About Our Program

Residency Training - Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Training Program is structured to provide trainees with a comprehensive education in child psychiatry. This education occurs through a variety of clinical activities, didactic courses and research experiences. National experts in the evaluation and treatment of children, adolescents and families staff the training facilities at Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute, Weill Cornell/Payne Whitney Manhattan and Payne Whitney Westchester, and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

Under the leadership of Training Director, Elisabeth Guthrie, MD, and Associate Training Director, Rebecca Rendleman, MD, this two-year, ACGME-accredited child and adolescent psychiatry training program admits 12 residents per year. Two additional residents are accepted annually into a specialized, two year, ACGME-accredited track which emphasizes training in public sector child psychiatry (referred to as CAP Track). Thus, there are 14 residents in each year for a total complement of 28 residents. Approximately 85% of the training occurs in the context of clinical rotations and the remainder in didactic education.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Year I (Post-graduate Year IV/V)

The first year of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) training is primarily dedicated to consultation and inpatient experience in a hospital setting and residents rotate in four month blocks between our three principle training sites; Columbia Campus, Payne Whitney Manhattan Campus and Payne Whitney Westchester Campus. Residents will spend two four-month rotations on inpatient units, with the majority of their time devoted to inpatient care and one four-month rotation in consultative experiences to pediatrics and the emergency room. Individual supervision and small group supervision in family therapy and psychopharmacology is provided.

The first year of CAP Track residents' training is modified to emphasize experience in the public sector psychiatry. Specifically, CAP Track residents spend 6 months on inpatient services at the Queens Childrens Psychiatric Center, a state hospital for children within the metropolitan New York area. In the remaining 6 months, CAP Track residents spend in consultative experiences to pediatrics and the emergency room at the Columbia campus along side the CAP residents. One half day a week for 6 months is devoted to research and scholarly activity.

The didactic curriculum for all first year CAP and CAP Track residents begins with a summer introductory course aimed at providing them with the fundamentals to begin their clinical rotations. After Labor Day, first year residents come together for a half day every week of formal courses and seminars. First year didactic courses include: Development and Psychopathology, Fundamentals of Psychotherapy with Children and Adolescents, Fundamentals of Pediatric Psychopharmacology, and Developmental Neuroscience Lecture Series. Child Psychiatry Grand Rounds are scheduled as part of the didactic day.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Year 2 (Post-graduate Year V/VI)

The second Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) year is devoted to outpatient and community psychiatry as well as to research and other academic pursuits. Every CAP resident spends half of his or her outpatient activities at the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital in subspecialty clinics. For the remaining half of the CAP resident's outpatient activities, 6 residents will be assigned to Payne Whitney Manhattan and 6 to Payne Whitney Westchester. At both of these sites, the 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. Ongoing individual and small group supervision in an array of treatment modalities including psychodynamic psychotherapy, CBT, parent management and family therapy and case conferences accompany these outpatient rotations. In addition, each second year CAP resident will have experience at a normal nursery and in school consultation.

Twenty-five percent of time in the CAP second year is protected for the pursuit of selective research or scholarly activity with faculty mentorship. This research time has been designed to be as flexible as possible to allow residents ample opportunity to engage in their chosen selective. Research selectives with faculty members engaged in investigative activity are available through the New York State Psychiatric Institute, Payne Whitney Manhattan, Payne Whitney Westchester, and the Sackler Institutes for Developmental Psychobiology at Weill Cornell and Columbia.

The second year of the CAP Track training is modified to include outpatient experience in community based school mental health programs one day a week. The CAP Track residents will spend two days a week at Payne Whitney Westchester where they will engage in similar activities as the second year CAP residents but will also have experience in social skills group therapy. In addition, one full day a week is now devoted to research/scholarly activity. This research, fostered over two years, is focused in the area of service delivery and systems of care for children and teens.

The second year didactic curriculum for both CAP and CAP Track residents begins in the summer with an introduction to research methods and modules on adolescent substance abuse and forensic child psychiatry. After Labor Day, didactics courses include: Empirically Supported Therapies, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy with Children and Adolescents, Advanced Pediatric Psychopharmacology Seminar, Culturally Diverse and Special Populations, a Reading Seminar and Journal Club. As in the first year, Child Psychiatry Grand Rounds is scheduled as part of the Didactic Day.

In both the first and second years, CAP and CAP Track residents have the opportunity to develop teaching skills by participating in the child and adolescent psychiatric training of medical students, general psychiatry residents and residents in pediatrics.