Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology

The department of Clinical and health psychology

The Department of Clinical and Health Psychology is an academic and professional unit in the College of Public Health and Health Professions.

We are located at the Academic Health Center within the University of Florida Campus in Gainesville.

The doctoral program in clinical psychology has been accredited by the American Psychological Association since 1953 and adheres to the Scientist-Practitioner Model of education and training. The Clinical Psychology Doctoral program is unique in the country in that it is housed in an independent department of Clinical and Health Psychology in a major academic health science center along with an APA-accredited internship. These features foster program strengths in research, teaching, and professional training in health care psychology.

“The scientist-practitioner model produces a psychologist who is uniquely educated and trained to generate and integrate scientific and professional knowledge, attitudes, and skills so as to further psychological science, the professional practice of psychology, and human welfare. The graduate of this training model is capable of functioning as an investigator and as a practitioner, and may function as either or both, consistent with the highest standards in psychology. The scientist-practitioner model is ideal for psychologists who utilize scientific methods in the conduct of professional practice.”  (National Conference on the Education and Training of Scientist-Practitioners for the Professional Practice of Psychology).

To accommodate the broad range of career trajectories possible within Scientist-Practitioner education and training, the program offers a flexible Scientist-Practitioner curriculum that prepares students for careers anywhere along the science-practice continuum. Our graduates successfully pursue careers in research, practice, or, more typically, in research-practice integration, and work in a broad range of professional settings, including academic health centers, hospitals, healthcare practices, and community agencies. All students obtain focused research mentorship in a faculty member’s laboratory and obtain broad training in clinical assessment and intervention both in and outside of their designated major area of study. The curriculum allows students to develop broad competencies in assessment, intervention, consultation, and supervision. It ensures the acquisition of research skills and training in scientific methods and technologies to understand behavior, psychopathology, and psychological adjustment to illness and wellness, and to develop evidence-based assessment and treatment procedures.

The Doctoral program prepares students to:

  1. Investigate meaningful, empirically testable questions in the quest for understanding a behavioral process, a patient’s problem, or a professional issue;
  2. Function as a professional psychologist;
  3. Practice competently in the applied areas of psychological assessment/diagnosis, intervention/therapy, consultation, and supervision; and
  4. Contribute to the advancement of psychological knowledge through research or other creative scholarly activity.

The Doctoral program aims to enable students to:

  1. Acquire broad and general foundational knowledge in Psychology and Clinical Psychology;
  2. Develop skills in research and scholarship, and apply those skills through publication and presentation of their work;
  3. Develop knowledge and skills in Health Service Psychology, and apply those skills through assessment, intervention, supervision, and consultation services;
  4. Make specialty-specific contributions to a defined Area of Concentration;
  5. Understand, appreciate, and implement knowledge related to individual and group sources of individual differences and diversity, thereby becoming multiculturally competent;
  6. Appreciate ethical and legal issues, and engage in ethical conduct in all of their activities; and
  7. Communicate and disseminate psychological knowledge and concepts to academic, scientific, interprofessional, and community audiences.

The Commission on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association accredits the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology’s Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology. Questions related to the Program’s accredited status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation:

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation

American Psychological Association 750 1st Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002
Telephone: (202) 336-5979
TDD/TTY: (202) 336-6123
Fax: (202) 336-5978

apaaccred@apa.org

Director of Clinical Training: Allison A. Holgerson Ph.D., ABPP

Associate Chair of Graduate Education: Michael Marsiske, Ph.D. 

Academic Coordinator: Amanda DiTrapani