Clinician Scientist Training Program (CSTP)

The Clinician Scientist Training Program supports the development of clinician scientists in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. This effort is supported by the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Garvey Institute for Brain Health Solutions.

Leadership:

Jesse Fann, MD, MPH

Main Challenge

The UW has some of the largest research programs in behavioral health in the world, but only a relatively small number of our medical students and psychiatry residents actively participate in research during their training. According to the latest Missions Management Tool published by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the UW School of Medicine ranks above the 90th percentile for total research federal grants and contracts, but only about half of our medical school graduates and an even smaller proportion of our psychiatry residents participate in research during their time with us.

Our Approach

We will develop Clinician Scientists by identifying, engaging and supporting students, trainees and early career faculty who are interested in research.

Key strategies:

Trainee Research Awards

One way we will develop Clinician Scientists is through Trainee Research Awards that provide funding and faculty support for trainees to participate in mentored research.

One-year grants of $5,000 to $25,000 will provide support for research expenditures, travel expenses to present a poster or paper at a national research conference, up to .05 FTE for faculty mentorship, and/or access to the Clinical Trials Consultation and Technical Assistance Program (C-TAP). Awards will be for future work completed within one year of the award with the possibility of a no-cost extension. All awards will be administered through the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

The 2025 Trainee Research Award application is closed. Please check back for announcements about our next funding cycle.

Resources

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences research project database
Faculty profiles
PsycSource wiki research resources (use AMC log-in credentials)
Faculty mentorship resources (use AMC log-in credentials)

Contact

Jesse Fann, MD, MPH
Director of the Clinician Scientist Training Program
Mark N. Tabbutt Endowed Professor for Education in Brain Health
fann@uw.edu

Andie Uomoto, MPA
Project Manager of Strategic Initiatives
uomotoa@uw.edu

Department Faculty

Katherine Anne (Kate) Comtois, PhD, MPH

Jesse Fann, MD, MPH

Kevin Hallgren, PhD

Rebecca Hendrickson, MD, PhD

Jacqueline Hobbs, MD, PhD

Ty Lostutter, PhD

Laurel Pellegrino, MD

Michael J. Schrift, DO, MA, FANPA

Stephen Thielke, MD, MS, MA

Jürgen Unützer, MD, MPH, MA

Sample Projects

A pilot trial on EMA habit formation behavioral strategies for improving engagement of digital mindfulness interventions among non-suicidal self-injury engagers

Acceptability and feasibility of a single-session + digital mental health intervention for people with psychosis on an acute psychiatric inpatient unit

Biomarkers in the retina for prognosticating mental health treatments (BRIGHT)

Community resilience to late life depression among first generation Asian Indian immigrants in the greater Seattle area (The CREED Seattle Study)

Debriefing after adverse events using the RECover Framework

Default mode network impairments in comorbid anxiety and cannabis use disorders

Event- related potential (ERP) as a biomarker for subtyping neurobiology of PTSD: A pilot study

Examining the cross-cultural applicability of the Spanish PMQ-9: a comparative validation study

Exploring the implementation determinants of paraprofessional task-shared mental roles in integrated behavioral care settings in Washington State 

Immune changes with neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia

Improving the implementation of smartphone-based contingency management in medical settings for the treatment of methamphetamine use disorder: a qualitative analysis of patient and clinician experiences

Machine learning algorithms using natural language processing: A new screening approach for inpatient violence based on clinical notes 

Psychosis beyond symptoms: Cognitive and genetic biomarkers of schizophrenia

Self-directed mindfulness in medically hospitalized patients: a pragmatic trial

Validating changes in a primary-care based alcohol use screening instrument for predicting changes in risk for psychiatric acute care utilization

Clinician Scientist Spotlight : Jesse Fann, MD, PhD

Jesse Fann’s path to becoming a clinician scientist has taken several twists and turns. He was an electrical engineering major in college but, after discovering a fascination with neuroscience and medicine, decided to attend medical school, where he became interested in brain and behavior and decided to specialize in psychiatry. In residency at UW, he developed an interest in neuropsychiatry and C-L psychiatry, so decided to embark on a research project during his R4 year under the mentorship of the late Dr. Wayne Katon. Only then did he realize his passion for clinical research, which led to a T32 research fellowship with Dr. Katon and a faculty position in the psychiatry department in 1995. Over the years, Jesse’s ongoing and diverse clinical roles (inpatient, partial hospital, ECT, C-L, outpatient) have informed many research ideas and funded projects. His current role as Director of the Clinician Scientist Training Program brings together his 30 years of clinical, research, teaching, and administrative leadership experience toward helping to develop and support the next generation of clinician scientists.

Clinician Scientist Spotlight: Rebecca Hendrickson, MD, PhD

I have a dream job: I work 25% in the PTSD outpatient clinic and on our DBT team, and 75% running clinical trials focused on the biology and treatment of trauma and PTSD. I love that my clinical work directly and continuously informs my research and visa versa. For example, chronic non-specific somatic symptoms like nausea and chronic pain are present at high rates in PTSD, but we know little about why and whether our treatments address them. Similarly, fear of reactive aggression and anger is a common concern for Veterans with PTSD, but doesn’t necessarily respond as robustly to our usual treatments. To address these, our research work now includes detailed assessments of how changes in cardiovascular autonomic regulation relate to symptom burden in PTSD, and how changes in dopamine and noradrenaline regulation after trauma relate to anger and reactive aggression.

I took a longer route to get here than was probably required. After an MD/PhD program at Washington University in St. Louis I joined the UW residency program. I participated in the research track, but also completed extensive therapy training, and I cut to part time when I had my second kid. After residency I completed a research fellowship in the VA MIRECC. This allowed me to train in clinical research, which is very different from my PhD work (basic neuroscience). Learning to run interventional clinical trials is an increasingly rare but valued skill set; I feel fortunate to be able to include this in my career, and enjoy providing opportunities for residents to participate as well. I work with residents both as a primary research mentor, and, for residents interested in learning a bit more about analyzing and publishing clinical trials data, on analyses of existing data from our recent trials.