Health Psychology Program

The Health psychology program is designed to train researchers in health and behavior, working at the cutting-edge of interdisciplinary, biomedical and biobehavioral investigation in areas such as pain, stress, psychoimmunology, cancer and aging.

Career Opportunities

Many career opportunities exist for Health psychologists. Our students are successful researchers in academia, industry, government, and health care facilities conducting biomedical and biobehavioral investigations, and providing consultation on health care and health care policy.

Specialization in Health Psychology (Graduate Advisor: Dr. Andrew Baum)

The concentration in Health Psychology is designed to train researchers in health and behavior, working at the cutting-edge of interdisciplinary, biomedical and biobehavioral investigation in areas such as pain, stress, psychoimmunology, cancer and aging.

Research requirements include general expectations of student involvement in research throughout their graduate career and specific milestones that must be accomplished in order, including the masters' research and preliminary examination, diagnostic/qualifying examinations, and the dissertation. Masters' research: Students must complete a significant research project with primary responsibility for its derivation, conduct, and/or analysis. This must be completed before students can seek candidacy for the Ph.D. Students must complete, analyze, and report on a major research project. Typically, this is an experiment or single study. For formal acceptance of an approved thesis so that the student can obtain a MS, University guidelines apply.

Specialization in Health Psychology

Students are ordinarily accepted for study towards the Ph.D. Some students elect to earn a Master's degree only, and 30 hours in psychology, including six hours of thesis are required for the MS. It is designed to form the foundation work for doctoral programs. The MS requires that students complete the Statistics sequence in the department (PSYC 5405, 5407) and core courses in Research Methods (PSYC 5307), Health Psychology (PSYC 5309), and Learning (PSYC 5313, 5314, 5345, or 6312), and at least one biological foundations course (PSYC 5333). In addition, students should enroll in PSYC 6101, Proseminar in Health Psychology, during each long semester of graduate study. In addition to these core requirements, students working towards the Ph.D. are required to complete two additional biological foundation courses and seven electives in Psychology or in related departments (e.g. Biology, Chemistry, and Bioengineering). Ph.D. requirements also include the qualifying examination, fulfilled by successfully completing a major area review paper, the specialty examination, and the dissertation.

Assistantship Opportunities

Departmental Assistantships are available for many of our qualified first-year students. Larger stipends are awarded to advanced graduate students on assistantship. Graduate students on assistantship pay in-state tuition, even if they are out-of-state residents. For more details, see the Psychology Department Graduate Handbook.

Other opportunities for financial assistance include: 

McNair Graduate Assistance Package
UTA Office of Financial Aid