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General Residency Program

A four-year program accredited by the American Council for Graduate Medical Education, our goal is to train general psychiatrists by means of strong clinical experience and a systematic exposure to relevant knowledge from biological, psychological and social sciences. Special effort has been devoted to achieving a well-balanced program integrating theoretical learning and clinical experience. As a university-based program in a large public/private hospital system, UTMB provides a solid core of knowledge and a scientific framework as well as the numbers and variety of patients for a full range of clinical experiences.

Curriculum
The curriculum is an evolving component of the program. A standing Curriculum Committee, on which residents sit as full members, introduces revisions and changes to improve education and training. Thus, the curriculum described here is illustrative and subject to modification. The candidate is assured that by the end of the program all of the experiences required for Board Certification will have been provided.

Sample Curriculum:
PGY-1
8 months on General Adult Inpatient Psychiatry
with possible substitution of up to 1 month on Emergency Psychiatry Rotation
4 months primary care ( Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics )

PGY-2
2 months Neurology, 2 months Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 4 months Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, 2 months Geriatric Psychiatry, 2 months Addiction Psychiatry

PGY-3
A full 12 month experience in outpatient psychiatry, with specific components in child/adolescent outpatient psychiatry.

PGY-4
6 months Service Chief Selective
6 months Elective

The Chairman:
Robert M.A. Hirschfeld, M.D. , Professor and Chairman of the UTMB Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, is internationally known for his research on the diagnosis and treatment of depression and anxiety. Prior to joining UTMB in July 1990, Dr. Hirschfeld spent 18 years at the National Institute of Mental Health.

The Training Director:
Cindy L. Wigg, M.D., Associate Professor and Director of the UTMB General Adult Psychiatry Residency Program, is board certified in General Psychiatry and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. She did her general & child residencies here at UTMB and has been actively involved in medical student and resident education since her appointment to the faculty in 1986.

Program Enrichment:

Institute for the Medical Humanities
Unique in this country, the IMH has nine full-time faculty members who provide consultation and teaching in the history of medicine and psychiatry, biomedical ethics, perspectives from selected humanities disciplines, and also provide consultation on ethical issues in clinical work.

Psychoanalytic Institute & Society
A fully accredited training institute of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the Houston-Galveston Psychoanalytic Institute is located in Houston , 50 miles north of the UTMB campus.

Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship:
An ACGME accredited two-year residency in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Both Karen Dineen Wagner, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Division, and Christopher R. Thomas, M.D., Program Director, are well-know nationally for their research, academic, and clinical accomplishments.

Applicants who are committed to training in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry may submit a combined application to UTMB General Psychiatry and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry programs simultaneously. If accepted, they will obtain a commitment from UTMB to provide three years of General Psychiatry training, followed by two years (PGY-4 & PGY-5) of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry training, which will lead to eligibility for board certification in both General Psychiatry and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Link to:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency

Active Research Within the Department:
Mood disorders, ADHD, depression, schizophrenia, narcotherapy, neurobiology of aggression, lipid peroxidation, neurodegenerative disorders, psychiatric epidemiology, aggression in adolescents, PTSD and the history of psychiatry.