Fellowship in Behavioral Medicine

• Provide training in the integration of behavioral medicine into the primary care setting
• Assist in the development of skills as an educator of resident physicians in behavioral medicine
• Facilitate greater skill in the area of psychotherapy
• Promote growth and skill in research design, analysis, and report writing

Fellows are expected to:

• Treat a variety of psychosocial problems under supervision
• Provide training in behavioral medicine for resident physicians in the following contexts:
• precepting
• video review
• co-therapy
• consultation
• lecture
• Hone skills in research design, analysis, article writing for peer-reviewed research journals, and the development of new projects and grant applications; areas of research specialization depend on the applicant's research interests and qualifications

Training
Fellows receive two hours of individual, on-site supervision, provide 18 hours of patient care, and participate in a minimum of two hours of additional training activities per week. Current fellows spend 50-80% of their time at University of Minnesota Physicians' Phalen Village Clinic, which serves an economically and ethnically diverse population in St. Paul. Fellows have the unique opportunity to work with the issues that arise in the large Hmong population (depression, chronic pain, somatization, PTSD, and acculturation issues) in addition to issues which arise in a family medicine setting (ADHD, child and adolescent behavior problems, depression, anxiety, weight loss, and other health related issues). In addition, fellows are given the opportunity to supervise medical residents regarding the psychosocial aspects of their patients, both in the family medicine clinic and at St. John's Hospital. Their remaining time is spent providing clinical services at PHS.

In addition to the clinical experiences, fellow spend approximately 20% of their time on administrative functions including coordinating a monthly behavioral medicine newsletter and weekly meetings with the director of behavioral science, Eli Coleman, PhD.

Finally, as part of the 10% research requirement, fellows meet regularly with an assigned research supervisor and are expected to produce at least one publishable article during their fellowship.

Fellows are evaluated at three months and one year which provides them the opportunity to both give and receive feedback about how the fellowship is going. Evaluations are conducted in a face to face meeting with the fellow's primary supervisor. Fellows are informed about due process procedures in the event of a grievance.