Fellowships
PRE-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP
The Department of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) offers an annual pre-doctoral fellowship award. This award supports a USUHS graduate student for innovative basic or clinical research studies leading to a PhD degree while focusing on the research of the health consequences of trauma, disaster, and terrorism. This award provides two years of salary support while the pre-doctoral student works on their doctoral studies.
For additional information, please contact the Department of Psychiatry, 301-295-9797
FELLOWSHIPS
The psychiatric subspecialty fellowship programs develop future leaders of military psychiatry, skilled in clinical practice, teaching, and scholarly activity. The three subspecialty fellowship programs (Child and Adolescent, Forensics, Consult-Liaison/Geriatric Psychiatry) exist in affiliation with the National Capital Consortium’s (NCC) tri-service psychiatry residency program and are based within the Department of Psychiatry at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC), Bethesda, MD.
FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY
The Forensic Psychiatry fellowship training program is a component of the Center for Forensic Behavioral Sciences under the Directorate of Behavioral Health. The one-year fellowship is the sole military training program.
The mission of the Forensic Psychiatry fellowship is to provide in-depth training to active duty officers that will foster development of advanced skills as forensic psychiatrists. Advanced skills will include objectivity and self-confidence in delivering expert testimony, ability to perform comprehensive assessment and analysis of criminal defendants, and substantial knowledge of the interplay between the legal system and the psychiatric realm. Upon successful completion of the fellowship, fellows will be prepared to be forensic subject matter experts for their local region as well as for courts-martial throughout the world.
CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY
The Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at WRNMMC is a two year fellowship in which participants learn how to care for children, adolescents, and families. Through a combination of didactics, outpatient direct care, and rotations within the National Capital Region, fellows gain a knowledge of child development, multiple psychiatric treatment modalities, and psychopharmacology. Rotations in the first year of fellowship include three months of inpatient experience at Children’s National Medical Center, four months of work in a partial hospital program at Fort Belvoir, and a month of substance use disorder training. In the second year, fellows maintain a full panel of outpatients while rotating through multiple clinics in pediatrics and focusing on a scholarly activity project. Teaching in the fellowship is conducted by WRNMMC staff along with multiple civilian adjunct staff who direct courses and provide case supervision. Eligible participants are active duty military physicians who have completed a general psychiatry residency or are in their final year of psychiatry residency.
DISASTER AND PREVENTIVE PSYCHIATRY
The USU Disaster & Preventive Psychiatry Fellowship is a two-year fellowship program offered through the Department of Psychiatry’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS). The program prepares fellows to become leaders in the field of disaster psychiatry by providing them with the knowledge and skills they need to prevent, mitigate, and treat the mental health consequences of disasters.
Fellows learn from world-renowned experts in the field of disaster psychiatry and conduct research on topics such as:
- The prevention of mental illness in the aftermath of disasters
- The treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health problems related to trauma
- The development of mental health programs for disaster-affected communities
Upon completion of the fellowship, fellows are well-positioned to take the lead in academics and health policy through:
- Graduate medical teaching
- Disaster and trauma research
- Mental health policy
For more information, please contact the Department of Psychiatry at (301) 295-9797.