Pediatric Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowships

The mission of the Pediatric Psychology Post-Doctoral Fellowship program is to provide diverse clinical experiences, to develop advanced clinical competencies in the specialty areas of pediatric psychology, and to help trainees explore and refine their own independent professional identity in preparation for the independent practice of psychology. Our program provides a firm foundation for emerging psychologists to pursue careers in academic medical centers, children’s hospital settings, and pediatric primary care practices. Fellows will develop advanced competencies in pediatric and clinical child and adolescent psychology consistent with national guidelines, including skills in diagnosis and assessment, psychotherapeutic intervention, professional consultation, scholarly inquiry/integration of science and practice, individual and cultural diversity, supervision, and ethics/professionalism.

Fellows will carry a caseload of patients that is individualized to educational needs and training goals of serving a diverse patient population and range of clinical concerns. Fellows will be expected to provide a minimum of 20-25 hours per week of direct patient care. The clinical supervisor will work with each fellow to develop a weekly schedule template that allows for accomplishment of training and patient care goals.

Fellows will have the opportunity to conduct brief evaluations and intervention with children and adolescents presenting with mental health symptoms in the medical setting. Primary services in which fellows engage include diagnostic evaluation, brief assessment and screening, individual and family-based therapy, consultation and liaison in clinic settings, multidisciplinary team-based care, and consultation with families, schools, and referring professionals.

The Pediatric Psychology Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program is designed to fulfill the requirements for licensure as a psychologist by the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists (LSBEP) and may also fulfill the requirements needed for licensure in other jurisdictions. The Pediatric Psychology fellowship program exists alongside other Psychology Fellowship Programs at Ochsner Health including Child Development (Training Director: Lee Ann Annotti, PhD), Adult Neuropsychology (Training Director: Annalise Boettcher, Ph.D. & Beth Arredondo, Ph.D.), Adult Integrated Behavioral Health (Training Directors: Teresa Christian, Psy.D. & Nicholas Tworek, Psy.D.), and Adult Psychology (Training Director: Sunni Primeaux, PhD).

Ochsner Health’s rapidly growing Department of Pediatrics comprises over 200 physicians across more than 34 specialties across the Gulf South from Shreveport, LA to Biloxi, MS. Ochsner Hospital for Children operates a dedicated pediatric emergency department, a 33-bed pediatric unit, 14-bed level I PICU, 54-bed level IV regional referral NICU, and a 12-bed CVICU with in-house intensivists and full-time pediatric hospitalist medicine service. Our team serves a broad geographic area encompassing the entire Gulf South region by leveraging a system of satellite clinics and extensive telemedicine capabilities, as well as a dedicated, full-time, pediatric transport team providing ground, rotary and fixed-wing transports across the entire region. Ochsner is ranked the number one children’s hospital in Louisiana by US News and World Report, and our Pediatric Cardiology & Heart Surgery, Gastroenterology and GI Surgery, and Orthopedics teams were ranked in the top 50 nationally.

The Section of Pediatric Psychology is comprised of 11 pediatric psychologists, 3 pre-doctoral psychology interns, 1 post-doctoral psychology fellow, masters level therapists, and community health workers. Ochsner’s Pre-Doctoral Internship (OPDI) has 3 child positions and 3 adult positions, and the internship program successfully matched all 6 positions for our first cohort of interns in the 2022-23 training year. OPDI is approved for a site visit with APA in 2023. In the section of pediatric psychology, providers practice in pediatric primary care clinics, pediatric subspecialty clinics, and hospital-medicine floors. The section provides inpatient and outpatient clinical services to children with primary mental health concerns (e.g., ADHD, Depression, Anxiety, etc.) and/or medical complexity. Our psychologists provide care at Ochsner Hospital for Children (Acute and Intensive Care Floors) and at Ochsner Health Center for Children in the following locations: New Orleans, Laplace/Westside Clinics, Metairie, and Mandeville East locations. In addition, we are growing capacity for direct-to-consumer clinical services with the proliferation of telehealth services to Ochsner facilities in Baton Rouge and Lake Charles, as well as to affiliate and partner hospitals and clinics.