APA Education Government Relations Office: October 4, 2005

From the Division of Medicine and Dentistry, Branch Chief O'Neal Walker, PhD, the first psychologist to hold a position of Branch Chief in the BHPr, explained the Bureau's role. BHPr strives to improve the health status of the U.S. population by providing national leadership and resources to develop, distribute and retain a diverse, culturally competent health workforce that provides the highest quality care for all, especially the underserved.

Program Officer Chris McLaughlin, also from the Division of Medicine and Dentistry, shared information on the Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) Program, a program he administers. The GPE Program is the only federal grant program solely dedicated to psychology education and training . It provides grants to APA-accredited doctoral, internship and postdoctoral programs in support of interdisciplinary training of psychology students (with other health professionals) for the provision of mental and behavioral health services to underserved populations (i.e., older adults, children, chronically ill, and victims of abuse and trauma). Mr. McLaughlin urged the audience to periodically check www.hrsa.gov/grants/preview/default.htm in early 2006 for the release of the next Geropsychology GPE Program application guidance and deadline information.

Please Note : The BHPr will only run a grant competition for geropsychology funding in early 2006 if the GPE Program is funded at the current level of $4.5 million for FY 2006. Click here for the latest information on FY 2006 funding for the GPE Program.

Jennifer Burks, Acting Director of the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), spoke about federal funding at NHSC for individuals with student loans. Ms. Burks described the NHSC's commitment to improving the health of the nation's underserved by uniting communities in need with caring health professionals and by supporting communities' efforts to build better systems of care. To improve the health of the nation's underserved, the NHSC administers two programs, 1) the NHSC Scholars program (of which psychologists are not participating) 2) The NHSC Loan Repayment program, which offers loan repayment to licensed psychologists in exchange for providing health care in designated underserved communities: frontier, rural and inner city/urban settings. Ms. Burks noted that there was a great need for licensed psychologists to serve in the NHSC; there were 53 requests for psychologists in 2005, and only 19 positions filled. For more information on the NHSC click here.

In addition, Marcia Starbecker, Program Officer in the BHPr's Division of State, Community, and Public Health, provided information about the Quentin N. Burdick Rural Program for Interdisciplinary Training. This grant program is available to provide support for the interdisciplinary training of health professionals; it is primarily for in-service training of licensed health professionals. Click here for more information on this interdisciplinary grant opportunity.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, Ms. Starbecker did not address the other program at BHPr in which psychologists may participate, the Geriatric Education Centers (GECs) Program. GECs strengthen multidisciplinary training of health professionals to diagnose, treat and prevent disease and other health problems that older people face. For more information on GECs click here.

Each presenter encouraged the audience to learn more about these funding opportunities on the individual program's web pages (listed above). More information on the BHPr can be found at http://bhpr.hrsa.gov.

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