The primary goal of this program is to train research scientists in the development and application of basic theories and research in psychology to issues of physical and mental health and their interrelationship. Our program for predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows includes coursework and intensive supervised research in laboratory, clinical, and community settings. The program faculty has strong expertise in a number of important biobehavioral processes relevant to mental health and physical illness including stress processes, racial and ethnic disparities, comorbidities across the lifespan, and health promotion and prevention. These areas of concentration in the program are supplemented by expertise among the faculty in human and animal models of specific mental disorders and physical diseases. All predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States, and applicants are not eligible if they have received 3 years of prior PHS support. Under-represented minorities are encouraged to apply.

The program is led by Professors Chris Dunkel Schetter (Director), Julie Bower (Co-Director). and Annette Stanton (Co-Director). Nearly 20 faculty in psychology and other departments and schools at UCLA serve as faculty mentors in the program. These individuals have expertise in the following areas: Biological processes in mental and physical health; Psychoneuroimmunology; Stress, coping, and social support processes; Maternal and child health; Ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic influences on mental and physical health.