Overview
As an integral part of the School of Medicine, the Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology (MPS) is committed to excellence in psychology during periods of both peace and war. We provide the nation with military clinical psychologists dedicated to career service in the Department of Defense, as well as psychologists dedicated to both research and evidence-based clinical care and to advancing the health of the uniformed services and the nation. We serve the uniformed services and the nation as a premier graduate program in psychology with a worldwide perspective for education, research, policy, service, and consultation, and we are unique in relating these activities to military medicine, disaster medicine, and military readiness.
Military psychologists earn the privilege and unique opportunity to provide care to service members when they are home or deployed in the field. Military psychologists are stationed all over the world and not only provide care, conduct research, inform and set policy, but are also teachers and leaders throughout the military. Civilian psychology graduates from our program have become leading researchers and administrators, who have unparalleled experience working within military and veteran settings.
The department has two programs, the Clinical Psychology Program and Medical Psychology Program. Each of these programs has two tracks, the military track and the civilian track. The military tracks include not only current military members, but also individuals who are civilians when they apply, but join one of the military services (Army, Navy, or Air Force) when they start the graduate program. The civilian tracks are for individuals who are civilians and who will remain civilians after graduation.
The Department is unique in many ways compared to other psychology departments. Military and civilian graduate students train together and are exposed to military and National health concerns. The Department is deeply integrated into the School of Medicine and extensively collaborates with the School of Nursing; therefore, students and faculty have numerous opportunities for collaboration and interprofessional training with other medical and nursing personnel. The location of the Department--down the block from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, “across the street” from NIH, and within the National Capital Area--provides unparalleled opportunities for research and training.
To date, the Department has trained over 125 Ph.D. psychologists and helped the University train more than 4,500 physicians. Department faculty have published extensively (including empirical, theoretical, and review papers; textbooks, handbooks, edited volumes, and patient-oriented books), founded and served as editors of many different scientific journals, and are nationally and internationally recognized for contributions to psychology, behavioral and medical sciences, education, and public health.
Questions related to the Clinical Psychology Program’s accredited status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation. Correspondence information is provided below.
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 1st Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002
Phone: (202) 336-5979
Email: apaaccred@apa.org(link sends e-mail)
Website: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation/
PLEASE NOTE: At this time, clinical psychologists are needed in the military so they are not authorizing military members to enter this program.
The Medical Track is for those civilians or military members who want to focus on research with no clinical training.
Due to the structure of our program, we do not accept credit transfers.
Accepted candidates for this track (both military and civilian) count in the above acceptance rates.
This track takes up to seven years to complete.
Degree Requirements
Complete the following:
| IDO 502 | Introduction to Experimental Statistics and Design I | 2.25 |
| IDO 508 | Experimental Statistics and Design II | 1 |
| IDO 704 | Scientific Ethics and the Responsible Conduct of Research | 1.5 |
| MPO 1000 | Physiological Basis of Behavior | 3 |
| MPO 505 | Social and Affective Psychology | 3 |
| MPO 511 | Psychopharmacology | 2 |
| MPO 513 | Physiological Basis of Behavior | 1-3 |
| MPO 519 | History and Systems of Psychology | 1 |
| MPO 539 | Cognitive Psychology | 3 |
| MPO 605 | Health Psychology | 3 |
| MPO 901 | Research Methods and Complex Human Experimentation I | 3 |
| MPO 903 | Research in Medical Psychology | 1-12 |
| MPO 999 | Dissertation Research | 1-12 |
| MPO 511 | Psychopharmacology | 2 |
| IDO 520 | Special Topics in Statistics | 1-3 |
| MPO 516 | Introduction to Epidemiology for Behavioral Scientists | 2 |
| Electives | |
| Total Credit Hours: | 144 |
Students must complete a minimum of 144 credit hours which includes required elective and research courses not shown above.