Postdoctoral Fellowship in Pain Psychology
The Johns Hopkins Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation offers a one-year or two-year postdoctoral research and clinical fellowship program in pain psychology. The fellowship provides the opportunity to develop clinical and research experience in chronic pain intervention. This program is not APA accredited.
This fellowship is recruiting for the 2026 - 2028 training cycle, contingent on funding.
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Program Information | Qualifications | How to Apply | Contact Us | Program Director
Program Information
Our pain psychology fellowship offers focused training in pain psychology research and practice within a large, dynamic, and supportive academic medical center. Fellows can split their time evenly between research and clinical opportunities, though the exact breakdown will depend on the fellow’s individual learning goals and contingent on funding.
Primary research opportunities include projects focused on understanding psychological factors that impact chronic pain and its treatment. Fellows have the opportunity to tailor their research training to their individual goals, working closely with mentors to design a personalized pathway. A primary role for the pain psychology fellow will be obtaining training in and delivering Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET) to patients with persistent pain 6-months after major orthopedic injuries. They have the opportunity to be a part of other clinical trials. Our lab utilizes ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to understand the time course of pain and its relation to psychosocial variables. We utilize quantitative sensory testing (QST) to assess physiological aspects of pain processing. We conduct systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and fellows have the opportunity to lead secondary data analysis from large, longitudinal, datasets of adults with chronic pain.
Primary clinical opportunities include delivering evidence-based approaches for treating chronic pain and completing pre-surgical evaluations, often in the context of complex medical comorbidities, in an outpatient setting. Pain supervisors have expertise in various modalities including CBT, MI, ACT, EAET, and mindfulness-based approaches for treating chronic pain. The postdoc will also have the opportunity to deliver evidence-based treatments as a study clinician on ongoing clinical trials. Additional clinical training opportunities in the broader field of rehabilitation psychology will be available depending on the fellow’s individual training goals.
Johns Hopkins is an excellent environment for pain psychology training. The fellow will join a vibrant community of psychology trainees across four psychology training tracks offered in PM&R (rehabilitation psychology, neuropsychology, multiple sclerosis, pain psychology). Johns Hopkins hosts a robust community of pain experts across multiple departments. Fellows will have the opportunity to join this community via weekly institution-wide grand rounds and collaborative projects. The training plan will be individualized based on the fellow’s interests and guided by an individual development plan.
The fellow will be primarily supervised and mentored by Dr. Rachel Aaron. Other members of the core mentorship team include Dr. Stephen Wegener (research), Dr. Fenan Rassu (research), and Dr. Nicole Schechter (clinical). There is additional opportunity for collaboration with our numerous cross-disciplinary collaborators.
Required Qualifications
- A doctoral degree in clinical or counseling psychology (Ph.D. or Psy.D.) from an APA-accredited program, and including an APA-accredited internship
- All degree requirements, including dissertation and internship completion, must be met before starting the fellowship on September 1st
- Successful completion of a criminal background check if offered a position
- If offered a position, proof of COVID-19 and flu vaccination in adherence with JHU/JHM vaccination policies
Preferred Qualifications
- Supervised experience providing psychological assessment and intervention services in pain psychology
- Research productivity, as evidenced by professional conference presentations and/or peer-reviewed publications
- Participation in relevant professional organizations
- All degree requirements should be met by July 31st to allow time for credentialing (those who anticipate being unable to meet this deadline should contact the program director as soon as possible)
How to Apply
All application materials must be submitted through our portal. Materials include:
- Letter of interest (no longer than two single-spaced pages) that includes:
- A description of your career goals
- How your interests/goals fit specifically in our program(s)
- A statement describing the completion status of your dissertation and anticipated date of graduation
- Curriculum vitae (CV)
- Three professional letters of reference (submitted by your referees through the online portal)
- Unofficial graduate transcripts (official transcripts will be requested if an offer is extended)
- APPCN doctoral training verification form (neuropsychology fellowship applicants only)
More instructions will be provided through the online portal.
Contact Us
For general inquiries, email [email protected]. For program-specific questions, contact the program director below.
Program Director
Rachel Aaron, Ph.D., M.A.
Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Email: [email protected]
