Brochure For Prospective Residents
Introductory Letter
Overview of Program
Rotation Schedule and Objectives
Resident Seminars
Psychotherapy Training
Career Opportunities
Faculty Research By Group
Stipends and Benefits
Map For Applicants
From Garage to Renard
(PDF)
Residents
Current Residents
National Achievements of Residents
The Eli Robins Award
The Gene Rubin Award
Resident of the Year
Resident Photos
Other Items of Interest
Department Faculty
Faculty Research Interests
Department Publications
Department Grants
Weekly Seminars
Residency Program
Career Opportunities/Tracks
Graduates of our program are recognized as superbly trained clinicians, educators, and critical thinkers. Private practitioners and recruiters call us frequently to inquire about the availability of our senior residents regarding job offers.
There are many post-graduate career opportunities. Graduates can immediately enter into a full time clinical setting involving private practice, public psychiatry, or a mixture. Others join a medical school faculty in a clinical educator role. In this role, some emphasize clinical care while others become involved in medical school or residency education and administration. A role as a member of a clinical research team is also possible.
Other graduates decide they want a career emphasis in clinical or basic research. To become a successful investigator, a graduate spends several years after residency learning research methodology. This can be accomplished through a fellowship/instructorship position where about 80% time is devoted to research training and about 20% time to clinical responsibilities.
Prior to choosing a career direction, some residents continue their education in a formal clinical fellowship program.
Tracks
Washington University School of Medicine is one of the top medical schools in the country. The Department of Psychiatry, like other departments, is fortunate to have tremendous depth in clinical, educational, and research programs. Because of this depth, we are able to offer each resident individual attention to his or her specific areas of interest. We have found that residents’ interests evolve in unpredictable ways during their training. Instead of having specific tracks for select residents, we are able to help every resident follow the path s/he finds most interesting without limiting the number of residents in predefined tracks. Excellent clinical skills are essential for each resident no matter whether s/he aspires towards private practice, public psychiatry, or academic positions involving clinical education or basic/clinical research. Our schedule offers the flexibility and our faculty provides the depth and expertise to allow any interested resident to explore areas of clinical or basic science research. Residents interested in an academic career involving clinical care and education will also find ample opportunities to develop appropriate skills. The flexibility of our PGY-4 electives coupled with our department’s and university’s resources provides an environment that is designed to support each individual’s career development.
Our Graduates
Over the last 10 years about 40% of our residents entered clinical fellowship training including fellowships in child psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry and forensic psychiatry. An additional 40% accepted a full time clinical position in either the private or public sector. The remaining 20% accepted academic positions involving a research fellowship or clinical-academic position.
For Residents Considering an Academic Career
Our residency training program is interested in residents who want to excel, whether in a clinical career, research career or a combination of both. All of our residents receive intensive clinical training. For those residents interested in exploring the possibility of an academic career, we are able to provide outstanding research mentors from an internationally recognized faculty. One of the keys to a successful academic career is a knowledgeable faculty mentor. Many of our faculty are involved in interdisciplinary research with other faculty throughout the medical center (and the world) and, therefore, interested residents have the opportunity to work with faculty from other departments as well as our own. We have included lists of psychiatry faculty publications and grants in this brochure in order to provide a flavor of the academic richness of our department.
Residents interested in an academic career are encouraged to choose a faculty research advisor in their first or second year. During their PG-2 year, they may select research as their 1.2-month selective. In addition, they may spend the entire 8-month elective time during their PG-4 year doing research with their mentor. Thus, over 9 months of research time (1.2 months in the PG-2 year and 8 months in the PG-4 year) may be available to qualified residents.
Residents desiring a more intensive exposure to research after residency may be able to participate in one or more additional years of research training as a research fellow. These positions provide 80% time for research. Currently, six different research training grants support twenty-five positions (24 postdoctoral and 1 predoctoral) in the department. Current trainees are involved in a large variety of research projects ranging from studies of basic neurobiological mechanisms to clinical research.