Pediatric Behavioral Medicine Program

The PediBMED program was formally established in 2013 with the mission of developing clinical care, research and training in pediatric psychology. Our team is composed of staff psychologists and psychology trainees providing collaborative integrated care within eight Mass General medical specialty programs (e.g., Cystic Fibrosis, Pediatric Endocrine and Diabetes Center) and MGH Pediatric Primary Care (Integrated Primary Care – IPC) plus four affiliated programs (e.g., Shriner’s Children’s Hospital Burn and Orthopedic Care).

The fellowship is a one-year, full-time, clinically focused training experience. Supervised clinical activities will include providing consultation and brief assessment and intervention as an embedded psychologist within our Pediatric Integrated Primary Care Program. Fellows will also provide ongoing psychotherapy/evidenced based treatment in the Outpatient Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic for medically ill youth typically referred by general pediatric, endocrine and gastroenterology programs for issues related to adherence, procedural anxiety and adjustment to diagnosis; behavioral evaluation and intervention within a multi-disciplinary pediatric diabetes clinic; inpatient consultation-liaison services through Shriner’s Hospital for Children with focus on burn injury; and parent guidance consultation for adult patients of the MGH Cancer Center (PACT Program).

Fellows hold clinical appointments in the MGH Department of Psychiatry and academic appointments in the Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry. Salary and fringe benefits are competitive. Preferred start date July 1 (flexible up to September 1).

Qualifications for the position include a PhD in Clinical Psychology from an APA-accredited graduate program and an APA-accredited pre-doctoral clinical internship site, preferably in pediatric or clinical child psychology.

The Massachusetts General Hospital is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. Minorities and women are strongly urged to apply.

For more detailed program information, please contact Deborah Friedman, PhD, co-director of the MGH Pediatric Behavioral Medicine Program (dfriedman@mgh.harvard.edu).

Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Circle of Care Award, and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics, Inc., FRIEDMA17A0

Co-PIs: Deborah Friedman, PhD & Anna Georgiopoulos, MD (Department of Psychiatry)

• 8-session CF-specific intervention, developed in partnership with CF community, for prevention of depression and anxiety in adults
• Integrated in primary CF care; delivered by trained multidisciplinary CF care team members (social work, psychology, psychiatry, nurse, pulmonology)
• Demonstrated feasibility, acceptability, and positive preliminary outcomes in multicenter pilot study
• Randomized waitlist-controlled trial at 4 sites is ongoing (FRIEDM18A0)
• Officium, a CF parent organization, supported an Italian translation (PI: Graziano), and groups working in Australia, Ecuador, Israel and Iran have trained in CF-CBT

Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Circle of Care Award and Dutch CF Foundation

Co-PIs: Deborah Friedman, PhD & Anna Georgiopoulos, MD (Department of Psychiatry)

• Internet-delivered therapist-guided blended care model developed in English and Dutch
• Dutch pilot of eHealth CF-CBT is ongoing

Co-PIs: Deborah Friedman, PhD & Anna Georgiopoulos, MD (Department of Psychiatry)

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics, Inc., FRIEDMA18A0

• Developed adolescent adaptation with intervention manual and workbook for teens and parents
• Multi-center pilot study is underway

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics, Inc., GEORGI20QI0

Co-PIs: Anna Georgioupoulos, MD/Lara Dhingra, PhD

MGH Site Lead: Deborah Friedman, PhD

• Multi-site implementation trial of a CF-specific primary palliative care intervention comprising provider education; screening-and-triage workflows; best practice treatment guides for high frequency problems; and a quality improvement toolkit

Archana Basu, Deborah Friedman, Nancy Rotter, Janet Wozniak, Maysa Kaskas, Tamaki Hosoda Urban

• Characterize families’ experiences of the pandemic in different domains to identify quality improvement opportunities, tailor interventions and supports at the clinic/program level

William F. Milton Fund of Harvard University, Ellen O’Donnell & Maria Theodorakakis

• Assess the feasibility and acceptability of a virtual group and educational program for adolescents and young adults preparing for the eventual transition from pediatric to adult care in diabetes

Ellen O’Donnell & Tamaki Hosoda Urban

• Characterize the experience of patients and families impacted by endocrine illnesses during the COVID-19 pandemic to identify quality improvement opportunities, tailor interventions and supports at the clinic/program level

Ellen O’Donnell

• A collaboration with jaeb.org to better understand the effect of exercise on blood sugar and quality of life among youth living with type 1 diabetes

Tamaki Hosoda Urban, PhD, JDRF and ADA Fellow

• To understand the impact of stressful experiences (diabetes burnout, witnessing violence) on the health of adolescents and young adults living with type 1 diabetes

Nancy Rotter, PhD
(multisite collaboration with Eastern Michigan University)

• To understand relationship between anxiety (both general anxiety and food allergy-specific anxiety), Quality of Life and food allergies in children and adolescents with IgE-mediated food allergies and their caregivers

Nancy Rotter, PhD

• To understand the frequency and specificity of food allergy related anxiety in children and adolescents undergoing clinical Oral Immunotherapy (OIT)

• To identify anxiety and food allergy specific anxiety in children and adolescents and food allergy-specific anxiety in parents/caregivers and provide consultation and guidance to parents/caregivers for those with elevated anxiety

Cindy Moore

Co-PI; Sponsor-Investigator Debra Lundquist, NP, PhD

• Aims to describe the patient experience of adults consenting to an early phase clinical trial. Participants are assessed through the transition off trial to define and operationalize key transition points, explore relative distress levels, and ultimately develop targeted interventions to improve the patient experience
• The study also assesses parent-child communication about cancer, in this context of the parent’s participation in a clinical trial