Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Neuropsychology Division is one of several specialty divisions within the UTHealth Houston Department of Neurology and consists of the Neuropsychology Program and the Brain and Behavioral Health Clinic. The mission of the Neuropsychology Division is to deliver neuropsychological and psychological services meeting the highest standards of the profession and to contribute to UTHealth Houston’s mission to provide exceptional educational training, clinical services, and advancements in research. The division specializes in the comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation and psychodiagnostic assessment of adults with a broad range of disorders that include Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease and other movement disorders, multiple sclerosis, cerebrovascular disease, traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, and psychiatric disorders. Candidacy evaluations for deep brain stimulation (DBS), primarily for Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor, are also a significant component of the program’s clinical service. Clinical intervention services include individual and group cognitive rehabilitation and individual psychotherapy with patients and caregivers primarily experiencing mood and anxiety disorders, functional neurologic disorder, insomnia, and mild cognitive impairment. In addition to serving a population of individuals with myriad neurological and other medical and psychological conditions, our location in a large metropolitan area allows us to serve individuals from diverse cultural, linguistic, and racial/ethnic backgrounds and socioeconomic statuses.

Our clinical services are offered through the UT Physicians practice plan. The division’s primary outpatient clinic is located in the UTHealth Neurosciences Neurocognitive Disorders Center, which also houses the Department of Neurology’s Neuropsychiatry Program. Ancillary outpatient clinics include the Huntington’s Disease Society of America Center for Excellence (HDSACOE). The training hospital for the Department of Neurology is Memorial Hermann Hospital, though the Neuropsychology Division provides outpatient services exclusively.

Minor rotations in clinical neuropsychology are offered at various sites in the Texas Medical Center, including MD Anderson Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, UTHealth Houston Neurosciences Department of Neurosurgery, and the Memorial Hermann Rockets Sports Institute.

(To request a copy of our 2022-2024 Fellowship Training manual, please email Rimma.L.Brokhin@uth.tmc.edu)

Neuropsychology Fellowship Program Mission and Goals

In accordance with UTHealth Houston’s academic mission, the Neuropsychology Division in the Department of Neurology at McGovern Medical School (a part of UTHealth) offers a structured two-year postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology. The mission of the fellowship program is to prepare fellows for independent practice as scientist-practitioners through a curriculum that enhances knowledge and clinical skills in neuropsychology, builds competency evaluating individuals from different backgrounds, and integrates values of inclusion, equity, and justice into clinical and other learning experiences. The training curriculum was intentionally designed to adhere to the Houston Conference Guidelines for Specialty Training in Neuropsychology, meet requirements for board-certification in clinical neuropsychology as defined by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP), and build competency with provision of neuropsychological services with a multicultural and multiracial/ethnic population. The program also meets Texas’ licensure requirements and has been granted conditional status with the Association of Postdoctoral Programs in Clinical Neuropsychology (APPCN). Robert L. Collins, PhD, ABPP-CN is the board-certified consultant for our program. Aspects of the curriculum are also tailored to the fellows’ career interests through creation of an individual development plan (IDP) at the start of the first fellowship year in collaboration with the Fellowship Director and minor rotations during the second year of training. The IDP is reviewed yearly and adjusted accordingly.

The fellowship program accomplishes its mission through several goals, including advanced education and training in the competencies necessary for the specialized practice of clinical neuropsychology, emphasizing advanced training in clinical evaluation of adult and geriatric patients with a range of neurocognitive and psychological disorders, and providing opportunities to engage in research in the field of neuropsychology. Additional aims of the program include emphasis on fellow wellness and self-care, advocacy and community engagement, and training experiences focused on neuropsychology in the context of multicultural and multiracial/ethnic issues. Clinical services will comprise at least 80% of the fellows’ effort, educational activities will comprise 10%, and clinical research/scholarly activity will be 10%.

Program Administrative Structure

The Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is administered by the Neuropsychology Division in the Department of Neurology, McGovern Medical School. Dr. Bethany R. Williams serves as both the Director of the Neuropsychology Division and Neuropsychology Fellowship, and Dr. Kendra Anderson serves as the Fellowship’s Co-Director. Katina Carson-Pratt and Rimma Brokhin provide administrative support to the program. Fellows are primarily trained in the UTHealth Neurosciences Neurocognitive Disorders Center but also have opportunities for research collaboration, clinical training, and completion of minor rotations with other faculty at UTHealth, as well as other locations within the TMC.

Core Neuropsychology Faculty

Bethany R. Williams Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neurology
Christina L. Burrows, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Neurology
Kendra Anderson, Ph.D, Assistant Professor of Neurology

APPCN Program Consultant

Robert Collins, PhD, ABPP-CN

Didactic Opportunities

Fellows participate in advanced didactics to foster learning and growth in clinical neuropsychology, including program-based lectures, neuropathology case conference, a structural competency workshop, and a nervous system and behavior course. Other educational offerings include neuropsychiatry case conference and observerships with department neurologists. Our location in the prominent Texas Medical Center (TMC), the largest medical center in the world, also affords fellows access to an array of other educational opportunities across hospitals and medical schools within the TMC that include neurology and neuropsychology seminars, conferences, and invited lectures. Neurology and Psychiatry Grand Rounds, inpatient neurology rounds, observation of DBS and other brain surgeries, and professional development seminars are offered through UTHealth.

Additionally, fellows engage in scholarly activity, such as development of an independent research project or assisting with existing research programs in collaboration with neurology department faculty. Past projects have included posters presenting research on the cognitive effects of deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression and cognitive functioning in individuals with Huntington’s disease.

Community outreach is also required during each training year. Fellows have previously volunteered at the UTHealth Houston Stomp Out Stroke Festival conducting cognitive screenings and referring patients for follow up neurology evaluation, the Houston Walk to End Alzheimer’s, and UTHealth Houston’s Brain Night KIDS at The Health Museum/John P. McGovern Museum of Health & Medical Science.

Application Process

The Neuropsychology Division will participate in the APPCN Match in February 2024. A faculty Open House is anticipated on Friday, December 8, 2023, from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm Central Time. Fellows will host an Open House on Friday, December 15, 2023, from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm Central Time. Faculty and fellow Open House attendance is optional, and prospective applicant attendance will not influence interview offer and ranking decisions. Applications are due no later than 5:00 pm on Friday, December 22, 2023. Interviews will be 45 minutes and scheduled between 12:00 pm and 5:00 pm on Friday, January 12th, 19th, and 26th, 2024.

During years in which applications for a fellowship position are accepted, the process below will be followed:

This residency site agrees to abide by the APPCN policy that no person at this facility will solicit, accept, or use any ranking-related information from any residency applicant. To be considered, applicants must have completed an APA or CPA-accredited doctoral program and a 1-year APA-or CPA-accredited predoctoral internship with rotations in neuropsychology prior to the scheduled start of the fellowship. Individuals with a doctoral degree but without formal training in neuropsychology will not be considered. Applicants are expected to have had formal training in neuropsychological assessment of adults, including standardized test administration and scoring, interpretation, and report preparation both in graduate school and on internship.

Interested applicants should forward:

  1. A 1-2 page letter of intent describing your experience in neuropsychological assessment and research, as well as your interest in the Neuropsychology Fellowship Program
  2. An up-to-date curriculum vitae
  3. Two de-identified sample neuropsychological evaluation reports
  4. An official transcript mailed, emailed, or electronically accessible directly from your graduate institution must be received prior to the rank submission deadline or you will not be ranked. Decisions regarding interview offers can be made using copies provided directly from applicants, however.
  5. Three letters of recommendation from prior or current training supervisors, dissertation chair, and/or clinical training director, with at least one from faculty or supervisors from your graduate program and at least one from a predoctoral internship supervisor. *All signed letters of recommendation should be emailed or mailed directly to the program’s administrative assistant Rimma Brokhin (Rimma.L.Brokhin@uth.tmc.edu) from the referents and not sent to Dr. Williams
  6. For applicants without a doctoral degree, APPCN’s Completion of Doctoral Training form, https://appcn.org/doctoral-training-verification/

Please email your application and letters of recommendation to Rimma.L.Brokhin@uth.tmc.edu
(do not email your application directly to Dr. Williams)

Alternatively, application materials can be mailed to:
UTHealth Houston Neurocognitive Disorders Center
Neuropsychology Division
1941 East Rd, Suite 4358
Houston, TX 77054

Applications received by the deadline will be reviewed by the Division faculty. Per APPCN’s guidance given applicant preferences for virtual interviews, selected applicants will be invited to interview by video. Strong candidates will be ranked through the Association of Postdoctoral Programs in Clinical Neuropsychology Resident Matching Program.