Program Disclosures

Postdoctoral Program Admissions

The Clinical Neuropsychology Specialty Program (CNSP) is APA-accredited as a specialty program in clinical neuropsychology.  Postdoctoral fellows in clinically-focused fellowships spend approximately 50-70% time conducting clinical work.

CNSP postdoctoral fellows complete two years of accredited training in the CNSP. Fellows will receive a Certification of Completion only after completing 2 years of training. Two years of CNSP fellowship training is consistent with the Houston Conference Guidelines on Specialty Education and Training in Clinical Neuropsychology and with requirements for ABPP Board Certification.  ​CNSP fellows’ eligibility to continue for a second year of training is decided upon by the postdoctoral fellow and the primary supervisor midway through the first year. The supervisor informs the postdoctoral fellow that he/she would (or would not) like him/her to stay a second year by mid-December. When an offer to continue for the second year is extended, the postdoctoral fellows must inform the primary supervisor of his/her decision to accept or decline the offer by January 1st to allow sufficient time to recruit a replacement fellow.  

The CNSP offers postdoctoral specialty training in both adult and pediatric clinical neuropsychology. Training experiences vary across settings depending on patient populations. The CNSP adheres to the Postdoctoral Fellowship Training Program (PFTP) philosophy that all postdoctoral fellows in clinical psychology should have clinical and research exposure during their training.  CNSP fellows devote 50-70% time to clinical activities, 40-20% time to research, and 10% to formal required didactic experiences. The exact nature of clinical and research training is determined on an individual basis in collaboration with each of the faculty mentors.

The three aims of the CNSP are:  

1. To produce neuropsychologists who exhibit an advanced competency level with regard to professional skills/conduct and ethical standards (consistent with APA principles and local regulations) to function effectively as independent practitioners within health service settings;
2. To produce neuropsychologists who exhibit an advanced competency level with regard to the basic knowledge and skills of research to function effectively as scientist-practitioners within health service settings; and 
3. To produce neuropsychologists who exhibit an advanced competency level with regard to the knowledge and skills specific to the specialty of clinical neuropsychology (consistent with the Houston Conference Guidelines) to function effectively as independent scientist-practitioners in health service settings.  

Clinical training supports postdoctoral fellows in establishing clinical proficiency, while integrating a professional role that is well grounded in ethics and mental health practice. By the end of the fellowship, the postdoctoral fellow should attain advanced competence in the knowledge-base and clinical skills required for their area of emphasis and should be able to function independently in a similar clinical program in a new location. 

All postdoctoral fellowships are full-time, salary positions.

All candidates for admission are held to the onboarding requirements of the hospital in which they will be employed/rotate. 

All candidates for admission who are clinical/counseling/school psychologists are also strongly encouraged to purchase their own liability insurance (Professional Liability (Malpractice) Insurance for Pre-Licensed Psychologist) while on fellowship.  Future employers may request that you supply proof of insurance while you were in training. 

Definition of 20% Research Component 

All approved postdoctoral fellowships in the PFTP will contain a minimum of 20% effort devoted to research. It is the supervisor’s responsibility to provide a training experience that will meet this requirement. 

The 20% research experience should be active work that is conducted by the postdoctoral fellow (not completely delegated to others), and it should be geared toward producing a traditional scientific product (e.g. manuscript, presentation at a national professional meeting, grant application, instrument development). Postdoctoral fellows decide on the appropriate research activity in conjunction with the faculty supervisor.  Ultimately, it is the postdoctoral fellow’s choice to determine the specific project. Examples of appropriate activities include generating a project from the supervisor’s existing database; designing and implementing a new study; publishing work on projects begun prior to the fellowship including the dissertation. All individualized training activities for postdoctoral fellows must include explicit goals and activities for this research component.

Primary supervisors are responsible for identifying an independent research supervisor for their postdoctoral fellows. It is the responsibility of the primary supervisor to monitor that the fellow’s research goals are being met, and that research opportunities reasonably allow for these goals to be achieved. The primary supervisor should meet with the research supervisor to work out a mechanism to ensure that this is accomplished. 

It is the supervisor’s and home institution’s obligation to provide at least minimal resources for the postdoctoral fellow to achieve their research goals (e.g., computing, access to statistical software, research administration/IRB services, assessment space). 

The 20% effort (8 hours per week) may include the research didactic component of the PFTP (DPHB Core Seminars). Clinical seminars are not included in the 20% time. 

Any one of the following would represent an appropriate product from a research activity: 

• Peer reviewed publications e.g. journal article
• Book chapter
• Invited articles in professional journals
• Academic presentations outside of Brown Medical School
• Poster presentation, or paper presentation at a regional or national professional meeting, preferably with a published abstract
• Poster presentation at Mind/Brain Research Day
• Grant award from postdoctoral fellow initiated activity

​​Describe any other required minimum criteria used to screen applicants:

CNSP applicants must have: 1) met all requirements for doctoral degree, including defense, at time fellowship starts; 2) Health Service Providers must hold a doctoral degree from an APA-accredited program or equivalent; 3) must come from an APA-accredited internship or equivalent; 4) CNSP applicants must have a major emphasis in clinical neuropsychology and internship training must have been done at a site that adheres to the Houston Conference Guidelines.  See Eligibility for more details.