TRAINING - Research Opportunities and Concentrations - Behavioral Medicine Program (BMED)

Professional Training

Research Opportunities and Concentrations

Interns will have the opportunity for research mentorship and collaboration with our faculty. Interns may have opportunities to engage in the delivery of research protocols, data collection and analysis, and attendance at various research-oriented meetings. Interns will be assigned a primary research mentor, but may also have opportunities to collaborate with additional faculty. Our research experiences occur within the following tracks: (1) HIV care and prevention in BMED at MGH (both domestic and international), (2) sexual and gender minority health with The Fenway Institute, (3) mind-body medicine (with the Health Promotion and Resiliency Intervention Research Program; HPRIR program), and (4) psycho-oncology with the Cancer Outcomes Research & Education Program (CORE) and the Center for Psychiatric Oncology and Behavioral Sciences. Each of these experiences are described below.

HIV Care and Prevention

The HIV Care and Prevention research experience is an opportunity for an intern to specialize and expand their clinical research training related to preventing HIV acquisition and optimizing the wellbeing of individuals living with HIV (e.g., uptake and persistence of biomedical HIV prevention, treatment of mental health conditions, adherence to HIV treatment, aging well with HIV, etc.). Interns will have the opportunity to collaborate with multidisciplinary clinicians, clinical researchers, and health policy experts. Interns will gain experience with a variety of stakeholders, including providers, healthcare systems, and community populations and advocates.

HIV care and prevention research takes place both domestically and internationally. Interns will have the opportunity to participate in research conducted locally at MGH, with the Fenway Institute at Fenway Health in Boston, and with colleagues and collaborators at other institutions in Boston (e.g., Boston University and Boston Medical Center). There are also a number of NIH-funded trials at the R01, R34, and K23 levels that take place globally. Please see examples of our active and recently completed research.

Our research program works with individuals, caregivers, or clinicians and may range in age from young adults to older adults, and sexual and gender minorities, as well as cisgender women. Individuals may be seen remotely in the hospital, during outpatient visits. Evidence-based treatments include positive psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy, relaxation skills, mindfulness, problem-solving and emotion-focused coping skills, and risk and stage-based motivational interviewing.

Interns will have opportunities to participate as interventionists on several NIH-, foundation-, and internally funded randomized clinical trials, at the pilot, efficacy and effectiveness stages of research as well as national datasets and observational studies. With mentorship from faculty (see faculty below), interns may be involved with data analyses, manuscript writing, scientific presentations, and grant preparation, collaborating on a variety of developing, ongoing or completed studies. There will be opportunities to participate in departmental and hospital-wide seminars and lectures on health equity, implementation science, substance use, oncology as it relates to HIV, mixed methods research, and grant writing.

Interns will participate in bi-weekly research in progress meetings and will have an opportunity to participate in a weekly meeting of researchers engaged in global health work attended by psychologists, physicians, nurses, health service researchers and psychiatrists.

Our faculty mentors:

Affiliated faculty mentors:

Health Promotion and Resiliency Intervention Research (HPRIR) Program

The Health Promotion and Resiliency Intervention Research (HPRIR) Program is a joint initiative between the MGH Department of Medicine Mongan Institute and the Department of Psychiatry to harness the strengths of interdisciplinary behavioral health services to enhance health, wellness, and resiliency.

Our faculty mentors:

Affiliated faculty mentors:

Lara Traeger, PhD

Within the Behavioral Medicine Internship track, the HPRIR research experience is an opportunity for an intern to specialize and expand their research training in health promotion (e.g., cancer screening, tobacco treatment, physical activity) and resiliency (mind-body, integrative medicine) clinical research-related electives (see electives below). Interns will have the opportunity to collaborate with multidisciplinary clinicians, clinical researchers, and health policy experts. Interns will gain experience with a variety of populations of individuals with chronic illnesses, caregivers, providers, healthcare systems and community populations.

Our research program works with individuals, caregivers, or clinicians and may range in age from young adults to older adults. Medical diagnosis include cancer, cardiac disease, substance use disorders, and stress-related medical disorders. Individuals may be seen remotely in the hospital, during outpatient visits. Interns will gain experience with a variety of mental health disorders and challenges related to having a medical illness or sustaining ongoing chronic stress. Evidence-based treatments include positive psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy, relaxation skills, mindfulness, problem-solving and emotion-focused coping skills, and risk and stage-based motivational interviewing.

Interns will have opportunities to participate as interventionists on several NIH-, foundation-, and internally funded randomized clinical trials, at the pilot, efficacy and effectiveness stages of research as well as national datasets and observational studies. With mentorship from HPRIR faculty, interns may be involved with data analyses, manuscript writing, scientific presentations, and grant preparation, collaborating on a variety of developing, ongoing or completed studies. There will be opportunities to participate in departmental and hospital-wide seminars and lectures on health equity, implementation science, primary care, substance use, tobacco use, oncology, mixed methods research, palliative care, nursing, grant writing, and health policy.

Interns will participate in the weekly HPRIR meetings in clinical research and resiliency research. Attended by both psychologists, physicians, nurses, health service researchers and psychiatrists, this meeting offers and discuss clinical research and clinical questions.

Please view our active or recently completed research studies.

Center for Psychiatric Oncology & Behavioral Sciences

Within the Behavioral Medicine Internship track, the Psycho-Oncology research experience is an opportunity for an intern to specialize and expand their research training in psychosocial oncology. The core of the experience takes place in the MGH Center for Psychiatric Oncology & Behavioral Sciences, an outpatient setting within the MGH Cancer Center and the Department of Psychiatry, and the Cancer Outcomes Research & Education Program (CORE). CORE is an interdisciplinary group that conducts innovative research and educational programs to improve the experience and outcomes of patients and caregivers across the continuum of cancer care. Interns will enhance their skills in evidence-based interventions for psychosocial well-being and behavior change in the context of oncology and enhance general competency in collaborating with a multidisciplinary care team to engage in effective clinical research.

Through evidence-based research in supportive oncology care, interns will gain experience with a variety of patient populations receiving oncology treatment, nearing end of life, or coping with long-term or late onset issues in cancer survivorship. Our research program works with individuals, couples, and/or families, including young adults to older adults. Types of cancer include breast cancer, lung cancer, hematologic malignancies, gastrointestinal cancer, prostate cancer, genitourinary cancer, melanoma, multiple myeloma, brain tumors, and other malignancies. Interns will gain experience with a variety of disorders and challenges related to cancer including depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, adjustment disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, mild cancer treatment-related cognitive impairments, symptom management, adherence to treatment, existential concerns, and survivorship issues.

Interns will also be members of CORE, with opportunities to serve as a study therapist on several NIH-, foundation-, and internally funded randomized clinical trials in supportive oncology care for patients. Interns will also have the opportunity to serve as a study therapist on funded randomized clinical trials for family caregivers of patients with cancer through CORE’s Caregiving Research Program. With mentorship from Psycho-Oncology faculty (see faculty below), interns may be involved with data analyses, manuscript writing, scientific presentations, and grant preparation, collaborating on a variety of ongoing or completed studies. *Interns may also be co-mentored by our CORE collaborators in the Department of Medicine (e.g., oncology clinicians, palliative care clinicians, nurse researchers).

Following the internship, opportunities exist to transition to a postdoctoral fellowship through the T32 TOPS fellowship, a grant-funded postdoctoral fellowship through the American Cancer Society, or another grant-funded postdoctoral position (see postdoctoral opportunities below).

Interns will participate in the twice-monthly faculty meeting for the Center for Psychiatric Oncology & Behavioral Sciences. Attended by both psychologists and psychiatrists, this meeting offers an opportunity to stay up to date on clinic and department policies as well as discuss clinical cases. Second, interns will attend a monthly group supervision with faculty from the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, a collaboration between psychologists at the Dana-Farber Cancer Center and the MGH Cancer Center. Third, interns will attend a weekly meeting of the multidisciplinary CORE Program, including a monthly journal club. The weekly CORE meeting offers the opportunity to discuss innovative research and clinical care with faculty specializing in oncology, psychiatry, palliative care, social work, and nursing. Several workshops are offered throughout the year that interns may choose to take advantage of to enhance their clinical and research skills. Finally, interns may choose to attend cancer center grand rounds, psychiatry grand rounds, palliative care grand rounds, and other disease-specific grand rounds.

Please view our active or recently completed research studies.

Potential faculty mentors in the psycho-oncology experience:

Affiliated faculty mentors:

Lara Traeger, PhD

The Fenway Institute Rotation, Fenway Health

Dr. O’Cleirigh directs the Behavioral Science Team at The Fenway Institute with a primary focus on intervention development to support HIV prevention and treatment and LGBT health disparities. The rotation at The Fenway Institute is available to interns who have an interest in HIV research and/or in LGBT health. The rotation is typically arranged for the intern to spend one full day a week at The Fenway Institute with the potential to increase their time during the second semester of the internship year. The opportunities for interns on the Behavioral Science Team at The Fenway Institute multiple and varied and are typically linked to current research projects in progress or in development. These projects are generally conducted by researchers who have their primary appointment at Harvard Medical School and in the Behavioral Medicine Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. The Directors of the Fenway Institute are Drs. Kenneth Mayer and Judy Bradford who work closely with the Behavioral Sciences Team.

Please see our active and recently completed research.

The opportunities for interns on these projects include participating in treatment and treatment development studies as protocol therapists. This involves learning and implementing novel manualized cognitive behavioral treatments and receiving weekly clinical supervision. The intern also participates in weekly research team meetings and other trainings. The intern will also be expected to participate in preparing manuscripts for publication and preparing conference submissions from study data sets. Opportunities to make co-author and first author contributions are available on most of these projects. The Behavioral Science Team is constantly developing new projects and the opportunity to contribute to new and ongoing grant submissions is expected and forms part of the supervised research mentorship that is provided through the rotation at The Fenway Institute.

Interns who elect this rotation enjoy the experience of working in the more relaxed atmosphere of an LGBT Health Center (the largest Health Center meeting the needs of the LGBT Community in the country). This rotation also provides opportunities to become involved in biomedical research projects, ongoing epidemiological studies, and policy and education initiatives all of which form part of The Fenway Institute’s portfolio.