Pathways

The Department of Psychiatry encourages trainees to participate in supervised scholarly projects during their residency. All residents receive an annual professional stipend that can be used to fund their attendance at national meetings. Residents accepted to present at national meetings may apply for additional departmental funding. 

For those who are committed to a career in academic psychiatry/medicine, the following three pathways or options are also available.

PGY - I:

• Attendance at a conference planned prior to starting here as a PGY-1, that focuses on research (the Department will support two nights and three days) and/or a pre-conference workshop or stand-alone workshop about research skills.  
• Identifying and then beginning to work with a research mentor. 
• Requirement to develop a mentored poster, suitable for submission at the national level.
• Department monthly Journal Club attendance.

PGY- II:
Coursework as necessary, depending on each resident’s background, to further develop research skills required for their projects (an example could be data analysis courses through the Department of Public Health Sciences). In addition:

• The ~8 weeks of elective time would be used for research, including preparing an IRB protocol for research that must begin before or by PGY III. 
• Department monthly Journal Club attendance.

PGY- III and IV: 

• Two possible options:
  1. Requires approval by the ABPN. Split outpatient rotations to occur across both the PGY III and PGY IV, and use elective time for research, resulting in a longitudinal 2-year experience of about half the time in each year for clinical and half the time for research. Paperwork submission to ABPN must occur in about February of the PGY-2 year, and requires denotation of the schedule and of what research will occur during the PGY III & IV. 
  2. Does not require ABPN approval. Uses the elective time for research. This path means essentially about 8 months total research time during PGY III & IV, more of which occurs in PGY IV. 
• For either options the Department may consider funding ($20K) for a mentored research elective during the the PGY III and/or IV. 
• Department Monthly Journal Club attendance

Advanced Degree Opportunity

URMC residents have a unique opportunity to pursue advanced degrees through University of Rochester-affiliated programs, further enriching their educational experience. Despite the rigorous nature of our residency, many have successfully utilized the tuition benefit, which currently covers 95% of tuition costs (up to two courses per semester) and offers flexible timelines to fit the demands of training. In recent years, several psychiatry residents have completed master’s degrees in Education, Medical Management, and Health Humanities & Bioethics."