ATLANTA – Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM), part of the Mercer Health Sciences Center, is expanding its Clinical Medical Psychology programs to the University's Cecil B. Day Graduate and Professional Campus in Atlanta.
The Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) in Clinical Medical Psychology, which is MUSM's newest degree program, was approved by the University's Board of Trustees this past spring and offered on the Atlanta campus for the first time this fall.
The Psy.D. in Clinical Medical Psychology is linked to the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Clinical Medical Psychology program, which was first offered on the Macon campus in 2012. The Psy.D. program is designed to produce graduates who are practicing clinical psychologists, while the Ph.D. program is designed to train graduates for careers in health care research and higher education, especially medical education.
Both programs recently opened admission for spring 2015. Selected courses are currently offered on the Atlanta campus, and all four years of coursework are expected to be available in Atlanta by fall 2015.
“Our presence in Atlanta already has provided our students with access to training experiences at a wealth of excellent clinical sites, including the Emory Hospitals' Center for Rehabilitation Medicine, the Grady Health System, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and the Georgia Tech Counseling Center,” said Steven A. Hobbs, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of the Clinical Medical Psychology programs.
“Moreover, our transition to the Atlanta campus provides us with a tremendous opportunity to contribute to the Mercer Health Sciences Center's innovative efforts in Interprofessional Education (IPE). Participating in IPE activities with students from the College of Nursing, the College of Pharmacy and the College of Health Professions will help equip our students with the competencies to become vital members of the health care team.”
MUSM's Clinical Medical Psychology programs are designed to train clinical psychologists as members of integrated health care teams in varied settings, including rural and underserved areas. For this unique focus, the Ph.D. program has been featured in the Monitor on Psychology, a national publication received by over 137,000 members of the American Psychological Association.
Both programs are also represented nationally on the Council of Clinical Health Psychology Training Programs, the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology and the Council of Professional Geropsychology Training Programs.
For more information, visit medicine.mercer.edu/admissions/psychology/.
About the Mercer University School of Medicine (Macon, Savannah and Columbus)
Mercer University's School of Medicine was established in 1982 to educate physicians and health professionals to meet the primary care and health care needs of rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia. Today, 65 percent of graduates currently practice in the state of Georgia, and of those, more than 80 percent are practicing in rural or medically underserved areas of the state. Mercer medical students benefit from a problem-based medical education program that provides early patient care experiences. Such an academic environment fosters the early development of clinical problem-solving and instills in each student an awareness of the place of the basic medical sciences in medical practice. The School opened a full four-year campus in Savannah in 2008 at Memorial University Medical Center. In 2012, the School began offering clinical education for third- and fourth-year medical students in Columbus. Following their second year, students participate in core clinical clerkships at the School's primary teaching hospitals: Medical Center, Navicent Health, in Macon; Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah; and The Medical Center and St. Francis Hospital in Columbus. The School also offers master's degrees in family therapy, preclinical sciences and biomedical sciences and a Ph.D. and Psy.D. in clinical medical psychology.
