Additional Opportunities
Exceptional clinical and research opportunities are available to our trainees during and after their Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) residency at NewYork-Presbyterian.
- During Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency at NewYork-Presbyterian
- After Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency
- Other Research and Clinical Opportunities
We particularly encourage applicants with historically underrepresented identities in medicine and science, including those from minoritized or economically disadvantaged backgrounds and people with disabilities.
Opportunities During Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency
In addition to the scholarly project and research options available to all our NewYork-Presbyterian Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) residents during their second year of clinical training, the NewYork-Presbyterian Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency Training Program offers a range of possibilities for those CAP residents who wish to pursue research and clinical interests in greater depth throughout the entirety of their training. We carefully plan research experiences that match each resident’s level of interest and expertise.
The Shaffer Scholars Program in Child Psychiatry Research
Our Shaffer Scholars Program in Child Psychiatry Research is an extraordinary opportunity for child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP) residents in the NewYork-Presbyterian Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency Training Program to pursue a uniquely substantive research pathway. The Shaffer Scholars Program addresses a critical shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists who establish research as a significant part of their careers. Clinical training is supported by the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH), and research training is funded by a National Institute of Mental Health R25 (research education program) grant and supplemental philanthropic support.
Shaffer Scholars receive substantial targeted research mentorship from world-renowned faculty at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and at Weill Cornell Medicine. With our multi-institutional partnership, we draw on an incredible breadth and depth of research expertise and infrastructure, supporting Shaffer Scholars’ diverse research interests ranging from molecular neurobiology to implementation science.
Recognizing the importance of clinically-grounded research, the Schaffer Scholarship Program extends the traditional two-year child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship to three years. This optimizes both clinical training and research training. Shaffer Scholars split their second year of clinical training across two years, receiving 50% protected time for research in both years. Comprehensive mentorship and individualized research experiences prepare Shaffer Scholars for successful career trajectories as physician-researchers. Advantages of this three-year schedule also include supplemental financial support during the second and third years of training and key guidance in developing research grant and career development award applications.
The Dr. Suzanne Munson Memorial Award
Each year, the Dr. Suzanne Munson Memorial Award enables a NewYork-Presbyterian child and adolescent psychiatry resident to work with research scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and faculty at Weill Cornell Medicine and/or the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. The Award funds travel and expenses for a week at the NIMH to provide exposure to ongoing, state-of-the-art research and help shape a scholarly project that will be pursued throughout training. In addition, the funds cover travel and hotel accommodations for attendance at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the fall of the recipient’s second year of training. Dr. Daniel S. Pine, a National Institute of Health Distinguished Investigator and Chief of the Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience in the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Intramural Research Program, serves as NIMH mentor and liaison for the Munson Fellow.
This is a wonderful experience for a NewYork-Presbyterian child and adolescent psychiatry resident who is seriously considering an academic career and has had limited mentorship. One NewYork-Presbyterian first-year CAP resident is selected each fall through a simple application process.
The Bender-Fishbein Research Award in Child Psychiatry
Our NewYork-Presbyterian Child and Adolescent Psychiatry residents who are in the early stages of translational research, including the Shaffer Scholars, are encouraged to apply for the yearly Bender-Fishbein Research Award in Child Psychiatry. This internal award provides up to $15,000 in support for young investigators conducting pilot clinical research in child and adolescent psychiatry. In some cases, this funding may help generate preliminary data for a junior researcher who plans to pursue a career development award or a larger research project grant. In other cases, this funding may help a clinician to develop research within a clinical setting.
Opportunities After Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency
The following are some post-graduate fellowship opportunities available to NewYork-Presbyterian Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency Training Program graduates:
The NIMH T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship for Translational Research in Child Psychiatric Disorders
This NIMH–funded full-time postdoctoral research training fellowship at the Columbia University Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry is a mechanism to launch a research career in child psychiatric disorders. The fellowship is available to child psychiatrists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, and psychologists. This fellowship supports full-time research for two years. Trainees are expected to conduct research in areas ranging from animal models, neuroimaging clinical trials, and the implementation and dissemination of evidence-based treatments.
The program is designed to impart the training and skills necessary to submit a competitive federally funded mentored training grant or to secure an academic research faculty position. We emphasize interdisciplinary input into each trainee’s education and provide strong programmatic oversight to ensure trainees have the tools to launch independent research careers successfully.
Trainees will be mentored in core domains of translational research in child psychiatry, including NIMH research domain criteria; translational neuroscience; biostatistics; research design, management, and ethics; scientific writing; oral presentation; and grant preparation.
The Whitaker Scholar Program in Developmental Neuropsychiatry
The mission of the Whitaker Scholar Program in Developmental Neuropsychiatry is to provide support and mentorship to child psychiatrists and other professionals who seek to understand better and address the historically underserved mental health needs of people with developmental disabilities.
The first of its kind in the nation, the Whitaker Scholar Program began in 2011 with generous funding from the Marilyn and James Simons family. It provides one to three years of highly individualized training and mentorship, depending on the interests and goals of each Whitaker Scholar. Core faculty expertise includes the interface of developmental neuropsychiatry with specialties in public health, epidemiology, phenomenology, early brain injury, lifespan stress and stress response syndromes, neuroimmunology, brain imaging, and genetics. The program also takes advantage of the wide range of resources and faculty available at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York State Psychiatric Institute, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and the NewYork-Presbyterian Center for Autism and the Developing Brain. Graduates to date occupy positions in public policy and services, clinical practice and administration, professional education, and research at the intersection of mental health and developmental disabilities.
The Sackler Infant Psychiatry Fellowship
The Sackler Infant Psychiatry Fellowship is a clinical training experience under the auspices of the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology and the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of Weill Cornell Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry. The fellowship offers clinical, educational, and research opportunities for the fellow to gain expertise in developmental psychiatry and infant and preschooler mental health, in addition to perinatal psychiatry.
Other Research and Clinical Training Opportunities
In addition to the above-mentioned opportunities specific to development and work with youth, there are other research and clinical training programs available through the Departments of Psychiatry at both Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University.
Some CAP residency graduates have pursued training in additional clinical fellowships at Columbia, including public psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, women’s mental health, and psychoanalytic training. There also are additional post-graduate research fellowships at Columbia Psychiatry.
Weill Cornell Medicine also offers a variety of post-graduate fellowships, including a psychosomatic medicine fellowship and an addiction psychiatry fellowship.