The Interprofessional Addiction Fellowship at VA Pittsburgh provides training experiences in addiction research and clinical addiction care to masters- and doctoral-level health care providers (psychologists, pharmacists, physicians, dentists, nurses, social workers, etc.) and doctoral-level research scientists (epidemiologists, sociologists, etc.). Clinical and non-clinical trainees spend 75% of time on research and educational activities. Remaining time is spent providing clinical care for clinicians and clinically-focused quality improvement activities for non-clinicians. Fellows acquire knowledge and skills through mentored training experiences and workplace learning, guided by an individualized training plan jointly developed by the fellows and mentors. Fellows collaborate on in-progress research projects and analysis of existing datasets leading to peer-reviewed publications, and develop and lead independent research projects, with opportunity to apply for VA pilot funding and Career Development Awards. 

Fellows join an academically rich and vibrant training environment for health professionals. VA Pittsburgh is host to a range of training experiences in addiction treatment. It is a clinical training site for Addiction Medicine and Addiction Psychiatry Residents from the University of Pittsburgh. Clinical psychology trainees can gain addiction treatment experience through the VAPHS clinical internship and clinical addiction fellowship. VAPHS also hosts several other Advanced Fellowships, through which masters- and doctoral-level trainees obtain research and scholarly training: Mental Illness Treatment, Geriatrics, Patient Safety, Clinical Simulation, and Women’s Health.