Clinical Psychology

The Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology at UT Southwestern Medical School is an American Psychological Association accredited training program designed to prepare skilled psychologists who can serve as clinicians, as well as sound researchers.

The program’s basic training philosophy reflects a clinician-researcher model of training that prepares individuals for the practice of clinical psychology, broadly conceived. The combined experience of clinical and research settings reflects the program’s clinician-researcher philosophy. The Clinical Psychology Program’s model provides research training that equips students pursuing more clinically oriented careers with the skills to critically evaluate scientific material. Students pursuing academic or research careers have a solid clinical foundation on which to build.

Objectives of the program are for students to obtain:

  1. A broad and general knowledge of scientific psychology
  2. Specialized knowledge and entry-level practice skills in clinical psychology
  3. The ability to develop, disseminate, and/or evaluate scientific knowledge directed toward understanding and improving human functioning
  4. Knowledge of and adherence to the ethical and sensitive practice of professional psychology

This program and the affiliated internship are accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). The APA Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation can be contacted at apaaccred@apa.org.

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
750 First Street NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
Phone: 202-336-5979
TDD/TTY: 202-336-6123
Fax: 202-336-5978

Message from the Program Chair

Beth Kennard, PsyD, ABPP

Beth Kennard, PsyD, ABPP
Professor, Psychiatry
Graduate School: PsyD, Baylor University, 1984
Postdoctoral Training: UT Southwestern Medical Center

Thank you for your interest in the UT Southwestern Medical Center Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program. Our graduate program includes an affiliated Predoctoral Internship Program. Both programs are separately accredited by the American Psychological Association.

I want to highlight the unique aspects of our training programs. Because we are located in a medical university center, we provide a wide variety of both clinical and research experiences, with access to diverse psychiatric and medical populations. In addition to the large on-campus faculty, we have an extensive volunteer faculty in the community who provide training and supervision of our graduate students and predoctoral interns.

We provide specialty training in health psychology/behavioral medicine, neuropsychology, child psychology (child health psychology, child neuropsychology, including specialty training in eating disorders and autism), and general clinical psychology.

In your search for programs, it is important to be aware of the “program outcomes,” which are described on all APA-approved program websites. We are very proud of our training outcomes, including the following:

1. An average of 4.5 years to completion of the PhD, including the predoctoral internship program;
2. 100 percent internship match every year that the program has been in existence;
3. A low attrition rate (2.2 percent in past five years);
4. An average national licensure exam score of one standard deviation above the national mean;
5. 100 percent of our graduates are placed in either post doctoral fellowships or employment.

We hope that you will consider our program for your graduate training. Please contact us if we can assist you in your application process.