The University of Florida Academic Health Center is a complex of six colleges on the University of Florida campus. The colleges include Medicine, Nursing, Health Professions, Pharmacy, Dentistry, and Veterinary Medicine. The building complex consists of the 996-bed UF Health Shands Hospital, a wide variety of outpatient clinics, a teaching/academic core, and the extensive support services for patient care, research, and communications that are part of a modern university health science center. The Department of Clinical and Health Psychology operates its own Psychology Clinic, which handles diverse requests for inpatient and outpatient psychological services from Academic Health Center departments and area health care professionals. The Psychology Clinic is the major setting for the formal clinical practica required of all doctoral students.
The Department is located within the College of Public Health and Health Professions, which offers doctoral level professional programs in Audiology (Aud.D) and Physical Therapy (DPT) as well as doctoral-level degree programs in Public Health disciplines (Biostatistics, Psychology/Clinical Psychology, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Epidemiology, Health Services Research, Public Health, and Rehabilitation Science). Students interested in obtaining education and training in Public Health can obtain a Certificate in Public Health or can obtain both a Ph.D. and a Master’s of Public Health (MPH) degree while enrolled in the program. Separate admission to the Public Health Program is required. Interested students should visit the Public Health website at http://www.mph.ufl.edu/ for more information.
Across the street from the Health Science Center, and connected to it via an underground tunnel, is the 289 bed Gainesville Veterans’ Administration Medical Center (VAMC), a nationally recognized center for health care treatment of veterans and their families. A full continuum of community based training, emphasizing rural health care, is also available through departmental collaborations. Additional practica are available throughout the Academic Health Center and in outside facilities such as the North Florida Evaluation and Treatment Center, a forensic mental health facility.
The Department of Clinical and Health Psychology is recognized within the Health Science Center as a primary resource for academic and clinical expertise regarding biopsychosocial aspects of health and illness. Interests of the faculty are broad, with a majority actively engaged in the specialized areas of clinical health psychology, clinical neuropsychology, clinical child/pediatric psychology, and emotion neuroscience/psychopathology. There are ongoing collaborative arrangements with numerous departments and programs including Cardiology, Oncology, Neurology, Pediatrics, Psychology, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dentistry, Neurosurgery, Endocrinology, Surgery, Exercise and Sport Science, Physical Therapy, and Anesthesiology. Department faculty hold joint or courtesy appointments in many of these academic departments, and are represented on the faculties of such university centers as the Center for Neuropsychological Studies, the University of Florida McKnight Brain Institute, the Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, the Institute on Aging, the Brooks Center for Rehabilitation Research, and the University of Florida Interdisciplinary ADHD Program. Several Centers are located within the Department or College, including the Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, Center for Pediatric Psychology and Family Studies, Center for Telehealth and Assistive Technology, the Florida Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation, and the Center for Pain Research and Behavioral Health.
The student has the opportunity to work with a broad range of accomplished faculty. In the 2013-2014 academic year, the faculty reported 122 peer-reviewed journal publications, 1 book, and 8 book chapters, and 47 peer-reviewed articles in press. In addition, faculty members authored or co-authored 103 papers presented at national or international meetings and gave 32 additional presentations to state or local organizations.
From FY2009-2015, grant awards to the department totaled $31.5 million, including new federal grants totaling $6.3M in Direct Costs ($2.2M IDC) and new nonfederal grants totaling $951K in Direct Costs ($38K IDC). Ongoing (continuing) federal grants during that same period totaled $16.4M in Direct Costs ($5.3M IDC), while nonfederal sources added $371K in Direct Costs ($35K IDC). During the same period, the faculty, together with student, intern, and postdoctoral clinicians have performed clinical services resulting in $7.1M in collections ($1.4M/year). All trainee services were delivered under the direct supervision of program faculty, with careful concern devoted to issues related to physical availability for immediate consultation (as appropriate and necessary), alternate coverage in instances of faculty travel, and appropriate coding and billing practices.
On the national level departmental faculty are active in the American Psychological Association and other professional societies such as the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, the American Board of Professional Psychology, Society for Behavioral Medicine, Society for Pediatric Psychology, International Neuropsychological Society, Society for Psychophysiological Research, and International Association for the Study of Pain. Faculty members also regularly serve on the editorial boards of scientific journals, including the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, Health Psychology, Educational and Psychological Measurement, The Clinical Neuropsychologist, Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, The Clinical Neuropsychologist, Psychophysiology, and the Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings.
Faculty are equally active at the regional, state and local levels through participation and leadership roles in the Southeastern Psychological Association, Florida Psychological Association and other organizations. Graduate students have also played significant roles in professional organizations (e.g., President and Board Members of the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students [APAGS], Student President, Florida Psychological Association) and have been recipients of a number of research awards from the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Foundation, the Florida Psychological Association, the International Neuropsychological Society, the Society of Pediatric Psychology, and the American Pain Society. The Department itself was a co-sponsor of two major national conferences regarding education and training in psychology: The National Conference on Internship Training in Psychology (1987) and The National Conference on the Education and Training of Scientist-Practitioners for the Professional Practice of Psychology (1990). The Department originated the National Conference on Child Health Psychology, now sponsored by APA Division 54.
