Tracks and Career Development

At the beginning of psychiatry residency, most residents are unsure of their ultimate career interests and goals. We aim to provide guidance and support throughout training, to help residents develop and explore their interests. Since the overall goal of our program is to prepare outstanding psychiatrists to practice in a variety of settings - academic, community mental health, public policy, general and subspecialty clinical practice - we offer an academic advising system and a wide variety of elective opportunities, tracks, and interest groups, as described below.

From the onset of training, each resident is assigned a preceptor, or academic adviser. This is a member of our departmental faculty who either works in the area of the resident's initial career interest, or is a general adviser. This preceptor advises the resident about clinical rotations, other faculty members the resident may wish to talk to or work with, research and elective opportunities, and local and national meetings. Residents may change or add preceptors to address their changing career interests, and may of course seek guidance from other faculty as well.

The tracks, or interest areas, described below have been developed to foster residents' career interests throughout residency and to form an organizing focus for PGY-4 year electives. They provide meetings; opportunities to meet faculty, psychiatrists working in our community, and other residents with similar interests; mentorship; and special clinical and/or research opportunities. Of note, these tracks are not mutually exclusive. For example, a resident interested in research and in addiction psychiatry can participate in both the Research Track and the Addictions Track. Our Spokane and Idaho Advanced Clinician Tracks are separate residency programs with separate Match numbers and curricula (see below and the Regional Programs section of this website). However, apart from these regional programs, our tracks do not prescribe specific curricula or rotation schedules. Tracks and interest groups are grouped below into general areas of Research, Community and Public Psychiatry, Advanced Clinician, and Psychiatric Subspecialties. In addition, the department offers a variety of post-residency fellowship programs (see below, and the departmental Fellowship Page).

Research

Our department offers an active, interdisciplinary, and highly collaborative research environment, with strong research programs in basic and clinical neuroscience, psychiatric genetics, health services research, the psychiatry-medicine interface, psychiatric subspecialties (addictions, geriatrics, child), and clinical phenomenology and treatments. Our faculty includes internationally recognized investigators who welcome the opportunity to train and mentor psychiatry residents. In addition, residents may work with faculty from the broader University of Washington research community, including investigators in other departments within the School of Medicine (e.g. Pharmacology, Neurology, Radiology, Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pathology), the College of Arts and Sciences (e.g. Psychology, Anthropology), and the School of Public Health (e.g. Health Services, Epidemiology, Global Health).

Neuroscience Track
For residents interested in basic or clinical neuroscience, our Neuroscience Track provides mentorship, opportunities to participate in monthly meetings, attend and present at our departmental Neuroscience Division seminars, substantial research time, and funding for attending national meetings. The track is open to all residents with strong interests in basic and clinical neuroscience, but those with prior research experience, including those who have completed a Ph.D., and who are interested in academic careers in the neurosciences, can enter the Neuroscience Track at the beginning of training. This track capitalizes on the large neuroscience community at the University of Washington, with internationally renowned investigators in our department and the departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery, Psychology, Pharmacology, Genetics, and Physiology. If you are interested in the Neuroscience Track, please indicate this on your application and we will tailor your schedule to introduce you to both our clinical training program and address your research interests. Please visit the Neuroscience Track page for more information.

Clinical Research
Residents, with clinical research interests in health services, epidemiology, public policy, psychiatric subspecialties, clinical phenomenology, and treatments (psychotherapy, psychopharmacology), may also elect to pursue mentored research during part or all of their elective time, attend regularly scheduled research seminars in their area of interest, and participate in our Interdisciplinary Clinical Research Skills Training Program. This training program, developed with funding from NIMH, and in conjunction with our Psychology Internship Program, teaches psychiatry residents and psychology trainees clinical research skills and grant-writing, to ease the transition to a successful academic career. Applicants interested in clinical research should indicate this on their application and can discuss opportunities and research training with the Residency Director and selected faculty during the interview day. Of note, our department has also developed a new Psychiatry in the Medical Setting Residency Track providing integrated clinical and research opportunities for residents interested in working at the Psychiatry-Medicine interface.

Community and Public Psychiatry

The Division of Public Behavioral Health and Justice Policy sponsors the Community Leadership Track, a special state-funded program designed to maintain and further develop residents' skills and interests in community/public psychiatry, including the treatment of patients with severe and persistent mental illness who are treated in the public sector, and related research and/or public policy. Residents may apply to join the track at any point during residency and are selected on the basis of stated interests, career objectives, and experience in community/public psychiatry. The Division provides elective rotations, including supervised clinical experiences, consultations with mental health agencies, and involvement in research and/or public policy in a variety of settings, including urban and rural community mental health centers, community clinics, and the state hospitals. Forensic psychiatry rotations are available at the state hospitals and at correctional institutions. Cross-cultural psychiatry experiences include consultation to the Harborview International Clinic; rotations at the Asian Counseling and Referral Service, Consejo and SeaMar (a community clinic with a predominantly Hispanic population); and rotations in Juneau, Anchorage, and Fairbanks, Alaska, where residents have the opportunity to work with native populations. Although community psychiatry electives are open to all senior residents, preference is given to those who are members of the Community Leadership Track. The Division also holds an evening seminar series open to all residents.

If you are interested in community/public psychiatry, or in cross-cultural psychiatry, please note this on your application and we will schedule your interviews accordingly.

Advanced Clinician

This track is designed for those residents whose career goals include significant amounts of patient care as a general psychiatrist. Residents may pursue this track in Seattle or, for those residents interested in non-urban or rural practice, through the Spokane or Idaho Advanced Clinician Tracks. The general goal of this track is to help residents develop skills essential for today's general psychiatrist, including knowledge and experience in consultation to primary care providers and agencies, a variety of psychotherapies, state-of-the-art psychopharmacology, teaching, and administration.

In this track, a resident might choose to devote significant amounts of time to pursuing further training in brief and long-term individual, couples, and group psychotherapies. Residents can draw upon the expertise of the regular faculty and over 300 clinical faculty members, many of whom are affiliated with one of the four psychoanalytic institutes located in Seattle. A Psychotherapy Track, or interest group, is designed for residents specifically interested in advanced training in psychotherapy. The track provides mentorship; evening meetings; and consultation and guidance concerning rotations, elective seminars, and opportunities in the wider community to pursue additional training in psychotherapies. For more information, regarding this track, please contact Jeffrey Sung, M.D..

The department's Division of Health Services and Psychiatric Epidemiology is internationally recognized for research in the interface between psychiatry and primary care. Faculty in the Division are active in developing and disseminating innovative interventions integrating psychiatrists into primary care settings to improve the care of patients with common psychiatric disorders and to improve understanding of the interaction between psychiatric and medical conditions. Although all senior residents spend one half day per week consulting in a primary care clinic, residents in this track may elect further supervised clinical experience in such settings, including experiences combining primary care consultation with the ability to follow selected patients within their own practice in one of our outpatient psychiatry clinics.

Other advanced clinician electives may include senior resident rotations on inpatient, consultation-liaison, emergency, or outpatient rotations as a "junior attending", developing teaching and administrative skills, as well as further clinical skills; certification in electroconvulsive therapy; training in advanced psychopharmacology; participating in departmental specialty outpatient clinics; working in a student health center; and/or doing a private practice elective in the outpatient psychiatry practice of one of the members of our clinical faculty.

For those residents interested in rural or non-urban practice, the department offers two regional programs, the Spokane Advanced Clinician Track and the Idaho Advanced Clinician Track, as well as elective rotations in Alaska (Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau), Montana (Bozeman, Missoula), and Wyoming (Casper). For more information regarding regional programs and rotations, please see the Regional Programs section of this website.

PSYCHIATRY SUBSPECIALTIES

Addiction Psychiatry
Unique opportunities exist for those residents wanting increased knowledge and skills in working with patients with substance related problems and dual disorders. Through this track, residents can become a general psychiatrist with special skills in dealing with these more difficult patients, or a more specialized addictions fellow and psychiatrist. There is a national shortage of addiction psychiatrists in clinical, administrative, and research positions. The Division of Addictions within the University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is one of the most successful in the country, with multiple opportunities in clinical practice and research.

The Addictions Psychiatry Track provides:

1. an Addictions Psychiatry faculty preceptor,
2. seminar which acquaints interested residents with faculty, other residents, projects, and other opportunities,
3. yearly supported attendance at the Washington Society of Addiction Medicine Conference and consideration for support for attendance at one national meeting during the residency,
4. special opportunities for clinical rotations and research,
5. optional preparation for an Addiction Psychiatry fellowship. The Addiction Psychiatry Track includes specialized training in motivational interviewing, dual disorders treatment, addictions medications such as naltrexone and methadone, and behavioral interventions.

The track offers onsite as well as offsite/community clinical and research options. For further information, contact:

Geriatric Psychiatry
As the older population grows, there is an increasing need for geriatric psychiatrists. The Geriatrics Division within our department is one of the largest in the country, with a wealth of clinical opportunities in inpatient, consultation, outpatient, and nursing home settings, as well as opportunities to pursue cutting edge research in neuroscience, neuropsychiatry, genetics, treatments, and health services research. The Geriatric Psychiatry Track provides residents with the chance to explore their interests in this field; meet academic faculty, psychiatrists in practice, and other residents interested in geriatric psychiatry; mentorship; and special research and clinical opportunities. The department also offers fellowship programs in Geriatric Psychiatry, Geriatric Neuroscience, and Geriatric Mental Health Services Research.

For more information regarding this track, contact:

 

Marcella Pascualy, M.D. (206) 277-1843

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Residents may begin training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry either in the PGY-4 year or as a PGY-5 resident following completion of the general psychiatry residency. The Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry offers a fully-accredited, two-year Child Psychiatry residency. If you are interested in child and adolescent psychiatry, please indicate this on your application and we will ensure that you meet with Child Division faculty during your interview day. For more information about our Child and Adolescent Psychiatry program, please visit the Child Psychiatry Web Site.

Psychosomatic Medicine
All residents receive strong and varied clinical training in inpatient and outpatient consultation-liaison psychiatry. For those residents especially interested in clinical work and research in consultation-liaison psychiatry and health services, the department offers a Psychiatry in the Medical Setting Track during residency and a post-residency, ACGME-accredited fellowship in Psychosomatic Medicine.

FELLOWSHIPS

The Department offers several one- or two-year fellowships, beginning at the PGY-5 level. In addition to the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry program (which residents may enter at the PGY-4 or PGY-5 level), these include ACGME-accredited subspecialty residencies in Addiction Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry, and Psychosomatic Medicine. There are also fellowship programs in Community Psychiatry, Primary Care Psychiatry (focusing on research and clinical training in health services and consultation in primary care settings), Geriatric Health Services, and Psychiatric Neuroscience. The University of Washington offers a Masters in Public Health through the School of Public Health. For more information about fellowships offered by the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, please visit our Fellowships Page.