Clinical Neuropsychology Fellowship| Academic Programs and Training

The UC Davis Clinical Neuropsychology Training Program provides high-quality advanced training in the practice of clinical neuropsychology. The program's training opportunities are structured to meet the recommendations set forth in the Houston and Minnesota Conference Guidelines for Postdoctoral Residency Training in Clinical Neuropsychology.

Impairments in central nervous system function can cause extended and distressing changes in the quality of life for people with a neurological disorder and to the lives of their families and loved ones as well. Our program is based on the belief that providing quality care for people experiencing these changes requires extensive specialized training in clinical and cognitive psychology, behavioral neurology, and neuroanatomy. We also recognize that this is a rapidly growing and developing field that must be responsive to advances in scientific knowledge; hence, adherence to the scientist-practitioner model is especially crucial for rapid incorporation of new knowledge into highly competent clinical practice.

To train practitioners who are competent in all these areas, we have developed a program that incorporates the extensive resources available through a unique consortium of clinical, research, and academic services offered by the Medical Center at the University of California at Davis, various academic departments and research facilities within UC Davis, and the Northern California Veterans Administration Health Care System.

Mission:

As a comprehensive research university, the primary purpose of UC Davis is the generation, advancement, dissemination, and application of knowledge. To this end, UC Davis is committed to developing and sustaining leading programs in various areas of subspecialties, including neuroscience.

UC Davis strives to integrate three complementary pursuits: education and training as a partnership between faculty mentors and young scholars; the advancement of knowledge and pioneering studies through creative research and scholarship; and application of that knowledge to address the needs of our region, state, nation, and globe. UC Davis is committed to the tradition of the land-grant university, the basis of its founding. This tradition based on the premise that the broad purpose of a university is service to people and society-guides UC Davis's special commitments and emphases. Collaborative studies and cooperation with state agencies and the legislature offer UC Davis both special responsibilities and unique opportunities.

Aims:

We encourage further development of the basic skills of clinical psychology and the integration of these skills with advanced knowledge of neurological disease, symptoms, treatment, and associated cognitive and emotional changes to provide the most pertinent and compassionate diagnosis and care for present and future clients. We support and encourage diversity among our fellows and strive to provide clinical training and services that are culturally sensitive and appropriate.

Facilities

University of California at Davis and UC Davis Medical Center

The University of California at Davis enrolls over 30,000 undergraduates and 7,000 graduate students on its 5,200-acre main campus. It has extensive library and computing resources that provide in-depth coverage of many academic fields. The affiliated Medical School maintains its academic resources with a 665-bed teaching hospital in Sacramento for over 1,500 students in the Health Sciences. Our program is jointly supported by the Neurology Department and the UC Davis Alzheimer's Disease Center. A major clinical site of our program is the Neuroscience Clinic in the Neurology Department at the Campus Commons and Midtown Clinic locations. Other specialties at the Campus Commons location include cognitive behavioral neurology and social work. Most neuropsychological services provided by the Department of Neurology occur in this setting, but a few select services may occur at different locations. Fellows in our program may also have the opportunity to work with professionals from other clinical departments (e.g. Neurological Surgery, Pain Management, Geriatric Medicine, etc.) and academic centers, such as the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience. Our fellows also have access to the combined resources that support the scientific and medical communities of UC Davis, including libraries, computers, and technical and research support staff.

Department of Neurology

The UC Davis Health Department of Neurology has several specialty areas including but not limited to: Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia, Child Neurology, Comprehensive Neurology, Epilepsy, Headaches, Movement Disorders including Parkinson's Disease, Neuroimmunology including Multiple Sclerosis, Neuromuscular Conditions, Neuro-oncology, Neuropsychology, Sleep Disorders, Stroke, and Traumatic Brain Injury.

UC Davis Health Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Program

The UC Davis Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration is recognized as a Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence for our expertise in clinical care for patients with Parkinson's disease. The center is one of 54 worldwide to receive the prestigious designation. A Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence is a medical center that brings together a specialized team of neurologists, movement disorder specialists, rehabilitation professionals, mental health experts (including neuropsychologist), and others with extensive knowledge in Parkinson's Disease (PD) medications, treatments, and research. Their collective expertise enables them to provide top-quality care for individuals with PD. Our DBS Program offers surgical treatment for PD and other movement disorders including but not limited to essential tremor and dystonia. We have DBS case conferences to review candidacy of potential DBS patients, which includes reviewing pre-operative neuropsychological testing, neuroimaging, clinical history, and ON/OFF motor testing. This is a multidisciplinary team with neuropsychologists, movement disorder neurologists, movement disorder nurse practitioner, neurosurgeons, and our social worker.

UC Davis Comprehensive Epilepsy Program

UC Davis is a NAEC Level 4 Epilepsy center for both adult and pediatric populations, making it a hub for epilepsy care in Northern California (as far as the southern Oregon border) and Western Nevada. Our epileptologists provide clinical services to patients and also manage extensive research programs exploring etiological considerations for epilepsy syndromes, cognitive and psychiatric co-morbidities of epilepsy, and effective medical and surgical treatments for epilepsy, many of which are NIH funded. UC Davis also has a 7-bed inpatient Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU), equipped with video EEG technology (both scalp and depth electrodes) and electrical stimulation devices for in-depth monitoring of patients' seizures. There is close collaboration with Neurosurgery faculty as well, as UCD is one of the few centers in Northern California that offers more extensive stereo-EEG monitoring and advanced surgical treatments for epilepsy (e.g., neuromodulation, laser ablation, stem cell therapy trials, etc.). We have epilepsy case conferences attended by the epilepsy faculty along with faculty from Neurosurgery and Neuroradiology to discuss upcoming surgical cases. At times, additional pre-surgical assessment is indicated (including fMRI, Wada exams, and language mapping). These procedures require interdisciplinary collaboration with our physician colleagues and are great learning opportunities while on fellowship.

The California Alzheimer's Disease Center (CADC)

The UCD State of California Alzheimer's Disease Center (CADC) is a statewide network of ten dementia care Centers of Excellence at university health systems, established by legislation in 1984. The CADC effectively and efficiently improve dementia health care delivery, provide specialized training and education to health care professionals, and advance the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Our mission is to deliver state-of-the-art preventative, diagnostic, and supportive services for individuals who are experiencing or are at risk of memory loss, Alzheimer's disease, and other disorders, as well as to provide support to their families and caregivers. In addition to neurological and neuropsychological services, we have a social worker that works directly with the program and is available for referrals. Other support services include a New Diagnosis Class and the Caregiver Bootcamp, a five-class series offered two to three times per year. The CADC also provides education related to Alzheimer's disease to health care professionals and to the community.

The UC Davis Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC)

The UC Davis ADRC is a National Institute of Health (NIH) funded research center. It has been funded by the NIH for over 30 years. As part of the center, a group of ~500 older adults are followed longitudinally and assessed yearly. There are many ancillary studies, including many RO1s, K Awards, and other NIH funding mechanisms that the center also supports. Various center research themes include the impact of diverse backgrounds, lifespan risk, and protective factors on cognitive aging; understanding the behavioral, cognitive, and functional changes that occur with various dementias; neuroimaging and biomarker development; functional decline; cognitive reserve; and medical and behavioral interventions to promote healthy aging and reduce risk of and/or treat Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. Some studies involve clinical trials of potential new treatments, or ways of preventing cognitive loss. The Alzheimer's Disease Center's longitudinal aging cohort includes a large portion of individuals representing a variety of ethnic/racial minorities.

The UC Davis Center for Neuroscience

The UC Davis Center for Neuroscience draws from a wide variety of resources to conduct its teaching and research programs. Contributing to this interdisciplinary approach are Center faculty members, students, and collaborators who represent 13 academic departments and sections on the main campus and a number of off-campus sites. In addition, visiting faculty members from throughout the world bring outstanding talent to the Center's programs.

Research at the Center ranges from single-cell recordings and studies of neuronal populations in isolation, to studies of human perception, attention, memory, language, and the nature of consciousness. The center places special emphasis on combining information obtained from different brain-imaging techniques, including fMRI, PET, and ERPs, to develop improved methods to treat brain injury and disease.

Populations Served

Our service is primarily an adult neuropsychology service, but there is a limited pediatric service that mostly sees patients under the age of 16 for pre-surgical epilepsy evaluations and/or other neurological conditions.

Fellows will have the opportunity to see patients through our Neuroscience Clinic and Alzheimer's Disease Center. The majority of the referrals come from the Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Primary Care Departments and include a wide range of neurological disorders, including stroke, brain tumor, head injury, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease as well as a range of neurogenerative disorders. Fellows will have the opportunity to do pre- and post-surgical evaluations of candidates for surgical treatment of epilepsy (including resective, laser ablation or neuromodulation surgeries) as well as deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery for movement disorders. Additional training opportunities include participation in 'Wada' examinations and participation in intra-operative and extra-operative language mapping.

Each fellow will have a primary site and be responsible for the full range of clinical duties at that site. Fellows will develop their training plan in conjunction with the training director within the first three months. Diverse experiences within the system are encouraged and faculty will work with fellows to facilitate them. Each fellow will work with the training director to identify research and clinical mentors.

Distribution of time

A. 80% Clinical

• 4-5 clinic days per week focused on neuropsychological assessment including clinical interview with the patient, informant interviews, testing, feedback, etc. (approx. 20-25 patient/family direct contact hours).
• A minimum of 1 hour of face-to-face in-person or video scheduled supervision and additional supervisory contact as needed. Fellows will have supervision each week with every supervisor that they saw patients with that week.
• A minimum of 2 hours of group supervision/fact finding monthly.
• Approximately 1 hour a week general clinic management-type of activities
  

B. 20% Didactic/Education/Research/Teaching

• One full day of didactic training is scheduled on the 1st Thursday of each month at UC Davis Medical Center.
• Case Conferences: DBS for Movement Disorders, Pre-surgical Epilepsy, and Healthy Aging Interdisciplinary Team
• Numerous other didactic opportunities are also available (see below).
• Each fellow will be expected to spend at least 4 hours a week engaged in some scholarly activity. Scholarly activity may include participation in on-going research of a faculty member, preparation of a literature review, development of an independent research project, and/or a more clinically oriented scholarly project. Efforts will be made to provide monetary support for presentation of research results at a national conference.
• Fellows will also have the opportunity to mentor medical students and other learners.
  

Remuneration

Fellows will receive a per annum stipend (approximately $74,880) plus medical benefits.

First Thursday of each month: Neuropsychology Series, Sacramento UC Davis Medical Center

General schedule:

The Department of Neurology at the University of California, at Davis will have openings for one neuropsychology postdoctoral fellow to begin September 1, 2026. The positions will be based on the UC Davis Medical Center campus in Sacramento CA. We typically have 3-4 neuropsychology postdoctoral fellows in the program at any given time. Fellows participate in clinical, didactic and scholarly/research activities. This is primarily a clinically based postdoctoral fellowship, although we can also accommodate trainees who are seeking greater research experience and want to pursue an academic career. Clinical work focuses on conducting both comprehensive as well as more brief neuropsychological assessments. Opportunities for treatment are also available, including involvement in group-based brain health interventions for older adults. We offer an extensive didactic program, as well as numerous other training opportunities typical of a large university medical center. Fellows will conduct evaluations on adults with a wide variety of neurological disorders including: various dementias (e.g., AD, FTD, Primary Progressive Aphasia syndromes), epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, CNS tumors, stroke, MS, TBI, etc. Participation in Wada testing and intra-operative and extra-operative cortical brain mapping is also available and fellows regularly attend case conference associated with the epilepsy and deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgical programs. These are all two-year positions with competitive salary (approximately $74,880) plus benefits.

Qualifications:

Applicants must hold a doctoral degree in clinical or counseling psychology from an APA-accredited program and must have completed an APA-accredited predoctoral internship by the start of the post-doctoral period September 1, 2026.

Required application materials:

Application materials should include a letter of interest/statement of career goals, CV, official graduate school transcript, two de-identified sample reports, and three letters of recommendation.

Applications and questions should be emailed to:

Michelle Chan, Ph.D., Training Director at mlchan@health.ucdavis.edu

and

Sarah Tomaszewski Farias, Ph.D., ABPP-CN, Neuropsychology Section Chief, at farias@health.ucdavis.edu

Application deadline: December 3, 2025