Integrated Primary Care (IPC) Post-Doctoral Fellowship
Integrated Primary Care (IPC) Post-Doctoral Fellowship
The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Integrated Primary Care Post-Doctoral Fellowship program provides clinical experiences to develop advanced competencies in the specialty area of pediatric psychology.
A core component of the IPC fellowship is learning how to effectively and efficiently provide direct care to patients ages 0-21 years and their families for a range of presenting concerns in a primary care setting. Fellows will learn how to function independently as part of a multidisciplinary team that includes primary care providers, medical social workers, nursing staff, care navigators and medical residents or students. Throughout the year, the fellows will provide consultation to patients and families presenting for primary care appointments, offering same-day services for a wide variety of presenting concerns, including procedural distress, behavior concerns, sleep concerns, feeding concerns, family conflict, depression, anxiety, developmental concerns, and weight management. The Primary Care Network at Nationwide Children's Hospital serves an economically disadvantaged, historically underserved patient population living among varied high need contexts and works closely with language services for on site, over the phone or video interpreting for families in their preferred language.
Approximately 50% of patient care will be provided in the context of same-day medical appointments. Fellows are also expected to follow a small caseload of patients needing targeted intervention or evaluation for ADHD or autism.
While not a primary focus of the fellowship, trainees will be expected to complete a fellowship project. This could involve proposal of a quality improvement (QI) project, formal data collection, or program development proposal.
Other Psychology Fellowship Tracks at Nationwide Children's Hospital
- Autism Psychology Post-Doctoral Fellowship
- Clinical Child Psychology Post-Doctoral Fellowship
- Intellectual and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Post-Doctoral Fellowship
- Neuropsychology Post-Doctoral Fellowship
- Pediatric Acute Treatment (PAT) Psychology Post-Doctoral Fellowship
- Pediatric Psychology Post-Doctoral Fellowship
What You Need to Know
Mini Rotation Experiences
Fellows will be expected to also participate in one or more supplemental training experiences in line with their training goals. Except for a research rotation which lasts for 12 months, most rotations occur in the second half of the training year and last from 3-6 months with an estimated time commitment of 2-12 hours/month. Past examples include experiences in the following departments: Adolescent Medicine, Healthy Weight and Nutrition, Psychiatric Crisis Department, Child Development Center and Feeding though this list is not exhaustive. Other experiences have included content creation for the Kids Mental Health Foundation or facilitation of a parent training program in the community.
Supervision
The fellow will participate in both individual and group supervision with psychology faculty members. The IPC fellow receives supervision from a variety of faculty, allowing for exposure to different styles or approaches. Supervision is provided from a developmental perspective, focusing on building confidence, self-assessment and reflection, individual competencies, professional identity, independence, and professional development. Monthly group supervision is completed with the primary care psychology team. Individual supervision can be structured and scheduled but also occurs regularly on-the-fly as trainee develops fluency and demonstrates readiness for independence. Finally, each fellow is assigned a preceptor, independent of the fellow's direct supervisors. The preceptor’s role is to ensure the fellow's experiences are consistent with the fellow's training goals and objectives and to act as a mentor regarding professional development issues. Opportunities for umbrella supervision are also available.
Didactics
Didactic experiences in the IPC Psychology track are both formal and informal. The IPC fellow(s) will engage in didactic opportunities with the IPC psychology team, psychology fellows on other tracks, and/or medical faculty and trainees. Examples of didactic experiences are outlined below.
- Nationwide Children's Hospital Fellowship Seminar with all Nationwide Children's Psychology Fellows – 1 hour/bi-weekly
- Journal Club with IPC Psychology team – 1 hour/month
- Program Development/Community Engagement with integrated primary care team – 1.5 hour/month
- Pediatric Grand Rounds – 1 hour per week
Additional educational opportunities exist within our hospital setting including Behavioral Health Education Days, Psychiatry Grand Rounds, Tumor Board, Clinical Research Seminars, Schwartz Center rounds, and the Multicultural Brown Bag Lunch Series. The fellow can join these didactic experiences as relevant to their training in integrated primary care.
Hours
Integrated primary care fellows work five days per week. There is no “on-call” coverage. Fellows typically work 40-50 hours per week.
Research & Advocacy
Due to the clinical focus of the fellowship, research experiences are not a core part of the training experience. However, for fellows who are interested, there are opportunities for involvement in novel research and quality improvement projects on integrated primary care under the supervision of IPC Psychology faculty.
Examples of projects include:
- Examining the health equity of integrated primary care
- Implementing an ADHD behavioral health pathway within primary care
- Completing a taxonomy literature review on integrated behavioral health models
Fellows will have time on their administrative day to work on research and will attend a bi-weekly research lab meeting with the IPC team to discuss current and future research projects and research articles pertaining to integrated behavioral health.
Salary & Benefits
Our fellows are hospital employees, and as such, they are eligible for the same benefits other full-time staff receive (with the exception of paid time off, which is outlined.) Learn more about fellowship benefits.
Salary for fellows will be $65, 344 for the 2026-2027 training year. In addition, fellows receive:
- 15 days of paid vacation
- 6 additional paid holidays
- Up to 6 days of paid sick leave
- Up to 5 days of paid leave for professional development activities (e.g., licensure exams, job interviews, conference attendance)
- Up to $1500 in professional development funds (e.g., for licensure, conference attendance)
- Up to $3000 in moving expenses, if relocating for fellowship from out-of-state
Eligibility
Applicants must be on track to complete all requirements of an APA-accredited doctoral program in clinical, school, or counseling psychology and a one-year clinical APA-accredited internship. Completion of all requirements for the doctoral degree is expected by the beginning of the fellowship training year, though we understand that graduation ceremony dates may delay conferral of the doctoral degree until after the start of fellowship.
Application and Interviews
Applications for the 2026-2027 fellowship are due by December 5, 2025.
Interviews for selected applicants will be offered in a virtual format during the month of January 2026.
The fellowship begins in the summer of 2026 though this start date can be delayed to accommodate completion of an applicant’s pre-doctoral internship. There is a strong preference for individuals with experience working in a primary care setting and, or clinical experience with children and adolescents.
Application materials will be uploaded through APPA CAS, which is free for applications. Through the portal, please submit:
- A letter of interest describing relevant training, work experience, goals for postdoctoral development
- A curriculum vitae
- Three letters of reference
Background Check and Drug Screen
Our patients’ health and safety is in our hands. Upon hire, all new employees at Nationwide Children’s must complete and pass a background check and drug screen. The background check will include reference checking and a criminal background search complete with finger printing. Nationwide Children's follows the Ohio Revised Code to determine whether a felony or misdemeanor conviction or guilty plea is a disqualifying offense for applicants to the Internship in Professional Psychology. For applicants to the Internship in Professional Psychology, Nationwide Children's primarily relies on the background check requirements found in Ohio Revised Code Sections 3701.881, 2151.86, and 109.572 and Ohio Administrative Code Section 5101:2-5-09.
All job candidates are required to successfully complete a drug screen as a condition of employment.
Contact
For more information regarding the fellowship, please contact:
Abbey Caserta, PhD
Associate Track Director – Integrated Primary Care
Abigail.Caserta@NationwideChildrens.org
(614) 799-6044
