Pediatric Psychology Fellowship

The Division of Pediatric Psychology within the Department of Behavioral Health and Neurosciences at Cleveland Clinic Children’s offers a one-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in Pediatric Psychology. This fellowship offers advanced training in pediatric and specialty clinical child psychology to an accomplished psychologist-in-training with a PhD or PsyD from an APA-accredited psychology doctoral program. Postdoctoral training includes clinical, teaching, and research opportunities designed to foster the professional and interprofessional development of the fellow. Our goal is to prepare the fellow to function independently as a psychologist in an academic medical center or outpatient pediatric setting.

Program Overview

Clinical service

The mission of the Division of Pediatric Psychology is to provide the highest quality clinical care to patients and families using empirically-supported diagnostic and treatment techniques, implemented with caring and respect. We provide a range of specialized psychological evaluation and treatment services to individuals from infancy through young adulthood, coordinating care with other specialists and professionals to best meet the needs of each child and family.

This fellowship allows for specialization in 1-2 key clinical areas based on fellow’s interest and training goals. These major rotations involve 10-20 hours per week for at least 9 months: 

• Inpatient consultation-liaison: Providing consultation and psychological care to acutely hospitalized children presenting with a wide variety of conditions in our inpatient medical units, PICU, and NICU. A second rotation is available for consultation and care to children hospitalized for several weeks in our rehabilitation hospital.
• Pediatric chronic pain: Providing assessment, consultation, and interdisciplinary pain treatment (via both inpatient rehabilitation and outpatient care). Conditions commonly referred for treatment include chronic regional pain syndrome, headache, recurrent abdominal pain, dysautonomia, and fibromyalgia. 
• Hematology/oncology: Providing interdisciplinary assessment and treatment for children presenting with hematology/ oncology diagnoses, and their families. 
• Endocrinology: Providing evidence-based treatment to children, adolescents, and young adults presenting with an endocrinology-based medical illness including, but not limited to, T1/T2 diabetes, growth hormone deficiencies, obesity / weight management and associated comorbidities.
• Gastroenterology: Providing interdisciplinary assessment of psychological comorbidity and associated impairment for children presenting with Inflammatory bowel disease. Primary presenting concerns are Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. 
• Neurology: Providing multidisciplinary assessment and treatment for children presenting with primary neurological conditions including, but not limited to, headache, seizure, postural orthostatic tachycardia, and functional neurological symptom disorder. 
• Cardiology: Providing multidisciplinary assessment and treatment for children presenting with congenital heart disease, including the Fontan FRONTIER clinic and the Neurodevelopmental Support Program. 

Areas of minor focus are available per interest and timing of the rotations. These are available in the areas above as well as in Sleep Clinic, Complex Care Clinic, Food Allergy Clinic, Biofeedback Clinic & Rehabilitation Medicine. 

Teaching opportunities

The fellow is involved in the training of medical residents who rotate through a month-long block rotation in Behavior and Development. In addition, medical residents observe 1 – 2 initial evaluations conducted by the fellow, and the fellow reviews and discusses those cases with the residents. The fellow also may present lectures to psychology residents and support resident shadowing opportunities. The fellow is also involved in informal teaching opportunities with staff and students in other disciplines through interdisciplinary administrative, clinical, and research meetings. The fellow will also receive instruction and participate in umbrella supervision for psychology residents and graduate students. 

Research activities

The fellow has the opportunity to engage in research activities, and a portion of the weekly schedule may be designated for these pursuits. Division staff are involved in numerous research projects and typically work with the fellow to identify an area of interest or a potential research project. Fellows may develop an independent project or join in the ongoing research of a staff member. For fellows staying a second year, the fellow is expected to engage in at least one clinical research project and one quality improvement project. Over the past several years, fellows have presented their work at regional and national meetings, and co-authored book chapters and peer-reviewed articles.

Training activities

Additional training activities include weekly Pediatric Institute and Department of Behavioral Health Grand Rounds. The fellow is welcome to attend any presentations of interest or relevance to their training offered through other departments. Fellows have also taken advantage of the many Professional Development courses offered by the Division of Education. Although there are initial orientation meetings with Division staff, the majority of fellow “teaching” occurs in supervision meetings and other Division activities (e.g., monthly case conference, group supervision, individual monthly didactics). Fellows typically have five hours of supervision/didactics each week, with at least two hours being individual supervision. 

Incremental learning

This fellowship is meant to be incremental. The first year will target clinical knowledge and clinical skills, while building a foundation for research and professional identity. The second year will target (1) advanced clinical competencies, (2) clinical supervision, (3) applied clinical research, (4) medical education, and (5) professional development. We encourage fellows to master a specific skill (e.g., biofeedback, hypnosis, ACT), lead an administrative project (e.g., quality improvement, designing a new component of treatment, revising an existing component of treatment), and observe other clinical programs within our hospital or at other hospitals. This second year is meant to support the fellow becoming an ideal candidate for recruitment at an academic medical center and eventually passing the board exam of the American Board of Professional Psychology.

Division of Pediatric Psychology

Our team of over 50 caregivers includes pediatric psychologists, counselors, social workers, fellows, residents, students, technicians and administrative support. Professional staff are involved in clinical teaching, research and professional associations and are recognized regionally and nationally as experts in their subspecialty fields. Please refer to our department homepage for more information.

In addition to the areas previously identified, staff psychologists have special expertise in psychological treatment of feeding disorders, developmental disabilities, chronic and acute pain, coping with illness and disease, behavioral treatment of physical health problems, attentional and learning difficulties, and physical symptoms associated with stress. Diagnostic evaluations are available for children with attentional, learning, developmental, behavioral, or emotional problems, with psychological and psychoeducational testing conducted when appropriate.

Our offices are located across the region, on the main hospital campus, Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital for Rehabilitation Campus, and at the regional Family Health Centers. Our staff works closely with the general pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists of Cleveland Clinic Children's, and the fellow typically gains a great deal of experience working closely and collaboratively with these physicians. Specific to this fellowship, our staff performs interprofessional care, research, and teaching with specialists—and our fellows are mutually respected as a valuable part of the medical team. 

Application Process

Application deadline for this fellowship is Friday, December 15, 2023. Onsite interviews will occur the 2nd week of January 2024 (virtual interviews may be arranged).

Applicants must have a PhD or PsyD from an APA-accredited psychology doctoral program and have completed an APA-approved internship.

Submit a letter of interest, curriculum vita and three letters of reference to:

Ethan Benore, PhD, BCB, ABPP
Behavioral Health and Neurosciences
Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital for Rehabilitation
2801 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.
Cleveland, OH 44104
Fax: 216.448.6207

Email inquiries can be directed to Dr. Benore at benoree@ccf.org.

Ethan Benore, PhD, BCB, ABPP
Head, Center for Pediatric Behavioral Health
Program Director, Postdoctoral Fellowship in Pediatric Psychology
Clinical Assistant Professor, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine
Fellow, Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback