Ochsner Health is a system that delivers health to the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and the Gulf South with a mission to Serve, Heal, Lead, Educate and Innovate.
Pediatric Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowships
The Section of Pediatric Psychology at Ochsner Children’s Hospital is offering two Pediatric Psychology Fellowship Programs for the 2025-2026 training year. This Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program emphasizes advanced evidence-based education and clinical training to prepare psychology fellows to work independently in integrated medical settings. The primary training sites for both tracks within this fellowship is Ochsner Children’s Hospital (Jefferson Hwy campus), and in pediatric primary care clinics in the New Orleans region (including Jefferson Highway, Westside/Westbank, and Metairie clinic locations).
Our pediatric psychologists provide consultation and intervention to patients and families while integrated within medical settings across Ochsner Children’s Hospital. We work with medical and allied health partners to increase access to behavioral health services and improve behavioral and physical health outcomes. Each Pediatric Psychology Fellow will spend approximately half of their clinical time in Integrated Pediatric Primary Care and half of their clinical time in Pediatric Health Psychology throughout the training year. Each of these clinical major rotations has required activities and opportunities for flexibility based on each fellow’s training goals.
Fellows are provided with training in evidence-based practices and education regarding interdisciplinary behavioral healthcare; consultation across medical contexts; prevention and management of primary behavioral health disorders in the primary care setting; and pediatric medical conditions, psychological sequelae, and correlates of such conditions.
Fellows will be expected to participate in multidisciplinary clinics and rounds and will receive mentoring in effective work with multidisciplinary teams comprised of physicians, nurses, psychiatrists, licensed clinical social workers, case managers, and other medical/professional staff.
Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program positions are 12-month, full-time positions, anticipated from August 3, 2026 to August 2, 2027. Each position will provide supervision for approximately 2,000 hours of clinical work. This fellowship program is not currently accredited by APPIC, though meets all membership criteria.
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 collaborates with separate Psychology Fellowship Programs at Ochsner Health: Adult Neuropsychology (Training Director: Annalise Boettcher, Ph.D. & Beth Arredondo, Ph.D.) and Adult Psychology (Training Director: Taylor Parks, Ph.D.).
The mission of the Pediatric Psychology Post-Doctoral Fellowship program is to provide clinical experiences to develop advanced competencies in the specialty areas of pediatric psychology, and to help trainees explore and refine their own independent professional identity in preparation for the autonomous practice of psychology. Our program provides a firm foundation for emerging psychologists pursuing careers in academic medical centers, children’s hospital settings, and integrated pediatric primary care practices. We seek to provide training experiences which support fellows in developing advanced competencies in pediatric and clinical child and adolescent psychology, including diagnosis and assessment, psychotherapeutic intervention, professional consultation, scholarly inquiry/integration of science and practice, individual and cultural diversity, supervision, and ethics/professionalism.
Fellows will provide clinical consultation and outpatient services to a patient population for a 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(s) will work with each fellow on developing a weekly schedule template that allows for accomplishment of training and patient care goals. Fellows will have opportunity for supervised practice related to evaluation, intervention, consultation, and supervision of trainees. Primary services in which fellows engage include diagnostic evaluation, brief assessment and screening, individual and family-based therapy, consultation and liaison in clinic and hospital settings, multidisciplinary team-based care, and consultation with families, schools, and referring professionals.
Fellows are required by Ochsner’s Medical Advisory Committee to obtain their Provisional Licensure from the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists (LSBEP) to qualify for assistant staff privileges. These include the ability to see patients independently and drop charges under a supervising staff psychologist’s license, continuing education funds and leave, access to physician privileges and benefits (e.g., physician lounge, professional staff services). Provisional licensure is also required by LSBEP to be approved to take the EPPP in Louisiana, and it expedites the process of applying to be licensed in Louisiana once the EPPP and fellowship are passed.
Fellows are excepted to apply for provisional licensure within 1 month of receiving their doctoral degree. Fellows’ will be allotted 4 hours/week during their first month on site to work towards provisional licensure. You are encouraged to start the process before arriving for fellowship. It will be the responsibility of the fellow to follow-up with LSBEP regularly to check on the status of their provisional license to ensure its timely completion. You must be provisionally licensed before you can apply to take the EPPP.
Fellows are encouraged to have attempted the EPPP once in the first 6 months of their fellowship to ensure readiness for the job market. The first attempt is required by March 1st. EPPP study time often conflicts with the Mardi Gras season and fellows have often wanted to prioritize this unique cultural experience while staying in New Orleans. Fellows are encouraged to start discussing their timeline early with their supervisors, professional development mentor, and training director. From our experience with prior fellows, we do not recommend starting studying until after your test is scheduled. Fees associated with provisional licensure and EPPP can be paid out of continuing education funds. Fellows are expected to use their continuing education leave (10 days) for any time off they wish to take in preparation for and the day of the EPPP. For more information on provisional licensure, see http://www.lsbep.org/wp-content/uploads/Prov-Flow-Chart-Updated-5-4-17-1.pdf, https://lsbep.org/wp-content/uploads/Forms_Steps_Toward_Licensure_LP_Posted-2025.1.20.pdf, and https://lsbep.org/apply/.
Ochsner Health’s rapidly growing Department of Pediatrics comprises over 400 physicians across more than 34 specialties across the Gulf South from Shreveport, LA to Biloxi, MS. Ochsner Children’s Hospital 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 hospital in Louisiana by US News and World Report, and our Pediatric Cardiology & Heart Surgery and Orthopedics teams were ranked in the top 50 nationally.
The Section of Pediatric/Child Psychology is comprised of 20 pediatric psychologists, 3 pre-doctoral psychology interns, 2 post-doctoral psychology fellows, and 4 masters level therapists. Ochsner’s Pre-Doctoral Internship (OPDI) has 3 pediatric/child positions and 3 adult positions and was accredited by the American Psychological Association in 2023. Our providers practice in pediatric primary care clinics, pediatric subspecialty clinics, child development centers, 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.), medical complexity, and/or developmental complexity. Our psychologists provide care at the Jefferson Highway (Ochsner Pediatrics Subspecialty Clinics, Jefferson Highway Pediatric Primary Care Clinic, and Ochsner Children’s Hospital’s Acute and Intensive Care Floors, Michael R. Boh Center for Child Development), as well as at Pediatric Primary Care clinics including Ochsner Westside, Ochsner Metairie, and Ochsner Lakeside Pediatric Primary Care Clinics. In addition, we are growing capacity for direct-to-consumer clinical services with the proliferation of telehealth services to Ochsner facilities in other geographical locations (e.g., Baton Rouge, Lake Charles), as well as to affiliate and partner hospitals and clinics.
Ochsner Health is Louisiana’s largest non-profit, academic, multi-specialty, healthcare delivery system with 47 owned, managed and affiliated hospitals and more than 300 health and urgent care centers across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Ochsner employs over 36,000 employees, with more than 4,600 physicians in over 90 medical specialties and subspecialties and performs over 700 clinical research studies. Ochsner Children’s Hospital is the region’s leading integrated provider of multispecialty care for infants, children, adolescents, and young adults.
