Fellowships & Trainings
VA Advanced Fellowship Program at the New York/New Jersey Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC)
Chi Chan, PhD
Fellowship Director
130 W. Kingsbridge Road
Bronx, NY 10468
Chi.Chan1@va.gov
The VA Advanced Fellowship Program at the New York/New Jersey MIRECC is accepting applications for three fellowship positions: one position for an MD fellow from psychiatry, one position for a PhD/PsyD psychologist from clinical or counseling psychology, and one position for a doctoral-level allied health professional from clinical or counseling psychology, social work, nursing, or pharmacy. All fellowships are two years in length. Our interdisciplinary program aims to train professionals to become outstanding clinical researchers in high-priority areas of mental health, including suicide, serious mental illness, homelessness and criminal justice involvement. Fellows devote most of their time to clinical research, educational activities, and direct patient clinical care.
VA Advanced Fellowship Program in Mental Illness Research & Treatment
The Fellows’ primary appointment will be at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center (JJPVAMC) in the Bronx, NY, with a secondary appointment at the affiliate Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in Manhattan, NY. Training opportunities will reside in the research, clinical, and educational programs at both institutions. Fellows devote approximately 75% of their time to research activities, research-related clinical activities, and educational activities, and 25% to developing advanced clinical skills in direct patient care. Fellows can spend the majority of research time developing their own line of work. In collaboration with their mentors, Fellows will develop and implement a research project, publish and present findings, participate in grant writing, and utilize the latest technology for educational activities and clinical service delivery. Fellows can apply for small grants of up to $10,000 to collect pilot data through our internal pilot funding program. Individualized, mentored research and clinical training are combined with a state-of-the-art educational curriculum that emphasizes research methods, statistics, epidemiology, mental health systems, quality improvement methods, education, and service delivery. VA Fellowship sites are linked electronically for didactic, academic, and research efforts. Our interdisciplinary program aims to train psychologists and psychiatrists to become outstanding clinical researchers in high priority areas of mental health.
Faculty: The New York/New Jersey MIRECC faculty is internationally recognized for research in suicide, psychosis and psychosis risk, and severe affective disorders. The center pursues a discovery-to-recovery approach to determine the causes and develop treatments for suicide and serious mental illness. Research areas of expertise and interest among the faculty include using neuroimaging and molecular biological techniques to better understand the neurobiology of serious mental illness and suicide, identification of suicide and psychosis risk in veterans, development and evaluation of psychosocial and behavioral interventions for serious mental illness and suicide, leveraging of artificial intelligence and large datasets, and implementation science to promote evidence-based practices. More information on our MIRECC, the fellowship, and faculty
research areas is available by scanning the QR code at the top of page 1 or visiting https://www.mirecc.va.gov/visn2/index.asp. Fellows’ mentorship can also include other faculty from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai https://icahn.mssm.edu/about/departments/psychiatry.
Fellows work closely with a primary research mentor and have opportunities to work with secondary mentors as part of a mentorship team. Faculty and affiliate faculty and their research interests are as follows:
David Burstein, PhD: electronic health record and genomic data; novel computational phenotyping methods; neuropsychiatric disorders; artificial intelligence; machine learning
Chi Chan, PhD: psychosis; suicide; cognition; functional outcome; neurobiology; artificial intelligence
Cheryl Corcoran, MD: schizophrenia; psychosis and psychosis risk; natural language processing; computer vision; artificial intelligence; social cognition; stigma; qualitative research; suicide risk
Stella Dracheva, PhD: cell-type-specific epigenetic regulation of gene expression in the human brain; DNA methylation; histone modifications; RNA editing; neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders; drug addiction
Emily Edwards, PhD: suicide; criminal-legal involvement; homelessness; personality disorders; treatment development; risk prediction
Joseph Geraci, PhD: sponsorship/mentors; veteran cultural competence; suicide prevention; transition from military to civilian life; Modern Warrior’s journey
Marianne Goodman, MD: suicide; depression; treatment development; suicide safety planning; clinical trials; mechanisms of suicide risk; suicide prevention education
Erin Hazlett, PhD: schizophrenia; schizotypal personality disorder; borderline personality disorder; depression; suicidal behavior; fMRI; diffusion tensor imaging; psychophysiology
Alejandro Interian, PhD: suicide prevention; depression in Parkinson’s disease; traumatic brain injury; intervention development; neurocognition; precision medicine
James Murrough, MD, PhD: treatment-resistant depression; anxiety disorders; PTSD; psychopharmacology; antidepressants; ketamine; neuroimaging; drug discovery
Panagiotis Roussos, MD, PhD: psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders; human genetics; single-cell genomics and multi-omics; computational biology and artificial intelligence; precision medicine and therapeutic target discovery.
Yosef Sokol, PhD: suicide prevention; personal identity; treatment development; personal recovery; future self-continuity; temporal self-appraisal; long-COVID
Philip Szeszko, PhD: multimodal MRI; bipolar disorder; suicide; schizophrenia; PTSD
Georgios Voloudakis, MD: genetics; multi-omics; and clinical data; mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disorders; identifying therapeutic targets and repurposable compounds.
More information on our MIRECC, the fellowship, and faculty research areas is available by scanning the QR code at the top of page 1 or visiting the New York/New Jersey MIRECC website. Fellows’ mentorship can also include other faculty from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Department of Psychiatry.
Eligibility: Psychologist applicants must be U.S. citizens, hold a doctorate from an APA-accredited program in clinical or counseling psychology, and be enrolled in or have completed an APA-accredited internship in clinical or counseling psychology. Doctoral requirements, including dissertation, must be completed before the start of fellowship. Psychiatrist applicants must have completed ACGME-accredited residency training, be board-eligible or board-certified, and have an active, unrestricted U.S. license to practice medicine. International medical graduates must also have a current visa and an ECFMG certificate that is valid indefinitely. Applicants on a J-1 visa must have current ECFMG sponsorship as well.
Start Day: The start day is flexible and will begin between July 1st and October 1st, 2027.
Stipend and Benefits: Annual stipend is based on standardized rate schedules and range from approximately $64,247 to $110,565 depending on educational background. Benefits include health insurance, life insurance, 13 paid vacation days and 13 paid sick days per year, 11 paid federal holidays, travel to one conference each year fully paid, and public transit fare benefit to offset commuting costs.
Application Due Date: Applications are due December 15, 2026.
How to Apply:
For Psychologists, the program is using the APPA CAS (APPIC Psychology Postdoctoral Application) online system. You can access our programs directly using this link https://appicpostdoc.cas.myliaison.com/applicant/deeplink/programSearch/organization/6216548180005009408
For more information about the application process please go to http://www.appic.org/AAPI-APPA/APPA-Postdoc-Application-Information.
For Psychiatrists, please email the application materials directly to Dr. Chi Chan at Chi.Chan1@va.gov.
All applicants are asked to submit the following documents:
- A letter of interest that includes: (1) career goals and how these align with the mission of the New York/New Jersey MIRECC; (2) preferred primary research mentor(s) and how the applicant’s education, research, and clinical experience aligns well with this mentor’s research program (3) the research and clinical skills that applicant would like to hone during Fellowship
- A current curriculum vitae
- A signed letter of completion or expected completion from graduate or residency program stating the accreditation status of the program (and doctoral internship)
- Three letters of recommendation
- Graduate/medical school transcripts
- 1-2 writing samples (e.g., research papers, grants, and/or clinical report)
Selection Process: The selection process for candidates is based largely on the match between the applicant’s research interests and career goals with the research expertise of mentors and opportunities at the New York/New Jersey MIRECC. A close working relationship with identified mentors allows our Fellows to maximize their productivity and develop a successful career trajectory. Applicants are encouraged to consult with their preferred mentors early in the application process. We have a systematic process for reviewing and ranking applicants.
Accreditation: The New York/New Jersey MIRECC Advanced Fellowship Program in Mental Illness Research & Treatment is accredited by the American Psychological Association Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation: 750 First St, NE Washington, DC 20002-4242 / apaaccred@apa.org / (202) 336-5979
Our fellowship is an equal opportunity training program. We encourage applications from qualified candidates of all backgrounds including but not limited to ethnic/racial minorities, women, sexual minorities, persons with disabilities, and individuals with personal lived experience with military service and/or serious mental illness.
Please contact the Fellowship Director, Dr. Chi Chan, with any questions at chi.chan1@va.gov.
VA National Center on Homelessness among Veterans (NCHAV) Postdoctoral Fellowship Track
Overview: The VA National Center on Homelessness among Veterans (NCHAV) and VA Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA) have created a postdoctoral fellowship track within the Advanced Fellowship in Mental Illness Research and Treatment at the New York/New Jersey Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) for those interested in recovery-oriented care for Veterans who are homeless, criminal justice involved, or at risk for homelessness or criminal justice involvement. The NCHAV Fellowship Track seeks to train and develop the next generation of researchers and change agents working with this population. This track is open to clinicians or non-clinicians with a doctoral degree or who have completed all requirements toward a doctoral degree from an accredited institution. In addition to the programming and resources for the fellowship in Mental Illness Research and Treatment, Fellows in the NCHAV track will have access to resources and faculty at NCHAV.
Fellows in the NCHAV track will have a formal connection with NCHAV and operational partners and be on the cutting-edge of the latest research, policy, and education developments in Veteran homelessness/criminal justice involvement. They will be expected to work with a NCHAV mentor along with a local mentor at the New York/New Jersey MIRECC. NCHAV Fellows across sites will have opportunities to interact with one another and collaborate on projects, including funded travel to meet in-person at the annual American Public Health Association Conference. NCHAV promotes recovery-oriented care for Veterans who are homeless or at risk for homelessness. NCHAV conducts and supports research; assesses the effectiveness of programs; identifies and disseminates best practices and integrates these practices into polices, programs, and services for homeless or at-risk Veterans; and serves as a resource center for all research and training activities carried out by the Department and by other Federal and non-Federal entities with respect to Veteran homelessness.
Faculty: Fellows in the NCHAV track work with a mentor at NCHAV and a local site mentor at the New York/New Jersey MIRECC. Within the VA system, Veteran justice issues fall under the umbrella of homelessness research and services. Veteran justice issues are therefore a partial focus of NCHAV and a potential focus of the NCHAV postdoctoral fellowship track. The New York/New Jersey MIRECC Veterans Justice Lab, led by Dr. Emily Edwards, is excited to offer specialized opportunities and training for professionals interested in the NCHAV postdoctoral fellowship track. Research within the Veterans Justice Lab focuses broadly on identification and management of risk factors for Veteran justice involvement, homelessness, and suicide. Fellows can expect to develop skills in program development and evaluation; analysis of large, epidemiological datasets; complex statistical analysis; all aspects of research project development, execution, interpretation, and dissemination; interdisciplinary care coordination; and clinical intervention with at-risk Veterans. Those interested in learning more about the Veterans Justice Lab are encouraged to contact Dr. Emily Edwards at Emily.Edwards5@va.gov. Persons with a history of military service, demonstrated interest in working with Veteran, forensic, and/or at-risk persons, and/or from underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply.
Eligibility, stipend, and application and selection information for the NCHAV track are the same as those for the overall fellowship in Mental Illness Research and Treatment. Please contact the Fellowship Director, Dr. Chi Chan, with any questions at chi.chan1@va.gov.
