About Our Program
Our goal is to provide a relevant and comprehensive education in child and adolescent psychiatry. This education occurs through a variety of clinical activities, didactic courses, and research experiences.
We accept fourteen residents each year into our program. Up to twelve residents are admitted to the Main Program. Two residents are admitted to the Community and Public Psychiatry Track, which emphasizes training in community and public psychiatry settings. Up to two residents are admitted to our Schaffer Scholars Program in Child Psychiatry Research, which is a unique three-year combined clinical training/research training pathway.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry—Year 1
(Post-Graduate Year 4 or 5)
The Main Program and Shaffer Scholars Program first-year rotations are primarily dedicated to inpatient, partial hospitalization, and consultation experiences in acute care settings. Residents rotate in four-month blocks between our three principal training sites: NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health Center.
The Community and Public Psychiatry Track first-year rotations emphasize experiences in the public sector of psychiatric care. Residents in this track spend six months at the New York City Children's Center (NYCCC), a New York State-funded mental health care system with multiple campuses throughout the city. Three months of the NYCCC experience take place in the inpatient setting, and the other three months take place in an intensive day treatment program. In the remaining six months of the first year, residents in the Community and Public Psychiatry Track join Main Program and Shaffer Scholars Program residents at the NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital and participate in consultative experiences in acute care settings.
First-year didactics cover the fundamentals of development, psychopathology, and therapeutics, with an emphasis on translating classroom learning into effective conversations with patients and families.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry—Year 2
(Post-Graduate Year 5 or 6)
The second year of clinical training is devoted to outpatient services and community psychiatry, as well as research and scholarly pursuits. The focus is on outpatient clinical activities, with increased exposure to subspecialty services for youth. Our residents also consult at schools and observe preschoolers in a nursery school program.
The collective clinical training of Main Program residents and Shaffer Scholars Program residents are equivalent. Residents in the Shaffer Scholars Program complete their second-year of clinical training at 50% time across two years, receiving 50% protected time for research in both of these years. The Main Program and Shaffer Scholars Program second-year rotations occur at the NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital and at either the NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan or the NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health Center in White Plains. At each of their two sites, second-year residents participate in new evaluations and follow a caseload of patients in a variety of treatment modalities including psychodynamic psychotherapy, parent guidance, family therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and medication management.
The Community and Public Psychiatry Track second-year rotations include one day per week of outpatient experiences in an NYCCC community-based school mental health program. The residents in this track also spend two days a week alongside their Main Program and Shaffer Scholars Program colleagues in the outpatient services of the NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health Center.
Every second-year resident is provided protected time for the pursuit of research and scholarly activity conducted under faculty mentorship. This scholarly time has been designed to be as flexible as possible, allowing each resident ample opportunity and support to engage in their chosen area of interest.
Second-year didactics build on first-year topics through in-depth exploration of developmental neuroscience and evidence-based treatments, the development of advanced clinical skills, and guided professional development.