Dr. Jo Ann Unger and Dr. Jeremiah Buhler, both assistant professors of clinical health psychology, on stage at the clinical health psychology residency program’s 55th anniversary celebration at The Leaf at Assiniboine Park in May.
Clinical health psychology residency program ‘truly outstanding’ at 55 years
When the University of Manitoba’s clinical health psychology residency program launched during the 1969-70 academic year, there were just two residents and one training site.
Fifty-five years later, the revered Max Rady College of Medicine residency program is one of Canada’s largest, with 12 residents, 30 training sites and funding support to continue expanding to meet the ongoing need for psychologists in Manitoba.
Dr. Patricia Furer
“We’re proud of the contributions our residency program has made in terms of training psychologists to provide services within Manitoba and across the country. We’ve trained close to 400 psychologists and the program has been highly impactful over the past 55 years,” said Dr. Patricia Furer, clinical health psychology (CHP) residency program director and associate professor of CHP at the Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.
The program was set to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2020 but the event had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, during the 2024-25 academic year, events were held to celebrate the program’s 55th anniversary.
The department’s grand rounds series featured former residents as invited speakers throughout the year.
Members of the clinical health psychology residency program’s 2000-01 cohort travelled from across Canada to attend the 55th anniversary dinner.
On the afternoon of May 9, 2025, Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, a UM clinical health psychology resident in 1991-92 and currently a distinguished professor at Northeastern University in Boston, gave a special grand rounds presentation. She is among the top 0.1 per cent most-cited scientists in the world for her groundbreaking research in psychology and neuroscience.
And that evening, a gala dinner took place at The Leaf at Assiniboine Park to celebrate the program’s 55th anniversary. Close to 200 alumni, faculty, current residents and distinguished guests attended.
Dr. Lesley Graff
Looking around the room at the dinner, Dr. Lesley Graff, professor and head of clinical health psychology, observed the striking number of national leaders who had trained at UM.
“Some alumni have served as vice-presidents of hospitals. Others have been president of the Canadian Psychological Association, and many are well-known internationally for their clinical research. This typifies the exceptional quality of trainees we’ve been attracting to our program for decades,” said Graff, who was in the residency program’s 1991-92 cohort.
Leaders in the field
The clinical health psychology residency program was launched in 1969 by Dr. Robert Martin, the chief psychologist of the constellation of hospitals which later became Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre (HSC).
In 1978, residency training expanded from HSC to include St. Boniface Hospital.
The program was the first CHP residency program in Canada to be accredited by the American Psychological Association. In 1988, it obtained dual accreditation once the Canadian Psychological Association began accrediting residency programs.
“We’ve been continuously accredited since our very first accreditation. This is a remarkable accomplishment,” Graff said.
In 1990, Dr. John Arnett was appointed section head for psychology. Arnett and residency training director Dr. Bob McIlwraith worked with the deputy minister of health, Dr. John Wade (UM dean emeritus), to fund the Rural and Northern Program. It has since trained 66 residents.
Graff said the innovative program challenged the status quo of fly-in service, instead placing psychologists in rural and northern communities to live and work, along with residents doing clinical rotations.
“It was a groundbreaking model at the time. What we’ve been doing for 30 years is really just being picked up as an ideal model more recently by other specialties” Graff said.
In 1995, the department of clinical health psychology was established. Arnett served as the inaugural department head for a decade.
“The residency program was originally under the section of behavioral science. It was a really significant milestone that we became a full department at UM’s medical school, and this year we’re proud to be celebrating our 30th anniversary,” Graff said.
In 2000, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) CEO Dr. Brian Postl (UM dean emeritus), established clinical health psychology as a full regional clinical program. This led to the expansion of resident training opportunities in areas such as cardiac sciences, bariatric surgery, pediatric diabetes and chronic pain.
McIlwraith was appointed head of the department and medical director of the regional program from 2005 to 2015.
In 2016, Graff was appointed CHP department head and WRHA program medical director. In 2019, she became first provincial lead for clinical health psychology, and has worked closely with the province and health leadership to increase the residency program training seats and clinical positions to meet the need for psychologists across the health system.
Continuing the legacy
Today, the program’s training streams include child psychology, adult psychology, medical psychology, neuropsychology and rural practice.
“The breadth and range of training opportunities that we offer within our residency program and the way we are positioned within a medical school sets us apart from other Canadian programs,” Furer said.
The clinical health psychology residency program’s current cohort.
The Max Rady College of Medicine residents are also exposed to the innovative clinical research being conducted by UM faculty members. The department is close to reaching its fundraising goal of $1.5 million to establish an endowed professorship in clinical health psychology and will be launching a campaign to establish an endowed professorship in child psychology.
The most recent residency accreditation, which took place in 2024, earned high praise from the national reviewers. Graff said they described the program as “truly outstanding and could be considered a model program for psychology residency training in Canada.”
Looking to the future, Furer said the program is committed to strengthening diversity in professional psychology.
“We look forward to continuing to provide the stellar level of training that we do now and to remain on the leading edge of new areas of practice for psychologists and innovations in clinical care for years to come,” Furer said.