Beginning in 1965, the UASOM Department of Psychiatry initiated a predoctoral clinical psychology internship. Prior to 1980, the Internship Training Consortium was the sole program dedicated to the education of doctoral level clinical psychologists operating within the Medical Center. However, recognizing the growing presence and value of clinical psychology in the health care setting, Heersink School of Medicine and UAB Graduate School jointly sponsored and established the Clinical/Medical Psychology Doctoral Program.
Because psychologists throughout the University and the VA were intimately involved in both training programs, Heersink School of Medicine, the Graduate School, and VA Medical Center formed the Psychology Training Consortium, which was responsible for the operational management of both the Internship program and the Clinical Doctoral program. Coordinating all clinical, research, and medical psychology training in the Medical Center, the Psychology Training Consortium was housed administratively in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology.
Recognizing the significant growth of the psychology services across Alabama, in 2024 the internship consortium was officially dissolved so that both UAB and the VA could host independent training programs. The UAB Medicine Clinical Psychology Pre-Doctoral Internship now holds APA accreditation as an independent internship site from its previous status as a consortium with the Birmingham VA.