About Our Program

Residency Training - Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Our goal is to provide a relevant and comprehensive education in child psychiatry. This education occurs through a variety of clinical activities, didactic courses, and research experiences.

We accept fourteen residents each year into our program, and two of the fourteen residents are selected for a specialty track that emphasizes Community & Public Psychiatry training.

Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Year I (Postgraduate Year IV/V)

The first year of the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) training program is primarily dedicated to consultation and inpatient experiences in a hospital setting. Residents rotate in four month blocks between our three principle training sites: Columbia University Medical Center, Weill Cornell Psychiatry Manhattan, and Weill Cornell Psychiatry Westchester. Residents will spend two rotations on inpatient units, devoting the majority of their time to an inpatient or partial hospital level of care, and one rotation in consultative experiences to pediatrics and emergency services. Individual supervision and small group supervision in family therapy and psychopharmacology become a foundational place to enhance knowledge and clinical skills.

The first year in the Community & Public Psychiatry track emphasizes experiences in the public sector of psychiatric care. Residents in this track will spend six months on impatient services at the Queens Children's Psychiatric Center, which is a state hospital for children in the metropolitan New York area. In the remaining six months of the first year, residents in this track will join CAP residents at Columbia University Medical Center in consultative experiences to pediatrics and emergency services. This track emphasizes research in the first year of training, and residents devote one half day per week to scholarly activity.

The didactic curriculum for all first year residents in the training program begins with a summer introductory course covers the necessary skills and information to begin clinical rotation. Beginning in the fall, first year residents will come together for one half day each week for formal courses and seminars. First year didactic courses include the following courses:

Development & Psychopathology
Fundamentals of Psychotherapy with Children & Adolescents
Fundamentals of Pediatric Psychopharmacology
Introduction to Family Therapy
Developmental Neuroscience Lecture Series

Child Psychiatry Grand Rounds are scheduled as part of the didactic day.

Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Year II (Postgraduate Year V/VI)

The second Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) year is devoted to outpatient services and community psychiatry as well as research and scholarly pursuits. Every CAP resident spends half of their outpatient activities at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital in subspecialty clinics. The remaining half of their outpatient activities will be assigned to either the Weill Cornell Manhattan campus or the Weill Cornell Westchester campus. At both of these 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. Additional experiences during the second year of training involve normal nursery observation and school consultation.

One quarter of resident time in the second year of CAP training is protected for the pursuit of research or scholarly activity conducted under faculty mentorship. This research time has been designed to be as flexible as possible, allowing each resident ample opportunity and support to engage their chosen selective.

The second year in the Community & Public Psychiatry track is modified to include outpatient experience in community-based school mental health programs one day a week. The residents in this track will also spend two days a week at Weill Cornell Psychiatry Westchester alongside the CAP trainees, working in outpatient services and gaining additional experience with social skills group therapy. The second year residents in this track will also have one full day each week devoted to research and scholarly activity. This research, fostered over the course of two years of training, is focused in the area of service delivery and systems of care for children and adolescents.

The second year didactic curriculum for all second year residents begins in the summer with an introduction to research methods and modules on adolescent substance abuse and forensic child psychiatry. Beginning in the fall, second year residents will continue to gather weekly for advanced courses and seminars. Second year didactics courses include:

Empirically Supported Therapies
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy with Children & Adolescents
Advanced Pediatric Psychopharmacology
Culturally Diverse and Special Populations
Reading Seminar
Journal Club

As in the first year, second year residents will attend Child Psychiatry Grand Rounds as part of their didactic day.

All residents will also have the opportunity to develop teaching skills by participating in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry training of medical students, general psychiatry residents, and pediatrics residents.