Research and Education in Disaster Mental Health :: Mentor Program and Mentor Program Directors

Disaster Mental Health Research Mentoring Program

Dartmouth College and the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (NCPTSD) are seeking applicants for a new Disaster Mental Health Research Mentoring Program that has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. The broad goal of the project is to increase the quality and utility of disaster mental health research by informing, instructing, advising, and mentoring disaster researchers.

Sixteen promising individuals who show interest in and aptitude for careers in disaster mental health research will be connected to mentors selected from a nationwide faculty. Successful applicants will receive small grants (up to $10,000 a year for up to two years) for travel and other educational materials and expenses.

About the Program

Most mentees remain in the program for two years and work toward the goal of becoming funded investigators in the field of disaster mental health research.

All mentees begin the program with a focus on scholarship by spending one week with the project directors at the Executive and Resource Division of the National Center for PTSD, which is located in White River Junction, Vermont and is closely affiliated with Dartmouth Medical School. The library for the PILOTS database, which contains over 25,000 published works on trauma, is located on site.

For the remainder of the first year, mentees typically collaborate with their individual mentors to develop a research plan, conduct secondary analyses of existing data, prepare one or more manuscripts for publication, or otherwise obtain relevant research experience.

During the second year, mentees work under the guidance of their mentors to prepare and submit an application for independent research funding.

Throughout their participation, mentees and mentors have monthly telephone conferences with the project director to monitor progress and resolve issues quickly.

Mentoring Program Directors

Fran Norris, PhD, is a Community Psychologist, Research Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical School, and Research Associate at NCPTSD. Her primary interests concern postdisaster social and community functioning, epidemiology, cross-cultural psychology, services, and longitudinal methods.

Matthew Friedman, MD, PhD, is a Psychiatrist, Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at Dartmouth Medical School, and Executive Director of NCPTSD. His primary interests are in PTSD, evidence-based practices, psychopharmacology, prevention, and policy.

Jessica Hamblen, PhD, is a Clinical Psychologist, Deputy Director for Education at NCPTSD, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical School. Her primary interests are in research on cognitive behavioral treatments for PTSD and other forms of postdisaster distress.