in an outpatient program serving patients who are sub-acute. Some 

patients are admitted following an inpatient admission to prevent rehospitalization; others are referred by their 

outpatient providers to avert inpatient hospitalization when their symptoms are too severe for conventional 

outpatient treatment. In addition to experience in psychotherapeutic intervention, fellows learn about 

12


psychopharmacology in collaboration with psychiatrists, and learn about community resources and the role of 

health care systems in the treatment of patients. 

III. Additional Rotations for Fellows in the CHILD TRACK: 

a) Children’s Center at Langley Porter. Fellows will participate in the Hyperactivity, Attention, and Learning 

Problems (HALP) Clinic housed in the Children’s Center at Langley Porter. This is a specialty clinic for 

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and related Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DBD). 

The ADHD/DBD clinical research service provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary evaluation of children 

having attention and/or behavioral problems with related learning and/or emotional problems. The service 

also includes group and family-based cognitive-behavioral interventions (e.g., social skills training, parent 

training), school consultations for school-age children; medication evaluations occur in conjunction with the 

general outpatient service. Trainees gain experience with a range of assessment methods (unstructured clinical 

interviews, structured diagnostic interviews, parent and teacher rating scales, and psychometric testing) with 

an emphasis on integration of results for DSM diagnoses and treatment planning. Training in the provision of 

therapeutic feedback to families and preparation of written summary reports is also included. The intervention 

component includes training in structured, evidence-based treatments for ADHD including group-based social 

and life skills training for children, parenting skills groups for parents, and behavioral family therapy. 

Trainees serve as leaders or co-leaders of therapeutic groups or individual family sessions. Trainees also 

participate in ongoing clinical research . 

IV. Elective Rotations 

Regardless of whether they are in the Adult or Child Track, Fellows may also pursue a minor elective rotation, 

depending on training needs and interests. For example, in the child area, this may include: a) child 

neuropsychological assessment, or b) psychological assessment and treatment of children, adolescents, and 

their families through the Children’s Center at Langley Porter. For instance, Fellows may provide group 

therapy to adolescents (e.g., dialectical behavior therapy), family therapy, or parent education. These 

opportunities allow fellows to receive training in evaluating and/or treating a range of child/adolescent 

disorders such as mood and anxiety disorders. The variety of clinical interventions taught in this cluster by a 

combination of clinical experience, supervision, and seminars. 

Research 

Research in several areas of clinical assessment and intervention is available within this cluster for Fellows' 

collaborative research during the second, postdoctoral year. These areas include violence and trauma, mental 

health care in older adults, substance abuse, neuropsychology and ADHD/disruptive behavior disorders. As the 

clinical rotations vary according to whether trainees are in the Adult Track or the Child Track, these areas of 

research are organized according to whether the research mentor is in the Adult or Child Track. 

Adult Track 

a) Mentor: Patricia Areán, Ph.D. 

Research Area: 1) Clinical and Clinical Services Research in the Treatment of Mood Disorders in Older 

Adults 

2) Minority Aging Research 

Postdoctoral fellows have the opportunity to develop their research skills in the area of mental health services 

research and to specialize in research with older adults from different ethnic groups. Postdoctoral fellows may 

collaborate on or design their own studies in the following areas: (1) Treatment of mood disorders in low-income 

and elderly primary care patients; (2) Psychotherapy for management of treatment resistant depression in older 

adults; (3) Increasing acceptance of and adherence to depression treatments for older adults identified in primary 

care medicine; (4) Effectiveness of restraint free environments in managing agitation. Fellows will have an 

opportunity to conduct research on psychosocial interventions for mental disorders in older adults, attitudes toward 

mental health in elderly patients, access to mental health services in older populations and methods of integrating 

mental health services into non-mental health settings. 

13

) Mentor: Sharon M. Hall, Ph.D. 

Research Area: Substance Abuse Treatment Research 

Primary Research Mentor: Sharon Hall, Ph.D. 

Co-Mentor: 

Jodi Prochaska, Ph. D., MPH 

Co-Mentor: Janice Tsoh, Ph. D. 


Postdoctoral research specialization is available in the area of substance abuse treatment research. Trainees in 

this area may become members of the Treatment Research Center (TRC), a center grant funded by the National 

Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The TRC provides intellectual, administrative, statistical and pilot study support 

to its constituent investigators and their trainees. Trainees working with Dr. Hall may also become part of the 

UCSF Habit Abatement Clinic, a clinic affiliated with the TRC that focuses on the treatment of nicotine 

dependence. Studies at the clinic are funded by NIDA and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). 

Current TRC studies focus on the treatment of nicotine dependence in complex populations, including 

individuals with alcohol problems, HIV+ smokers, and smokers with psychiatric disorders. We are also 

investigating predictors of treatment outcome in these populations, and are developing measures and batteries to 

best describe outcome, and have an ongoing interest in dissemination of treatment research findings to clinical 

settings. 

The nature of the research project completed by trainees will depend upon their needs and the current status of 

ongoing research projects. Trainees may develop and complete a study of their own design that focuses on some 

aspect of drug abuse treatment, or may collaborate in ongoing studies being completed by Dr. Hall and her 

colleagues. Possibilities include treatment outcome studies, process studies, studies of methods of disseminating 

research findings to the clinical community, and laboratory studies that test processes relevant to treatment 

outcome. 

c) Mentor: Joel Kramer, Psy.D. 

Research Area: Neuropsychological Research 

Research opportunities for pre- and postdoctoral trainees are primarily around the neuropsychological features 

of normal and abnormal aging. Trainees have access to patients with Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal 

dementia, cerebrovascular disease, mild cognitive impairment, and Huntington’s disease. Projects linking clinical 

and experimental data with quantitative neuroimaging can be pursued. Trainees can participate in funded projects 

related to early detection of dementia, frontotemporal dementia, Huntington’s disease, and vascular disease. 

Independent projects focusing on specific patient groups or specific aspects of cognition/behavior are encouraged. 

Trainees are also invited to work with large databases of normals addressing issues related to executive 

functioning, memory, and cognitive development. 

d) Mentor: Dale McNiel, Ph.D. 

Research Area: Violence and Trauma 

Postdoctoral research specialization is available in the area of violence and trauma. For interested Fellows, 

suitable projects may be elaborated during the predoctoral year. Potential topics of collaborative research include 

studies concerning development of improved strategies for assessing violence potential (e.g., development of 

screening tools); identification of clinical, demographic, and situational correlates of violence risk; studies of 

family violence and victims of violence; studies of clinical risk management and risk reduction strategies for 

potentially violent patients; studies of clinical decision making about violent patients; and studies of the interaction 

of legal and health care systems in the treatment of violent patients; and studies of mandated community treatment 

(e.g., mental health courts). Fellows may also participate in research on suicide risk assessment. 

Fellows also may participate in interdisciplinary seminars on topics in mental health and law, such as forensic 

mental health services research and review of landmark cases, in conjunction with the UCSF Program on 

Psychiatry and Law, an accredited forensic psychiatry fellowship. 

14

Child Track 


e) Mentor: Linda Pfiffner, Ph.D. 

Research Area: 1) Psychological Interventions for Children with ADHD and Other Disruptive 

Behavior Disorders 

2) Family Factors and Child Psychopathology 

Primary Research Mentor: 

Co-Mentor: 

Linda Pfiffner, Ph.D. 

Keith McBurnett, Ph.D. 

Research opportunities will be available as part of research-based clinical service for children with Attention 

Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and related Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DBDs), such as Oppositional 

Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder. Fellows are encouraged to participate in ongoing collaborative projects; 

during the postdoctoral year Fellows may also develop projects in related areas. Sample topics for collaborative 

projects include tailoring of psychosocial interventions for ADHD subtypes and comorbidity profiles, and 

parenting practices and parent psychopathology predictive of comorbid internalizing or externalizing disorders in 

children with ADHD. Dr. McBurnett and Dr. Pfiffner collaborate on research and clinical activities in the DBDs. 

In addition, Dr. McBurnett maintains an active research program related to biological causes and correlates of 

DBDs. Technical assistance with design, statistical analysis, and literature integration is freely available. The many 

opportunities for collaboration allow fellows to gain experience in multiple research areas and to earn authorship 

on multiple projects at an early stage of their career. 

Faculty 

The Clinical Assessment and Interventions Cluster faculty includes Jennifer Alvidrez, Ph.D., Patricia Areán, 

Ph.D., Clifford Attkisson, Ph.D., Sharon Hall, Ph.D., William Hooker, Ph.D., Joel Kramer, Psy.D., Beverly Lehr, 

Ph.D., Keith McBurnett, Ph.D., Dale McNiel, Ph.D. (cluster leader), Linda Pfiffner, Ph.D., Judith Prochaska, 

Ph.D., Janice Tsoh, Ph.D. and Daniel Weiss, Ph.D. 

15


SAMPLE TRAINING SCHEDULES 

The training schedules on the next two pages are illustrative. They include the approximate number of 

scheduled hours per week allotted to each rotation. We have attempted to provide a realistic picture of what a 

Fellow is likely to experience. The program schedules consist of 40-hour weeks, but Fellows report that they 

spend 50-60 hours per week on program-related activities including reading the literature and preparing research 

proposals and manuscripts for publication. Each Fellow's training plan is proposed by the research mentor, taking 

into account the Fellow's background and professional plans, and must be approved by the Cluster Leaders and the 

Director. Note that the cluster and research track chosen by the applicant have major implications for the specific 

rotations the applicant will experience. The first year is a primarily clinical year. The second combines clinical 

services and clinical research, with greater emphasis on the latter. Postdoctoral Fellows spend 16 to 20 hours in 

clinical rotations related to their research area, and the rest of their time in research activities. Fellows receive a 

minimum of four hours per week of supervision plus additional training activities (this may include additional 

supervision, seminars, clinical rounds and so on). 

Required Seminars for All Fellows 

1. Core Seminars and Fellows' Support Group (4 hours/week for two years). Monday afternoons are set aside 

from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. so that Fellows (pre and postdocs) are able to attend three mandatory weekly meetings. 

These are the only meetings at which Fellows from the two clusters interact regularly throughout their twoyear 

training experience, and thus represent the structural core that makes the experience a unified program. 

Dr. Muñoz, the Program Director, meets with the Fellows once every two months to obtain direct feedback 

regarding their experiences in the program. The meetings are: 

• The Clinical Seminar - Leaders: Jodi J. Prochaska, Ph.D. and Janice Tsoh, Ph.D. 

• The Research Seminar - Leaders: Jennifer Alvidrez, Ph.D. and R. Scott Mackin, Ph.D. 

• The Fellows' Support Group - This is run by Fellows themselves or by a facilitator of their choosing. 

2. Required Short-term Seminars: 

• Psychopharmacology Seminar - Six sessions at the beginning of the predoctoral year, as part of the 

Clinical Seminar. Leader: Louai Bilal, M.D. 

Method and Frequency of Evaluation 

Fellows are formally evaluated in writing twice a year at which time they also formally evaluate the program 

and their supervisors. Opportunities to discuss concerns or complaints with the Cluster Leaders and Director of 

Training are readily available. Should these prove insufficient, there is a formal grievance procedure described in 

the Clinical Psychology Training Program Handbook. 

16


REQUIRED ROTATIONS 

PUBLIC SERVICE AND MINORITY CLUSTER 

Predoctoral Year 

July- 

October 

November- 

February 

March-June 

Inpatient Psychiatry (SFGH) 20 - - 

Psychiatric Emergency Services (SFGH) - 16 - 

Adult Outpatient (SFGH) 12 16 16 

Rotations Related to Chosen Research Track 

Child Trauma Research Project (Lieberman) 4 8 20 

Internet Research on Depression and Smoking 

(Muñoz) 4 4 20 

Pain Management Treatment Outcome Research 

(Rao) 

4 4 20 

Substance Abuse and AIDS 

Div. of Substance Abuse & Addiction Medicine 

Substance Abuse Research (Sorensen) 

- 

7 

- 

7 

16 

10 

Postdoctoral Year 

CLINICAL ROTATIONS 

(approximately 20 hours) 

Adult Outpatient (SFGH) 

Clinical Rotation Related to Research Track 

(as in predoctoral year above) 

8-10 hours, all year 

8-10 hours, all year 

RESEARCH 


Focuses on chosen research track 

30 hours, all year 

(see above) 

NOTE: All Public Service and Minority Cluster Fellows attend the Monday afternoon seminars (4 hrs.) plus an 

additional required seminar on "Research Career Development" on the 1 st Thursday of each month at 4 p.m. 

17

REQUIRED ROTATIONS 


CLINICAL ASSESSMENT AND 

INTERVENTIONS CLUSTER 

Predoctoral Year 

July- 

September 

October- 

December 

January- 

March 

April- 

June 

Adult Inpatient Program (LPPI) 20 - - - 

Moffitt-Long Emergency Department - - 8 - 

Adult Psychiatry Clinic (LPPI) 8 8 8 8 

Rotations Related to Chosen Research 

Track 

ADULT TRACK 

Neuropsychological/Psychological 

Assessment (LPPI) 

4 4 12 20 

Partial Hospitalization Program - 20 - - 

Clinical Research 4 4 8 8 

CHILD TRACK 

Children’s Center at Langley Porter 4 20 16 20 

Clinical Research 4 4 8 8 

Postdoctoral Year 

CLINICAL ROTATIONS 


Adult Psychiatry Clinic and/or: 

Clinical Rotation Related to 

Research Track 

(as in predoctoral year above) 

RESEARCH (approximately 30 hours) 

Focuses on chosen research track 

(see above) 

8 – 10 hours, all year 

10 – 12 hours, all year 

30 hours, all year 

NOTE: All Clinical Assessment and Interventions Cluster Fellows attend the Monday afternoon seminars (4 hrs.) 

18


ADDITIONAL POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES 

AVAILABLE TO CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAM APPLICANTS 

In the last few years, we have noted that many CPTP Fellows proceed to additional postdoctoral work 

after completing the two-year CPTP program. They often apply to other UCSF programs, but sometimes move to 

other institutions (recent Fellows have gone on to postdoctoral programs at Stanford and Harvard, for example). 

Therefore, the Clinical Psychology Training Program (CPTP) has begun to explicitly encourage Fellows to apply 

to other UCSF research-oriented training programs to extend the postdoctoral period of training from one year to 

two years. Acceptance to these prestigious NIH-funded programs allows Fellows to continue working with their 

CPTP mentor for two years after their internship ends (versus only one postdoctoral year under the CPTP 

program). We have found that the one-year postdoctoral year is often burdened with the time-intensive tasks of a 

job search, including travel to present job talks. This means that the number of months devoted predominantly to 

research turn out to be fewer than expected. Adding an additional year allows at least one year of uninterrupted 

time for research activities, after which Fellows often have more publications and grant writing experience. 

We therefore recommend that applicants examine the following training programs, which are currently in 

operation. Due to federal funding cycles, not all NIH training programs will be available every year. Faculty will 

present on these programs during the official interview days. Let us know if you are interested in being considered 

for these programs by checking the appropriate boxes in the form found in UCSF Application Supplement. 

Candidates for the postdoctoral fellowships below must be citizens or non-citizen nationals of the United 

States, or must have been lawfully admitted to the United States for Permanent Residence (i.e., possess a currently 

valid Alien Registration Receipt Card I-551, or other legal verification of such status). Individuals on temporary or 

student visas are not eligible. Individuals may apply to these training programs including the F32 in advance of 

admission to the United States as a Permanent Resident recognizing that no award or appointment will be made 

until legal verification of Permanent Resident status is provided. 

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Psychology and Medicine 

This postdoctoral program funded by NIMH focuses on the interface between Psychology and Medicine. 

The program provides training in theory-building research on psychological and behavioral factors in the etiology 

and management of health problems. Two areas of specialization are offered: stress and disease, and risk behavior. 

The former specialization includes the social context in which stressful events occur, cognitive appraisal processes 

in response to such events, physiological pathways that increase disease risk, methods for assessment of stress and 

disease, and interventions. The health outcomes being examined include HIV/AIDS, depression, immunological 

functioning, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory illnesses, reproductive health, herpes recurrence and 

autoimmune disease. The latter specialization covers theories of risk and decision-making regarding the initiation 

and maintenance of health behaviors, and cognitive behavioral models and interventions. Research includes studies 

of high-risk sexual behavior (especially those associated with exposure to HIV/AIDS), tobacco use and cessation, 

substance abuse, obesity, violence, and sociocultural and developmental influences on risk behavior and health. 

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 Health 

Psychology Seminar and a Research Process Seminar in both years of the fellowship and may take other courses 

and seminars. The remaining two-thirds of the fellow's time will be spent in research. Fellows will participate in 

their faculty mentor's research laboratory and will develop their own research study. 

Nancy Adler, Ph.D. is the Director of Training. Mentors in the Clinical Psychology Training Program 

who also teach in this program are: Patricia Areán, Ph.D., Sharon Hall, Ph.D., Alicia Lieberman, Ph.D. and 

Ricardo F. Muñoz, Ph.D. 

See the program’s web site at: http://healthpsych.ucsf.edu/postdochome.htm 

19


ADDITIONAL POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES (CONTINUED) 

Drug Abuse Treatment and Services Research 

This National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA)-funded postdoctoral program is offered by the University 

of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Our program is one of the few that trains scientists in treatment and service 

research. 

Current research interests include trials of efficacy and effectiveness of psychosocial and pharmacologic 

treatment of drug abuse, including nicotine dependence; instrument development in drug abuse; diagnostic 

techniques and research on treatment tailored for HIV positive drug abusers and drug abusers with psychiatric and 

medical disorders; research on provision of services to drug abusing populations; innovative methodology 

including internet based studies; and treatment of complex patients in innovative settings. 

A variety of university-affiliated and community substance abuse programs are available as research sites. 

These include inpatient and outpatient setting programs that treat a range of problems related to drugs of abuse, 

including dependence on cocaine, nicotine, alcohol, and opiates. Our postdoctoral program encourages close 

research involvement with your preceptor, and involvement in selected classes, seminars, and grant preparation. 

At the end of our postdoctoral program, we expect scholars to have acquired the following competencies 

and completed the following tasks: 

• gained knowledge of drugs of abuse and their treatment; 

• advanced their knowledge of statistical and methodological techniques needed for clinical and 

services research; 

• understand drug abuse treatment systems and drug research projects; 

• conducted at least two treatment research projects in a clinical setting: One designed by their 

preceptor; and one of their own design, for which they have primary responsibility; 

• made multiple internal presentations; 

• made at least two presentations of their work at national meetings; 

• published one to three journal articles; 

• submitted a small grant application to local funding sources; 

• published additional publications from the work completed as a scholar during the two years 

following enrollment in our program. 

Current research interests of faculty include: 

• Innovative interventions to decrease drug use and improve health status among drug abusers with 

AIDS 

• Implementation of state-of-the-art drug abuse treatments in new settings 

• Efficacy and cost-effectiveness on innovative drug abuse treatment methodology 

• Intersection of drug dependence with other psychopathology, and the effects of dually diagnosed 

disorders on treatment outcome 

• Treatment of nicotine dependence in complex patient populations 

• Methodological innovations in drug abuse treatment and services research 

• Studies of Web-based interventions 

• Organizational change and implementation of new interventions in clinical settings 

Sharon Hall, PhD, Barbara Havassy, PhD, James Sorensen, PhD, and Connie Weisner, DrPH are Co-Directors. 

The training program is supported in part by a Center grant, the San Francisco Treatment Research Center. 

Resources from other significant extramural funding and R01 level grants are also routinely available to scholars. 

Mentors in the Clinical Psychology Training Program who also teach in this program are: Patricia Areán, Ph.D, 

Sharon Hall, Ph.D., Dale McNiel, Ph.D., Ricardo F. Muñoz, Ph.D. and James Sorensen, Ph.D. 

See the program’s web site at: http://psych.ucsf.edu/Students/Substance_Abuse.asp 

20



Clinical Services Research Training Program 

Trainees in the program take on an apprentice role in the context of the faculty preceptors’ clinical service 

research activities. This role will be progressively expanded into full collaboration on an aspect of the research 

about which substantial closure and publication can be reached within a two-year timeframe. Trainees are also 

encouraged and supported in the development of the multidisciplinary, collaborative, and negotiation skills 

required of clinical service researchers. 

Research areas currently being surveyed by participating faculty include: 

• Organization, financing, and delivery of mental health and related human services to seriously and 

persistently mentally ill adults, adolescents, and children; 

• Service system studies of the co-occurrence of mental disorder and substance abuse; 

• Mental health services in primary care settings; 

• Mental health services delivery to persons with AIDS and ARC 

• Implications of violence and potential violence in the delivery of mental health services 

• Service system needs for vulnerable children, including those who have been missing or abducted. 

The training program includes: 

• required coursework 

• elective seminars and directed readings 

• a preceptorship with a faculty member 

Required coursework includes surveys of the current literature, clinical service research methods, 

biostatistics, program evaluation methods, reviews of standardized clinical assessment tools, economic and cost 

analysis methodologies, and professional and research ethics. A wide range of electives are also offered. Faculty 

include senior, established investigators and junior faculty who have a solid research track record. 

C. Clifford Attkisson, Ph.D. is Director of Training and Abram Rosenblatt, Ph.D. is Associate Director. The 

program is funded by a training grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. Mentors in the Clinical 

Psychology Training Program who also teach in this program are: Patricia Areán, Ph.D., Keith McBurnett, Ph.D., 

Dale McNiel, Ph.D., Ricardo F. Muñoz, Ph.D. and Linda Pfiffner, Ph.D. 

See the program’s web site at: http://psych.ucsf.edu/Students/Clinical_Services_Research.asp 

21



The Community Academic Research Training Alliance (CARTA) Program 

The purpose of this training grant, called the Community Academic Research Training Alliance (CARTA), is 

three-fold: (1) to train the next generation of behavioral scientists in conducting patient-oriented psychosocial 

interventions research with underserved populations in the agencies that serve them, (2) to increase the number of 

junior researchers in patient-oriented, psychosocial interventions research and (3) to develop a training program in 

psychosocial interventions research for staff in community agencies who would be future research partners. The 

intent is to develop a program that could be modeled by other medical centers to foster better research 

collaborations between academia and the community. 

Aims: 

• Train two post-doctoral fellows a year in the intricacies of conducting research with underserved populations 

in the agencies and settings that serve them. There is a dearth of clinical researchers studying ways to 

overcome mental health disparities in disadvantaged populations. Through participation in this program, 

fellows will gain an understanding of the needs of underserved populations, learn how to build partnerships 

with community agencies, and learn how to meet the challenges of conducting research in these settings by 

using recruitment methodologies, measurement techniques and alternative research designs that best fit the 

community context. 

• Train two people from community organizations a year in the process of clinical research. NIH has long 

encouraged collaboration between academia and the community to translate evidence-based practice into real 

world settings. This need still remains. The UCSF faculty members involved in this program have all had 

great success in partnering with community agencies. These partnerships reflect a productive synergy in 

which community agencies have taught us about the needs and challenges they face and we have taught them 

about the power and value of scientific methods. Community-based research succeeds only when academic 

and community partners understand each other’s needs and culture. Our own experience at UCSF and the 

experience of community agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area have shown that educating academicians 

about community research cannot be fully successful unless community stakeholders are also educated about 

the research process. 

Training Activities. A range of training activities were built into the training program; activities vary in intensity 

and duration from an annual two-day conference to weekly individual meetings. In keeping with the collaborative 

nature of the community-based research, some training activities will take place at various UCSF sites, while 

others will take place at participating community agencies. These activities include: Annual Research 

Conference, A Day with an Expert, Weekly Research Support Group, Agency-Academic Partnership Workshop, 

Reading and Writing Science Tutorial, Recruitment and Retention course, Research and Ethics in the Community 

course, Conducting Intervention Research in the Community, Data and Methods Workgroup, and Funding 

Opportunities for Communities. There is also a list of Elective Short Courses offered during the second half of the 

year. These courses are tailored to fellows’ interests and learning needs. 

Patricia Areán, Ph.D. is the Director and Ricardo Muñoz, Ph.D. and William McConnell, Ph.D. are Co-Directors. 

The program is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. Mentors in the Clinical 

Psychology Training Program who also teach in this program are Patricia Areán, Ph.D. and Ricardo F. Muñoz, 

Ph.D. 

See the program’s website at http://psych.ucsf.edu/carta/ 

22



Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA) For Individual Postdoctoral Fellows (F32) 

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards individual postdoctoral fellowships (F32) to promising applicants 

with the potential to become productive, independent investigators in fields related to the mission of the NIH 

constituent institutes and centers. 

This Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (F32) is issued under the auspices of the Kirschstein-NRSA Act. The 

proposed postdoctoral training must be within the broad scope of biomedical, behavioral, or clinical research and 

must offer an opportunity to enhance the fellow's understanding of the health-related sciences and extend his/her 

potential for a productive research career. 

Fellowship awardees are required to pursue their research training on a full-time basis, devoting at least 40 hours 

per week to the training program. Research clinicians must devote full-time to their proposed research training and 

must restrict clinical duties within their full-time research training experience to activities that are directly related 

to the research training experience Women, minorities, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. 

Before submitting a fellowship application, the applicant must identify a sponsoring institution and an individual 

who will serve as a sponsor (also called mentor or supervisor) and will supervise the training and research 

experience. The applicant's sponsor should be an active investigator in the area of the proposed research who will 

directly supervise the candidate's research. The sponsor must document the availability of research support and 

facilities for high-quality research training. In most cases, the F32 supports research training experiences in new 

settings in order to maximize the acquisition of new skills and knowledge. However, in unusual circumstances, 

applicants may propose postdoctoral training experiences at their doctorate institution or at the institution where 

they have been training for more than a year. In such cases, the applicant must carefully document the 

opportunities for new research training experiences specifically designed to broaden their scientific background. 

This information is a summary from the program's website: http://grants.nih.gov/training/nrsa.htm 

Applicants to the CPTP are encouraged to discuss the potential for collaborating on an individual NRSA with their 

chosen mentor. 

23


FACULTY 

JENNIFER ALVIDREZ is an Assistant Adjunct 

Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSF. She 

received her B.A. from Stanford University (1990) and her 

Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of California, 

Berkeley (1997). She completed pre-and post-doctoral 

fellowship training in the Clinical Psychology Training Program 

and the NIMH Clinical Services Research Training Program at 

UCSF. Her research focuses on access to mental health services 

among underserved populations, including ethnic minorities, the 

elderly, and severely mentally ill adults. She has published 

several articles on attitudinal and instrumental barriers to mental 

health service use, as well as methodological articles on the 

practical and ethical issues of conducting research with ethnic 

minorities. Dr. Alvidrez currently co-teaches the Research and 

Professional Development Seminar with Dr. Scott Mackin. 

PATRICIA A. AREÁN is an Associate Professor in the 

Department of Psychiatry and is a licensed Clinical 

Psychologist. Her research focus is on mental health services 

research with a particular focus on the recognition and treatment 

of mental disorders in older adults and minority populations, 

particularly in recognition and treatment of depression that is 

identified in non-mental health settings. Dr. Areán has published 

several articles on the recognition and treatment of late life 

depression and anxiety, as well as methods for recruiting and 

retaining older, minority elderly into longitudinal research. She 

has been funded by several agencies, including SAMHSA, 

NIMH, NIA, and the Hartford Foundation. She was the 

psychotherapy expert for the IMPACT study, a multisite trial of 

stepped care for depression in older primary care patients, and 

for the PRISMe study, an 11-site study of the integration of 

mental health care for the treatment of depression, anxiety and 

alcohol abuse in older minority medical patients. She is 

currently funded by SAMHSA to study a mental health 

consultation model for treating depression and agitation in older 

adults living in residential facilities and by NIMH to study the 

efficacy of SPST and ST in treating depression in older adults 

with executive dysfunction. 

CLIFFORD ATTKISSON is Professor in the Department 

of Psychiatry and LPPI at UCSF. He earned the A.B. degree at 

the University of Richmond and in 1970 completed the Ph.D. 

degree in psychology at the University of Tennessee. His 

graduate work focused on clinical and community psychology. 

Dr. Attkisson completed psychoanalytic training at the San 

Francisco Institute and Society. Dr. Attkisson is senior editor of 

Evaluation of Human Service Programs (Academic Press, 

1978), Patient Satisfaction in Health and Mental Services 

(Pergamon Press, 1983), and co-editor of Depression in Primary 

Care (Routledge, 1990). During his career at UCSF, his teaching 

and research have been concentrated in the areas of program 

evaluation, information systems for the human services, and 

clinical services and service systems research. His current 

research program is a study of innovative systems of care for 

children and adolescents who suffer from serious emotional 

disorder. 

DANIELLA CORTEZ CAVENAGH is an Assistant 

Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and is a 

licensed clinical psychologist. She is the coordinator for the 

Cognitive Behavioral Training Track at the Psychosocial 

24 

Medicine Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital, where she 

teaches, supervises pre- and postdoctoral fellows, and provides 

clinical services in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. She 

earned her B.A. from the University of Richmond and her M.S. 

and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Pacific Graduate School 

of Psychology. After a clinical internship at the Baltimore VA 

Medical Center, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at 

Kaiser Medical Center in San Rafael, CA. Clinical and research 

interests include cognitive behavioral therapy; behavioral 

medicine and treatment of psychosocial issues in medical 

populations; and the treatment and understanding of anxiety, 

anger, and depression, particularly within diverse and 

underserved populations. 

VALERIE A. GRUBER is Associate Clinical Professor in 

the Department of Psychiatry at UCSF, and Director of the 

Stimulant Treatment Outpatient Program at San Francisco 

General Hospital. Dr. Gruber is a licensed psychologist, and 

holds an APA certificate in the treatment of alcohol and other 

substance use disorders. She completed a Ph.D. in Clinical 

Psychology at Kent State University, an M.P.H. at the 

University of California Berkeley, and postdoctoral training in 

clinical services research at UCSF. Dr. Gruber's main area of 

interest is psychodynamically informed cognitive-behavioral 

interventions with culturally diverse clients with substance 

abuse and co-occurring psychiatric and medical conditions. She 

supervises program directors, staff, interns, and fellows, 

oversees program development and evaluation, and provides 

clinical services including substance abuse treatment, 

psychotherapy and psychological assessment. Dr. Gruber’s 

program of research aims to improve substance abuse treatment 

and medical care for stimulant users from sexual and ethnic 

minority communities, using both pharmacological and 

psychosocial approaches. She has been site PI for clinical trials 

of medications for cocaine and methamphetamine dependence, 

and has published research on medication adherence 

interventions. In addition, she is PI for an evaluation of harm 

reduction in outpatient treatment for methamphetamine 

dependence that assesses changes in drug use goals, use of 

various drugs, HIV risk behavior, and health outcomes 

SHARON HALL is a Professor of Psychology in the 

Department of Psychiatry. She is the director of the Treatment 

Research Center, in which investigators are developing and 

assessing treatments for complex patients - those with multiple 

substance abuse, medical, and psychiatric disorders. The center 

also provides access to pilot study funds for postdoctoral 

fellows. Dr. Hall has served as director of the postdoctoral 

training program since its inception in 1990. Most of Dr. Hall’s 

current research is in tobacco dependence. She has completed 

both theoretical and treatment studies of dually diagnosed 

patients, most notably the intersection between tobacco 

dependence and depression. Dr. Hall is also interested in the 

intersection of tobacco dependence and substance abuse. Other 

current work involves multi-modality studies of interventions 

for chronic and older smokers. Dr. Hall is a Charter Fellow of 

the American Psychological Society, and Fellow of the 

Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, the Society of 

Behavioral Medicine, the American Psychological Association, 

and the Association for Clinical Psychosocial Research. She


earned her B.S. degree in Psychology in 1967, her M.S. degree 

in Psychology in 1969 and her Ph.D. degree in Psychology in 

1971 all from Washington State University. In 2003, she 

received the George Sarlo prize for teaching from the 

Department of Psychiatry. 

WILLIAM D. HOOKER is Associate Clinical Professor 

in the Department of Psychiatry and LPPI. He earned the B.A. 

degree in psychology from the University of California, 

Berkeley in 1978, the Ph.D. degree in clinical psychology from 

Michigan State University in 1984, and was a postdoctoral 

Fellow in neuropsychology at the San Francisco VA Hospital in 

1985. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Professional 

Neuropsychology. His primary clinical interests are 

psychological and neuropsychological assessment for diagnostic 

and forensic purposes. Dr. Hooker has published in the areas of 

neuropsychology, electrophysiology, pharmacokinetics, 

computer assisted testing and psychological testing in the 

workplace. 

VANESSA KELLY is an Assistant Clinical Professor at 

the UCSF Department of Psychiatry, San Francisco General 

Hospital. Dr. Kelly serves as coordinator of the Traumatic Stress 

Treatment Program within the Psychosocial Medicine 

Outpatient Clinic at SFGH, as well as at the Trauma Recovery 

Center. She earned her M.A. in Psychology from Antioch 

University in 1983, and her Psy.D. from the California School 

of Professional Psychology - Alameda in 1997. Dr. Kelly has 

over 20 years of experience in the fields of sexual assault, 

sexual abuse, domestic violence, and traumatic loss, including 

serving as the executive director of the Rape Crisis Center in 

Boulder, Colorado, chair for the Colorado Coalition Against 

Sexual Assault, and co-producer of a documentary about the 

psychological sequelae following sexual violence. She has also 

served as co-chair of the San Francisco Adult Sexual Assault 

Task Force. Her clinical and research interests include treatment 

outcome for low-income, ethnic minority victims of 

interpersonal violence, psychological effects of prostitution; and 

the influence of early attachment patterns and object relations 

on the treatment of traumatized adults. Dr. Kelly is also 

interested in educating mental health professionals about the 

acute and long-term impact of trauma on individuals and 

communities. 

JOEL KRAMER is a Clinical Professor in the 

Departments of Neurology, Psychiatry and Pediatrics, and 

directs the neuropsychology program at the UCSF Memory and 

Aging Center. He received a Psy.D. from Baylor University in 

1982 and completed a one-year post-doctoral program in 

Neuropsychology at the V.A. Medical Center in Martinez. He is 

an ABPP diplomate in Clinical Neuropsychology. Current 

research activities include studies of normal and abnormal 

memory, attention and executive functioning, differential 

diagnosis of dementia, brain-behavioral correlations in 

dementia, and sex differences in cognition. Dr. Kramer has also 

been active in the development of neuropsychological measures 

of executive functioning and memory. 

BEVERLY K. LEHR is Clinical Professor of Psychology 

in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSF and is a staff 

neuropsychologist in the LPPI Adult Psychiatry Clinic, where 

she coordinates training in Cognitive Behavior Therapy. She 

received her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin - 

Milwaukee in 1986, completed her clinical internship at the Palo 

Alto V.A. Medical Center, and a two-year postdoctoral 

fellowship at Rush-Presbyterian, St. Luke's Medical Center in 

25 

Chicago, Illinois. Her major interest is in the psychological 

treatment of neurologically impaired adults. 

ALICIA F. LIEBERMAN is Professor of Psychology and 

Director of the Child Trauma Research Project, San Francisco 

General Hospital. She is also clinical consultant with the San 

Francisco Department of Human Services. She is the Director of 

the Early Trauma Treatment Network, a four-university national 

collaborative that is one of the centers of the SAMHSA-funded 

National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Dr. Lieberman 

received her B.A. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and 

Ph.D. from The John Hopkins University. Active in major 

national organizations involved with mental health in infancy 

and early childhood, she is President Elect of Zero to Three: 

National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families, on the Board 

of Trustees of the Irving Harris Foundation, and on the 

Professional Advisory Board of the Johnson & Johnson 

Pediatric Institute, and consults with the Miriam and Peter Haas 

Fund on projects involving early childhood education for Arab- 

Israeli children. Dr. Lieberman has served on peer review panels 

of the National Institute of Mental Health. She is the author of 

The Emotional World of the Toddler (The Free Press, 1993), 

which has been translated to seven languages, and senior author 

of Losing a Parent to Death in the Early Years: Treating 

Traumatic Bereavement in Infancy and Early Childhood (Zero 

to Three Press, 2004) and Don't Hit My Mommy!: A Manual for 

Child-Parent Psychotherapy with Young Witnesses of Family 

Violence (2005). 

KEITH McBURNETT is Associate Adjunct Professor in 

Psychiatry at LPPI. He trained in child clinical psychology at 

The University of Georgia and as a rehabilitation psychology 

intern at New York University Medical Center, graduating in 

1989. He held a faculty appointment in Pediatrics at University 

of California at Irvine from 1990 to 1997. From 1997 through 

2001, he held a faculty appointment in Child Psychiatry at the 

University of Chicago. He came to LPPI in 2001 to launch 

research and clinical programs in disruptive behavior disorders 

(ADHD, ODD, CD), in collaboration with Linda Pfiffner, Ph.D. 

Dr. McBurnett maintains an active clinical research program 

(multiple grants and clinical drug trials; over 50 scientific 

publications), focusing on diagnostic categorization and on 

biological factors (endocrine, neurocognitive, genetic) factors in 

child externalizing psychopathology. In 2003 he became an 

Associate Editor of the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. 

DALE E. McNIEL is Professor of Clinical Psychology in 

the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Chief Psychologist at 

LPPI. He earned the B.A. degree from Lewis and Clark College 

in 1978, and completed the Ph.D. in clinical psychology with a 

minor in neuropsychology in 1983 at the University of Arizona. 

He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of 

Psychiatry at UCSF, and is Board Certified in both Clinical 

Neuropsychology and Forensic Psychology by the American 

Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). He is a Fellow of the 

American Psychological Association (Divisions of Clinical 

Psychology and Psychology and Law), and is a former President 

of the Section on Clinical Emergencies and Crises in the APA’s 

Division of Clinical Psychology. His research interests focus 

primarily on violence and mental disorder, including issues such 

as the assessment of violence potential, family violence and 

victims of violence, the role of violence in health care resource 

allocation, clinical decision-making in the treatment of violent 

patients, and the prevention of assault.


MIRIAM MARTINEZ is Associate Clinical Professor at 

the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, and Director 

of the San Francisco General Hospital Division of Infant, Child 

and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Martinez received her B.A. 

from Hunter College, City University of New York and both her 

Masters and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from University of 

California, Berkeley. After completing her Ph.D. in 1989, Dr. 

Martinez completed a NIMH funded Postdoctoral Fellowship 

with the UCLA, School of Medicine, Neuropsychiatric Institute 

and Hospital. Prior to being hired to plan Child Outpatient 

Services for the Dept. of Psychiatry at San Francisco General 

Hospital, Dr. Martinez directed The Family Mosaic Project 

(FMP), a nationally recognized community based case 

management agency for seriously emotionally troubled children. 

Dr. Martinez currently focuses her clinical work and research 

with traumatized children, youth and their families and is 

committed to developing community based clinical services. 

RICARDO F. MUÑOZ is Professor of Psychology at the 

UCSF Department of Psychiatry, and Chief Psychologist at San 

Francisco General Hospital. His A.B. is from Stanford 

University (1972), and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the 

University of Oregon (1977). He is co-author of Controlling 

Your Drinking (Guilford, 2004), Control Your Depression 

(Fireside Books, 1992), Prevention of Depression: Research and 

Practice (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993), and Social and 

Psychological Research in Community Settings (Jossey-Bass, 

1979), and editor of Depression Prevention: Research Directions 

(Hemisphere Press, 1987). He is Fellow of the American 

Psychological Association and of the American Psychological 

Society. He received mentoring awards from APA Divisions 27 

and 45 in 1998 and the UCSF Department of Psychiatry George 

Sarlo Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2001. He conducts 

research in Spanish and English on the prevention and treatment 

of depression and mood management approaches to smoking 

cessation 

EDDIE ONG is Associate Clinical Professor of 

Psychology at the University of California, San Francisco, at the 

San Francisco General Hospital campus (a UCSF teaching 

facility). He is also the Attending Psychologist at the Asian 

Inpatient Unit (7C) at San Francisco General Hospital. He 

earned his B.S. from Arizona State University in 1977 and his 

Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Oklahoma State University in 

1984. Dr. Ong worked at the Richmond Area Multi-services 

Center (RAMS) in San Francisco, from 1984-1993, an APAapproved 

community training site for psychology interns. His 

last position was Chief Psychologist at RAMS. Dr. Ong also 

worked as the Summer Training Director at the Sunset Day 

Treatment Center from 1990 through 1993. His special interests 

include working with the chronically ill Asian population and 

their families. He is fluent in both written and spoken Chinese. 

Dr. Ong supervises the inpatient rotation at SFGH, with strong 

emphasis on work with Asian patients. 

LINDA PFIFFNER is an Associate Professor in the 

Department of Psychiatry at LPPI and is a licensed Clinical 

Psychologist. She received her BA from UCLA and her Ph.D. 

from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Her 

research and clinical interests are in the broad area of Attention 

Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and related disorders in children 

and adolescents with a focus on psychosocial interventions and 

family factors predicting development of comorbid 

psychopathology among these children. Dr. Pfiffner has 

published a series of articles on school-based interventions for 

26 

ADHD and has written a practical handbook for teachers 

working with children having ADHD. More recently, her 

intervention work has focused on integrating group-based social 

skills and parent training for ADHD. Her work in the area of 

developmental psychopathology includes recent publications 

examining parent psychopathology and comorbid internalizing 

and externalizing disorders among children with ADHD and the 

association between father departure and child antisocial 

characteristics. Ongoing studies include investigations of 

parenting practices, parent psychopathology and comorbid 

anxiety and conduct disorders in children with ADHD. She is 

completing an NIMH-funded study to develop and test the 

efficacy of a psychosocial intervention for children with 

ADHD-Predominantly Inattentive Type. The intervention 

includes parent and child skills groups and school-based 

intervention. 

DAVID POPE is Assistant Clinical Professor of 

Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry of the UCSF San 

Francisco General Hospital campus. He earned the B.A. from 

Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1975 and the Ph.D. 

from the California School of Professional Psychology at 

Berkeley in 1986. He completed a one-year postdoctoral 

fellowship in neuropsychology at the San Francisco Veterans 

Administration Hospital and has also trained at Garfield 

Geropsychiatric Hospital in Oakland. He is currently a 3/4 time 

staff member of the Neuropsychology Service, Division of 

Psychosocial Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital where 

he is involved in clinical testing and the training and supervision 

of psychology interns in neuropsychological and psychological 

assessment. Additionally he maintains an active private practice 

with medical staff privileges at several community hospitals and 

an emphasis on geriatric neuropsychology and forensic 

evaluation. 

JUDITH PROCHASKA is an Assistant Adjunct Professor 

in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry. She received her BA in 

Psychology from Duke University and her PhD in the Joint 

Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology at San Diego State 

University and the University of California, San Diego. She 

completed fellowship training in the UCSF Clinical Psychology 

Training Program and the NIDA Postdoctoral Traineeship in 

Substance Abuse Treatment and Services Research at UCSF. 

With grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the 

California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, Dr. 

Prochaska's research focuses on developing and evaluating 

effective treatments for tobacco dependence in smokers with cooccurring 

psychiatric disorders. Dr. Prochaska co-leads the 

Clinical Seminar with Dr. Janice Tsoh. 

STEPHEN M. RAO is Associate Clinical Professor of 

Psychology at UCSF School of Medicine, Department of 

Psychiatry and Director of the Psychosocial Medicine Clinic in 

the Division of Psychosocial Medicine at San Francisco General 

Hospital Medical Center. He obtained his B.A. from Drew 

University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Binghamton 

University – State University of New York. He completed a 

Predoctoral Internship at the Palo Alto VA Health Care System, 

Psychology Service and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Stanford 

University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and 

Behavioral Sciences. His clinical interests include Cognitive 

Behavioral Therapy, Behavioral Medicine and Health 

Psychology, multidisciplinary and Family Systems approaches 

in the assessment and treatment of chronic illness, within 

individual and group, couples and family therapies. His


research interests include treatment outcome investigations into 

the role of cognition and affect mediating the management of 

acute and chronic pain, especially among culturally diverse and 

underserved populations. His teaching and training efforts 

emphasize a scientist-practitioner model accompanied by 

interactive and problem-based learning approaches. 

JASON M. SATTERFIELD is Associate Professor and 

Director of Behavioral Medicine in the Division of General 

Internal Medicine. He received his Ph.D. from the University of 

Pennsylvania in 1995 where he worked with Drs. Martin 

Seligman and Aaron T. Beck. Dr. Satterfield's interests include 

cognitive models of depression, explanatory style, stress and 

coping, and the role of depression in medical adherence and the 

experience of illness. His current projects include integrated 

behavioral health models for primary care, learned helplessness 

in the somatically-focused patient, emotional intelligence in 

primary care, and the integration of culture and behavioral 

sciences in medical curricula. Dr. Satterfield currently provides 

CBT supervision, teaches behavioral medicine to primary care 

physicians, and coordinates behavioral science education for 

medical students. 

SUSAN SCHEIDT is a Clinical Professor of Psychology 

in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry, San Francisco General 

Hospital. She studied at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, 

received her B.A. degree in psychology from California State 

University, Fresno, and the Psy.D. from Rutgers University. Dr. 

Scheidt was a Fellow in the UCSF Clinical Psychology Training 

Program from 1983-85, and subsequently was an Attending 

Psychologist and Unit Chief on the Women's and Latino focus 

inpatient unit at SFGH. For the past eleven years, Dr. Scheidt 

has developed her interests in behavioral medicine, serving as 

the Coordinator of Training for the Psychosocial Medicine 

CAPIC Psychology Training Program, and developing a model 

for primary care psychology with primary care clinics. Her 

current clinical interests are focused on the primary care-mental 

health interface, substance abuse interventions, and teaching and 

supervision issues. 

JAMES L. SORENSEN is Professor in the UCSF 

Department of Psychiatry at San Francisco General Hospital 

(SFGH). He earned the Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the 

University of Rochester in 1975. For three years he was 

assistant professor in the clinical psychology training program at 

Bowling Green State University, after which he took a National 

Research Service Award postdoctoral traineeship at UCSF. He 

served as Chief of Substance Abuse Services at SFGH for 13 

years. His research has focused on developing better treatments 

to help people with substance abuse problems. Dr. Sorensen has 

chaired the Services Research Review Committee at National 

Institute on Drug Abuse, serves on the editorial board of Drug 

and Alcohol Dependence, Journal of Maintenance in the 

Addictions, Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, and Science 

& Practice Perspectives. He is senior author of A Family Like 

Yours: Breaking the Patterns of Drug Abuse (Harper & Row), 

Preventing AIDS in Drug Users and Their Sexual Partners 

(Guilford), and senior editor of Drug Abuse Through 

Collaboration: Practice and Research Partnerships That Work 

(American Psychological Association). Currently his research 

includes two funded projects: therapeutic community and 

outpatient replacement therapy, and the California-Arizona 

Research Node of the NIDA Clinical Trials Network. 

MARGARET STROAD is Assistant Clinical Professor in 

the Department of Psychiatry of the UCSF San Francisco 

27 

General Hospital campus. She is a staff psychologist on the 

Neuropsychology Service of the Division of Psychosocial 

Medicine at SFGH where she teaches and supervises 

postdoctoral fellows in neuropsychological assessment. In 

addition, she is in private practice in San Francisco. Her 

practice involves psychodynamic psychotherapy with adults and 

adolescents and couples’ therapy. She completed the Ph.D. 

degree in clinical psychology from California School of 

Professional Psychology in 1979. Her clinical interests include 

the study of effects of childhood trauma, including assessment 

and treatment of dissociative and anxiety disorders. 

JANICE Y. TSOH is an Associate Adjunct Professor in 

the Department of Psychiatry LPPI and a licensed clinical 

psychologist. She received her BA from the State University of 

New York at Binghamton in 1990 and her Ph.D. in clinical 

psychology from the University of Rhode Island in 1995. She 

completed her clinical internship at the University of 

Mississippi Medical Center/VA Medical Center Consortium 

specializing in behavioral medicine. She completed a 

postdoctoral fellowship in cancer prevention at the MD 

Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas and a fellowship in 

substance abuse treatment research at UCSF. Dr. Tsoh's current 

research program is being supported by the National Institute on 

Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the American Cancer Society (ACS) 

and the California Tobacco Related Disease Research Program. 

Her research projects focus on nicotine dependence and 

depression, and smoking cessation treatment in special 

populations including Chinese Americans, depressed patients, 

and smokers in drug abuse treatment. 

DANIEL S. WEISS is Professor of in the Department of 

Psychiatry. He earned his BA and MA in 1973 from the Johns 

Hopkins University and received the PhD from the University of 

California, Berkeley, where he pursued both clinical and 

personality psychology studies. He maintains an active faculty 

practice in adult psychology and has served as a licensure 

Examiner for the California Board of Psychology from 1983 

through 2001 when the Board eliminated the oral exam. His 

research interests in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder have been 

recognized by his being awarded the Robert S. Laufer Award 

for Excellence in Research by the International Society for 

Traumatic Stress Studies. He has recently completed a metaanalysis 

of the predictors of developing PTSD which has been 

published in Psychological Bulletin. He served on the National 

Institute of Mental Health’s Clinical Psychopathology Grant 

Review Committee from 1995-1999, and currently reviews 

grants for the NIH and DOD. He was Director of Research of 

the PTSD program at the SFVAMC from 1990-2001. Currently 

Associate Editor of the Journal of Traumatic Stress, he 

regularly reviews manuscripts for top journals in psychology 

and psychiatry. His other research interests are in the 

phenomenology of crying, especially in psychotherapy, 

dissociative processes as they relate to PTSD, and in 

classification research, especially in an approach termed 

taxometrics.


APPIC MATCH POLICIES 

In order for everyone to have access to the most current Match Policies, APPIC has asked that training 

programs no longer list them, instead please visit APPIC’s website for up-to-date information. This program 

agrees to abide by the APPIC policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept or use any 

ranking-related information from any internship applicant. 

http://www.appic.org/about/2_3_5_about_policies_and_procedures_match.html 

UCSF NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY 

The University of California, San Francisco, in compliance with Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights 

Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act 

of 1973, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, the 

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991, does not discriminate on the basis 

of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, physical or mental disability, or age in any of its policies, 

procedures, or practices; nor does the University, in compliance with Section 402 of the Vietnam Era 

Veterans Readjustment Act of 1974, and Section 12940 of the State of California Government Code, 

discriminate against any employees or applicants for employment because they are disabled veterans or 

veterans of the Vietnam era, or because of their medical condition (as defined in Section 12926 of the 

California Government Code), their ancestry, or their marital status; nor does the University discriminate on 

the basis of citizenship, within the limits imposed by law or University policy; nor does the University 

discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation; nor does the University discriminate against vendors seeking 

business with the University. This nondiscrimination policy covers admission, access, and treatment in 

University programs and activities, and application for and treatment in University employment. It is against 

the law and University policy to retaliate against a person for pursuing his/her rights under these laws and/or 

for participating in an investigatory proceeding. In conformance with University policy of 1973, and Section 

402 of the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Act of 1974, the University of California, San Francisco is an 

affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. 

Inquiries regarding the University of California, San Francisco's equal opportunity policies may be 

directed to: 

Director Michael B. Adams 

Office of Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity & Diversity, UCSF 

3333 California Street, Room 101 

San Francisco, CA 94143-0988 

(415) 476-4752 

http://www.aaeo.ucsf.edu/ 

INTERNSHIP ACCREDITATION 

The UCSF Clinical Psychology Training Program Predoctoral Internship Year has earned APA accreditation 

through 2010. For more information regarding our accreditation please contact: 

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation 

American Psychological Association 

750 First Street, NE 

Washington, DC 20002-4242 

Phone: 202-336-5979 

Fax: 202-336-5978 

TDD/TTY: 202-336-6123 

Web: www.apa.org 

28

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