Career Opportunities

The Behavioral Medicine Clinic is a tertiary specialty clinic at MUSC. Psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, other prescribing providers, and trainees from psychology, psychiatry, and pharmacy work together to coordinate mental and behavioral health care for patients receiving medical care from MUSC’s healthcare teams. Our team’s vision is as follows: Through research, education, and direct patient care, we help people with chronic and/or complex medical conditions, and their providers, by addressing the multifaceted psychosocial aspects of illness to alleviate suffering, promote health, improve quality of life, optimize medical care, and ultimately improve patient outcomes. We primarily serve adult populations, however, over recent years our focus has expanded to include more pediatric, adolescent, and young adult (AYA) patients as the number of providers whose passion and expertise working with AYA populations has also grown. For more information about our academic and patient care programs: · https://medicine.musc.edu/departments/psychiatry/divisions-and-programs/divisions/biobehavioral-medicine/education-and-training · https://muschealth.org/medical-services/psychiatry/services/behavioral

Fellowship Program:

As a fellow you will work with patients with a range of chronic health conditions and providers from diverse medical specialties. Our campus is a busy and exciting place to work with six colleges and trainees from nearly all medical disciplines, and award-winning specialty medical/hospital services. We value interprofessional work and training and encourage close collaboration with our medical team colleagues. We value the fellows who have chosen to train with us, and we treat our fellows as junior colleagues. Fellows who excel in our program are highly motivated, creative, and passionate about their work. With scaffolding as appropriate throughout the fellowship, we support the continued growth of skilled generalist health psychologists who are ready for independent licensure and practice at the completion of the fellowship. The fellowship is 1-year with the option for a 2nd year pending agreement between the fellow and the fellowship directors. The decision to stay on for a 2nd year will be determined no later than January.

The fellow will provide outpatient psychotherapy, assessment, and consultation services to patients with a wide variety of chronic medical conditions, with opportunities for inpatient consultation and evaluation in our hospital for urgent transplants and integrated care within certain clinics. The fellowship year is divided into two, six-month rotations, with the opportunity to adjust/add additional experiences at the six-month point. The fellow may receive training and supervised clinical experience with the following patient populations:

1. Transplant Surgery: Heart, liver, kidney, lung, & living donor (kidney and liver), including opportunities for inpatient transplant evaluations

2. Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery: Pre- and post-surgical evaluation and management

3. Cancer and Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT): New diagnosis, active treatment, survivorship, caregivers, BMT evaluations, inpatient oncology opportunities

4. Chronic Pain and Epidural Neurostimulator Evaluations: Chronic idiopathic pain, nociceptive pain, neuropathic pain, CRPS/RSD, Chronic pancreatitis, fibromyalgia, etc.

5. Pulmonary Diseases: CF, COPD, NTM, sarcoidosis, etc.; including specialty clinics and Pulmonary Rehabilitation

6. Gastroenterological diseases and conditions: Crohn’s disease, Ulcerative colitis, and Irritable bowel syndrome

7. Pediatric and AYA Psychology: Solid organ transplant, adolescent bariatric surgery, congenital heart conditions, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell, and other assorted consultations

8. Other Chronic Medical Conditions and Functional Disorders: cardiac disease (MI/CAD, CABG, arrhythmias, adolescent and adult congenital, devices), other specialty and internal medicine services

Behavioral Medicine clinical services are provided via telemedicine and in-person. Faculty and postdoctoral fellows currently follow a hybrid model of part-time in our campus office and part-time working from home

(WFH), with some required on-campus time. Clinical operations (in-person versus hybrid in-person/WFH) will continue to be dependent on institutional requirements and insurance coverage for telemedicine services.

Specializations:

For the 2025-26 training year, we are recruiting for up to THREE fellowship positions, specializing in behavioral medicine. Specific populations of focus may be offered given applicants’ interests, training goals, and anticipated career trajectory. Fellows may indicate the desire to provide clinical services with a focus working within one specialty area (e.g., solid organ transplant) but all fellows will continue to work within general behavioral medicine populations. Should an applicant pursue a specific area of focus, a minor rotation/specialization may additionally be offered.

Didactics, Supervision, and Mentoring:

Fellows will attend Grand Rounds offered through the Department of Psychiatry at MUSC, and a Behavioral Medicine Seminar Series, and Peer Supervision. Each fellow will have at minimum 1-2 hours of one-on-one, face-to-face/telemedicine supervision with a licensed attending psychologist each week. There will also be scheduled mentoring meetings with the fellowship directors throughout the training year on key topics pertinent to professional development (e.g., salary negotiation). Both informal and formal feedback loops about the program and supervision will also be integrated into the training.

Research and Teaching Opportunities:

We expect to have the option for a grant mechanism through our division, where fellows can apply for funding towards a specific research project agreed upon with a faculty mentor, to work on during protected research time, if awarded. Teaching opportunities are also available for those with specific training goals in this domain. These opportunities may be discussed further in interviews.

Evaluation Process:

Documentation of clinical competency is necessary for the successful completion of the fellowship. Feedback will be provided throughout the training year. Each fellow is required to demonstrate an advanced and sophisticated understanding of diagnosis, assessment, and psychotherapy. They must demonstrate the ability to critically and sensitively use information derived from the empirical literature to guide the development of the treatment plan and selection of clinical interventions with consideration for cultural factors and social determinants of health, as evident by patient care and documentation. Fellows will present a clinical case presentation or seminar on their topic of expertise within our Behavioral Medicine Seminar Series. Each fellow’s progress is regularly assessed, within formal evaluations during each six-month period on learning goals and objectives. Sponsorship of the fellow’s licensure application is dependent upon successful completion of required hours, ongoing ethical conduct, and following institutional policies and practices. Fellows must successfully complete the first year of fellowship in good standing to continue in a second year.

Salary and Benefits:

The salary for the 2025-26 postdoctoral fellowship year will be $61,008 (or what is consistent with NIH stipend). Fellows are eligible for health, dental, vision, life insurance, short- and long-term disability, and retirement benefits. Benefits include 15 days (120 hours) of annual leave and 15 days (120 hours) of sick leave (3 weeks each). In addition, fellows will receive the 13 University holidays (which includes 1 floating holiday). Professional leave is discussed on a case-by-case basis with the faculty/supervisors. Fellows should plan to start fellowship on the first day of a month, or day prior, due to benefits/health insurance schedule. In addition, we offer at least $1500 professional development funds (reimbursable) in support of SC Psychology Board application fees and/or EPPP fees for fellows for the 2025-26 training year. Other benefits are available including an excellent library system, computer services, discounts on MUSC perks, and reduced cost membership to the state-of-the-art MUSC Wellness Center.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:

Our group, within the larger College of Medicine and Charleston community, is striving to create an environment that fosters cultural understanding and humility. We are striving for increased representation and to recruit team members who are as diverse as the patients we serve. We strongly encourage candidates apply for this position who are representative of all backgrounds especially those underrepresented in psychology, based on gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, or other factors. Applicants who are bilingual

Spanish-speaking are encouraged to apply. Learn more about MUSC’s commitment to diversity and inclusion through the Office of Equity: https://web.musc.edu/about/leadership/institutional-offices/diversity.

Admission Requirements:

Admission requirements for the fellowship include completion of all professional doctoral degree requirements from a regionally accredited institution of higher education or an American Psychological Association (APA)-accredited program and an APA-accredited predoctoral internship. This requirement is defined as: “having on the first day of the fellowship either the diploma in hand, conferred degree on official transcript, or a letter from the director of graduate studies verifying the completion of all degree requirements, including completion of dissertation defense, pending institution graduation ceremony.”

Application Procedure and Information:

The deadline for applications for the 2025-26 training year is Friday December 6, 2024, and applications will be accepted on a rolling basis prior to this date. Applications will be submitted directly via email to Dr. Stacey Maurer (maurers@musc.edu) and Dr. Lily Christon (christon@musc.edu).

Please submit a (1) letter of interest and (2) current curriculum vitae.

Please address your letter of interest to the fellowship director: Stacey Maurer, PhD. In your letter of interest, discuss: your career goals and whether you are interested in pursuing any specific areas of focus or minor rotations.

In your letter, please also include the names and contact emails of two references we may reach out to: one of your current internship supervisors and one reference from your graduate program. Reference letters are NOT required.

Interviews: All interviews will be conducted virtually, except by specific request.

Notification Date: We are accepting applications and will make offers on a rolling basis.