Clinical Psychology

Laura Mufson, Ph.D., Director

The Department of Clinical Psychology shares the Institute’s mission of providing excellence in patient care, training, and research. The department is made up of a diverse group of over one hundred psychologists (both Ph.D. and M.A.) involved in clinical care, training, and research. They participate in clinical care in a variety of settings ranging from Washington Heights Community Service to the Children’s Day Unit. Excellent training experiences are provided through graduate student clinical and research externships in a myriad of medical center departments.

New Clinical Services and Training Programs
The child psychology externship in the Children’s Day Unit coordinated by Dr. Kelly Posner has been expanded in its scope on the Children’s Day Unit. The CDU has two externs, doctoral level psychology students, who fulfill a one-year rotation and provide individual and group therapy as well as neuropsychological assessment for children in the CDU. Dr. Fern Leventhal continues to perform and oversee neuropsychological assessments on nearly every service, in addition to supervising the externs in neuropsychological assessment.

New Research and Training Programs
The Research Mentor Matching Program (RMMP) has continued to flourish, placing numerous doctoral and masters psychology students with medical center investigators to act as their mentors.

The Clinical Psychology department has established a monthly Psychology Colloquium open to all masters and doctoral level psychologists and psychology students working in the Medical Center. The colloquia provide the opportunity for psychologists to share their research work with other psychology colleagues outside their other department affiliation. The colloquia also provide a forum for discussing more general issues about careers in psychology, psychologists in medical centers, and the interface between clinical care and research.

Quality Assessment
The Clinical Psychology department maintains a credentialing program for psychologists whose work involves patient contact. The credentialing process insures that psychologists’ training is commensurate for the clinical duties they are performing and allows us to maintain the highest standards of clinical practice.