Website VA New Jersey War Related Illness & Injury Study Center
The War-Related Illness and Injury Study Center (WRIISC) at the VA New Jersey Health Care System is accepting applications for a research-focused Post-Doctoral Fellow to join Dr. Lisa McAndrew’s Behavioral Health Research Laboratory (BHRL). This WRIISC fellowship is sponsored by the VA Office of Academic Affiliations.
Overview:
The BHRL team conducts research with Veterans living with chronic pain, Gulf War Illness, medically unexplained illnesses (such as chronic multisymptom illness [CMI] and long-COVID), symptoms related to military and environmental exposures, and other complex health conditions. Our research focuses on understanding Veterans’ views of their health, developing innovative, patient-centered behavioral interventions, and implementing these interventions in the VA healthcare system. Areas of special focus include behavioral treatment for chronic pain and CMI, suicide treatment and prevention, health services research, implementation research, and patient-provider communication.
The overarching goals of the fellowship are for fellows to develop the full range of skills required to become an independent investigator. We use a mentorship team model in which the fellow will receive both individual and team mentorship in support of professional goals, which may include licensure.
The BHRL is housed within the WRIISC at the VA New Jersey Health Care System. The WRIISC is a tertiary clinical research center located just outside of New York City that specializes in serving Veterans who have difficult-to-diagnose, disabling illnesses through clinical care, risk communication, education, and research addressing potential environmental exposures and adverse health outcomes. Faculty at the WRIISC have expertise in clinical psychology, behavioral medicine, medically unexplained illness, health services, health communication, neuropsychology, women’s health, exercise science, integrative physiology, and imaging, and many have appointments at various academic institutions. Our fellowship program offers several educational didactics, which provide opportunities to gain additional experiences in these areas.
Current Projects:
-Federally-funded study adapting known effective provider communication styles in treating long COVID.
-A large, federally-funded clinical trial examining implementation of collaborative specialty care for Veterans with Gulf War Illness.
-A multi-year federally-funded clinical trial of a health coaching intervention for Veterans with pain-predominant CMI.
-An online health coaching treatment for Veterans with chronic physical symptoms.
Primary Responsibilities:
-Submit first-authored and co-authored manuscripts to peer-reviewed journals, and present findings at national conferences.
-Assist in preparing grants and applications to funding agencies for research support.
-Training and consultation in grant writing is available, and the fellow will be encouraged to lead on grant writing efforts to gain the skills and experience necessary to become an independent investigator.
-The fellow will contribute to data analysis efforts.
-The fellow will help lead the development and implementation of clinical research trials and other studies.
Additional Opportunities:
-Opportunities may exist to provide clinical interventions and assessments as part of randomized clinical trials (e.g., problem-solving treatment).
-The fellow will receive training in and provide crisis intervention as a member of the lab and department Distress Response Team.
-Opportunities may exist to supervise psychology externs.
Required Qualifications:
-A publication history and a burgeoning program of research.
-Ph.D. or Psy.D. in clinical or counseling psychology, public health, or related field; psychology applicants must have graduated from an APA-accredited program and completed an APA-accredited internship.
-US citizenship.
-Please see this link for information about trainee eligibility: https://www.va.gov/oaa/hpt-eligibility.asp .
Ideal Candidate:
-Motivated and seeking skills and training to become an independent investigator.
-Passion for improving quality of care for Veterans and conducting innovative, groundbreaking clinical research in the areas of health psychology and behavioral health.
-Experience working with individuals with chronic pain, physical health problems, and those at higher risk for suicide.
-Collaborative, and values working in a positive and productive culture.
To apply for this job email your details to Lisa.McAndrew@va.gov