Fellowship Director
Bob McKinney, PhD, LICSW
The University of Alabama
Dr McKinney is an assistant professor of behavioral medicine at the University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. He is also jointly appointed to the UA School of Social Work and the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine Office of Medical Education. He earned the MSW and PHD at the University of Alabama School of Social Work. He is a licensed, independent clinical social worker and a registered yoga therapist. He serves as the director of the University Medical Center Department of Social Services where he maintains an active clinical practice and supervises social work students from UA and other universities in their field placements.
As a faculty member of the UA Family Medicine Residency – Tuscaloosa, he teaches about the social determinants of health and works in interprofessional teams with residents and faculty to address the myriad needs of complex patients. For the School of Social Work, he teaches clinical supervision & ethics and complimentary, alternative, and integrative medicine in the DSW program. He is also appointed by the governor to the Alabama State Board of Social Work Examiners.
Mentorship Director
Jay Brieler, MD
St Louis University
Jay Brieler, MD, serves as the associate program director and associate professor of the Saint Louis University Family Medicine Residency. Dr Brieler received his bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and his Doctor of Medicine from Southern Illinois University. He completed residency at Ramsey Family and Community Medicine in St. Paul, Minnesota with an emphasis on counseling and mental health. His research interests center on the delivery of behavioral health by primary care physicians and integrated behavioral health. He spends most of his free time with his wife and fellow family doc Michele, along with his daughters Isabel and Sophie. He occasionally gets time to play guitar with his band at small cozy venues.
Scholarly Projects Director
Katherine Bergs, PhD, LMFT (Incoming Co-Director Starting 2026)
JPS Family Medicine Residency, Forth Worth, TX
Dr Bergs is the director of behavioral medicine for the department of family medicine at JPS Health Network in Fort Worth, Texas. She is originally from North Carolina, and completed training at East Carolina University (PhD, Clinical Health Psychology and MS Marriage and Family Therapy) and University of Colorado (Internship/Fellowship – Primary Care Psychology and Medical Education). She has been with the JPS family medicine residency for 6 years and is an APD with the program. She has clinical interests in behavior change interventions, sleep medicine, couples & sexual health interventions, and physician health. She has research interests in physician health, sports medicine, and wellbeing/organizational interventions.
Incoming Scholarly Projects Director (starting in 2026)
Katie Fortenberry, PhD
University of Utah Division of Family and Community Medicine
Katie Fortenberry, PhD, is a clinical professor in the University of Utah Division of Family and Community Medicine, where she serves as a core curricular faculty member and directs behavioral health education for the Family Medicine Residency Program. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama and PhD from the University of Utah. Dr Fortenberry is a past co-chair of the STFM Behavioral Health/Family Systems Collaborative and a trustee for the STFM Foundation. She has been involved with BFEF since its third year, first as a fellow and then as a scholarly project mentor and small group mentor. Her research and clinical interests include reducing barriers to health care by teaching medical and psychology trainees to work with behavioral health concerns presented in primary care effectively.
Small-Group Mentors
Barbara Ackerman, PhD
Riverside County Regional Medical Center, Riverside, CA
Parastou Farhadian, MD
University of California Riverside
Kara Frame, MD
University of Utah, Salt Lake City
Bill Haynes, PhD
App Mountain Laurel Internal Medicine, Abingdon, VA
Bernadette Kiraly, MD
University of Utah, Salt Lake City
Rebecca Schiefer, LCSW
Oregon Health & Science University, Portland
David Silveira, LCSW
Merced FMR, University of California, Davis
Matt Witthaus, MD
University of Illinois Chicago
Scholarly Project Mentors
Aaron Grace, PsyD
Waukesha Family Medicine Residency, Waukesha, WI
Adam Guck, PhD
JPS Family Medicine Residency, Fort Worth, TX
Carlie Nikel, PsyD
University of Missouri, Kansas City
Lauren Penwell-Waines, PhD
Novant Health Family Medicine Residency, Cornelius, NC
Danielle L. Terry, PhD, ABPP
Robert Packer Hospital/Guthrie Program, Sayre, PA
Meredith Williamson, PhD
Texas A&M Family Medicine Residency, Bryan, TX
