Most fellows choose to continue some type of clinical assignment one day a week throughout the fellowship in order to maintain patient care skills and supplement the fellowship stipend. The genetics fellowship allows an individual to spend one or more years in full-time research activities related to the genetics of mental illness. The fellowship is divided between an individual research project under faculty supervision, didactic course work, and participation in the psychiatric genetics seminar. Fellows can enter the program either in their fourth year of residency or after completion of their residency. Three fellowship positions are available and supported by NIH stipends.
Residents can spend a minimum of one and up to a maximum of three years in the program.
Stipends are supplemented by the university so that earnings are commensurate with those of other residents at the same PGY level. The purpose of the fellowship program is to prepare residents for careers in academic medicine in the field of psychiatric genetics. During the first year, fellows supervise recruitment, assessment, and clinical management of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders admitted to the inpatient research unit. The first year also provides training in use of structured assessment instruments, course work in biostatistics, neuroimaging, molecular genetics, and practical computing skills. The geriatric psychiatry program provides training through clinical services across the full spectrum of care.