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Post-Doctoral Fellowship Training The National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center (NCVC) offers post-doctoral fellowship training for qualified mental health professionals. The fellowship is funded by a research training grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, which was recently (2008) awarded five years of continuing support. The fellowship is open to entry level and experienced professionals who want to develop research and clinical expertise in understanding violent crime and other forms of civilian trauma. The fellowship is designed to be completed in two years, though some fellows do leave after one year of training. Stipend levels are based on NIMH standards and are contingent upon professional background and experience. Applicants should hold a doctoral degree in psychology, psychiatry, social work, or similar fields, and possess a strong commitment to the scientist-practitioner model, including strong research and clinical skills. The NCVC fellowship training program is designed to produce professionals skilled in using a variety of research and clinical strategies to investigate the impact of traumatic events upon adults and children. PTSD, major depression (MD) and substance use disorders (SUDs) are major public health problems because they are prevalent, increase risk for health morbidity and mortality, have onset early in life, and are infrequently treated using evidenced-based treatments. Traumatic stressors such as child maltreatment, interpersonal violence, disasters, and terrorism increase risk of PTSD, MD, and SUDs, but most individuals exposed to traumatic stressors are resilient, highlighting the importance of research that uses genetic, neurobiological, and psychosocial risk and protective factors to determine who is likely to be resilient and who is likely to need treatment. Effective treatments for these disorders have been developed, but they are not effective for everyone, and they are rarely used in clinical practice. This highlights the need for researchers from basic science who can do translational research from basic science to treatment development and from treatment research to implementation in clinical practice. Our research training program provides trainees with mentorship, coursework, seminars, mental health treatment experiences, and research experiences they need to do competent, interdisciplinary, translational traumatic stress research. The training program is housed in the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center (NCVC) in the Department of Psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina. All postdoctoral fellows will be mentored by NCVC faculty and will have a basic or basic clinical science co-mentor. Co-mentors include M.D.’s and Ph.D.'s with a broad range of scientific expertise including behavioral genetics, neurobiology, neuroimaging, child psychiatry, substance abuse, treatment efficacy, and services research. The NCVC has a number of major funded projects that include national epidemiological studies of exposure to traumatic stressors and risk of mental disorders, gene-environment interaction studies of resilience following exposure to disasters, treatment development and randomized clinical trials (RCTs), and projects addressing translation of effective treatments to clinical practice. Program activities include:
The NCVC faculty includes 12 doctoral-level professionals, all of whom are energetic and enthusiastic participants in the fellowship training program. The common interest of the faculty in traumatic stress provides a solid foundation for building strong research and clinical programs. However, each faculty member also maintains unique interests, particularly in the development of research programs; thus, post-doctoral fellows are provided a broad array of training opportunities. All faculty members welcome collaboration from faculty and post-doctoral colleagues within the context of their research activities. The NCVC is a division of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences strong research and clinical training programs exist in the fields of psychiatry and clinical psychology (pre-doctoral internship consortium with the Charleston Veterans Administration Medical Center), as well as in other allied health fields. The affiliation with a strong academic department compliments the strong post-doctoral training available through the NCVC fellowship (e.g., attending grand rounds, attending clinical case conferences, collaboration on multidisciplinary research projects). Post-doctoral fellows enjoy a positive learning atmosphere and the opportunity for exposure to various faculty members and fellow advanced trainees. Inquiries concerning the post-doctoral fellowship program are welcomed year-round. Applications are typically due in mid-December for the following year's training program.
***Learn more about current and past Post-Doctoral Fellows***
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