Psychiatry Residency Program in Baltimore | MedStar Health

The MedStar Health Baltimore Residency Program in Psychiatry

Welcome to the MedStar Health Baltimore Psychiatry Residency Program, where we extend a warm welcome to aspiring psychiatrists. Our program embodies a forward-thinking ethos, cultivating an inclusive learning environment aimed at shaping the next generation of psychiatric professionals. We are dedicated to fostering clinical excellence, promoting community wellness, and advancing scholarly pursuits and leadership to revolutionize healthcare practices.

Located in the vibrant city of Baltimore, our program offers a distinctive setting for psychiatric training. With access to diverse community hospitals across both Baltimore City and County, residents benefit from a rich tapestry of resources and opportunities. As advocates for community health, we prioritize not only individual patient care but also the holistic well-being of the communities we serve, ensuring a lasting impact on their complex needs.

From our beautiful Baltimore location, you will receive excellent, diverse, and well-rounded training that will prepare you for a career of your choice in psychiatry.

Why train here

Psychiatry is a unique branch of medicine that is founded on the sciences and practiced as a clinical art within the context of the physician-patient relationship to understand the whole patient. The mission of our residency program is to provide excellent psychiatric training that emphasizes both the clinical and scientific aspects of psychiatry as the core foundation from a humanistic perspective. Our graduates will become skillful, knowledgeable, and compassionate clinicians, researchers, educators, and administrators, who will find the utmost fulfillment in their work and make meaningful contributions to the field of psychiatry. Our residency program aims to train clinically excellent, academically informed, and cross-culturally responsive next-generation psychiatrists in a community psychiatry setting. We will balance a well-rounded training experience that focuses on fully understanding patients within a bio-psycho-socio cultural frame with the personalized interests of each resident. This requires that residents develop an in-depth knowledge of pharmacology, neuroscience, the biological etiologies of emotion and behavior, and understand the patient within a psychodynamic and sociocultural framework.

As a new psychiatry residency program, we are creating our unique “brand”. We have a dedicated and excited faculty who are eager to train people who want to be future leaders in our field. If you are an innovator, creative, collaborative, and keen to make a positive impact on medical and psychiatric education, this is your home.

Our mission is to train future psychiatrists that the practice of psychiatry is concerned not only with the improvement of a person's mental health but also with the advancement of a person's health and well-being within their family and community.

Our program emphasizes learning to work within interprofessional teams to address personalized patient needs, collaborating with primary care to address overall health, and thoroughly considering social needs, strengths and supports in the community. To further achieve our mission, we will teach residents that showing respect for patients’ rights and dignity, working to combat the stigma of mental illness, and understanding and addressing disparities in healthcare are important responsibilities that we have as physicians and psychiatrists in any setting.


Program Aims:

  • To be outstanding clinicians in a variety of clinical settings and have the skills to navigate and utilize a spectrum of services in community-based systems of care.

    Our community-based hospitals provide the opportunity for residents to learn about the specific needs of patients in Baltimore City and County. Residents spend all four years in various community-based clinical services. We aim to expose residents to diverse clinical settings in the community and diverse faculty who have experience with the complex needs and makeup of the community at the two primary training sites, MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center and MedStar Harbor Hospital. As a community hospital system, we are a close-knit group of highly dedicated professionals who are focused on truly understanding the unique needs of the patients in the communities that we serve.

  • To provide high-quality care to underserved and diverse patient populations.

    We aim to train our residents in culturally appropriate care. We have extensive didactics in cultural psychiatry in all four years of the residency. Classes include understanding ourselves/personal cultural influences, the cultural formulation interview, social determinants of mental health, Baltimore culture and populations, immigrant issues, refugee mental health, microaggressions, understanding sex/gender/sexual orientation, family involvement/roles in treatment, impact of information technologies, cultural factors shaping placebo effects and healing, religion and health, global psychiatry, impact of gun violence, culture and managing countertransference, the association of Anthropology with Cultural Psychiatry, and climate change.

    Rotations provide the opportunity to treat patients from diverse cultural groups including LGBTQ+, Spanish-speaking, immigrant, African American, and different religious groups at both main sites and affiliated sites.

    There will also be a yearly Culture and Community Day that is sponsored by the department and led by the residents that will be a day of scholarly talks and celebration of diversity with community involvement. We also focus on culture and social determinants of health in our community hospitals as a matter of course during every clinical encounter.

  • To be mindful of the overall mental health needs of our community and region and become effective advocates for mental health equity by understanding the business and political influences in healthcare.

    We aim to train residents to be leaders in their field and active advocates for patients and overall community mental health and to develop a sense of social responsibility to work toward optimal care for their patient, the community, and our profession. We teach about the business aspects of healthcare as well including coding and efficient documentation and the laws that govern the administrative aspects of psychiatry and medicine in general. Residents will have lectures from the MedStar Advocacy Office and can take part in a relevant elective in the 4th year. Residents will also be encouraged to take part in the Maryland Psychiatric Society’s Legislative Advocacy Day in Annapolis. They can observe or participate in individual advocacy. Residents who elect to do this will receive training on how to communicate with state government leaders about important bills that influence the practice of psychiatry to convey their individual views.

  • To be skillful in collaborative care of medical and psychiatric treatment, leadership of interdisciplinary teams, and the use of recent technologies that reduce disparities in access to excellent comprehensive healthcare.

    As an urban and suburban community hospital system, we aim to train residents to work independently and within interdisciplinary teams. We will train residents in the optimal use of telehealth and effective collaboration with other health professionals to address all of the patients’ needs. The MedStar Health System has instituted Collaborative Care in over 49 primary care programs, including a unique mobile treatment multidisciplinary collaborative care program to treat people with somatic and psychiatric illnesses. Residents have rotations in at least 2 of these services and have the opportunity to experience more during their electives.

  • To fight the stigma of mental illness in societies in order to reduce this barrier to timely treatment.

    The stigma of mental illness continues and pervades many aspects of most societies including the medical profession. Residents will learn to be advocates by identifying structural stigma in healthcare in the way insurance operates, being proactive in communicating with other providers around the care of our patients who often have multiple co-occurring medical and social issues, understanding the importance of using non-judgmental, neutral language in medical notes and when discussing patients with collaborating colleagues, communicating openly, honestly, and respectfully with our patients, especially with the initiation of the Interoperability Act (CURES Act) which readily shares chart information with patients. Residents will learn this through didactics, observing faculty, participating in community programs, and practicing patient communication with supervision.

  • To become effective leaders in psychiatric care including acquiring the necessary skills to teach patients and colleagues.

    Residents will learn how to be effective educators. The goal of life-long learning and passing on the information you learn to other colleagues and patients is a value held deeply and is emphasized in our program. Effective teaching and communication is taught in didactics classes and residents are observed and hone their skills teaching students, and educating colleagues, patients, and their families during clinical rotations. Residents are also encouraged and mentored to present at national professional meetings. The importance of scholarship and contributing to the body of knowledge in psychiatry in some way is a hallmark of who we are as physicians.

  • The Wellness Committee seeks to promote resident wellness by organizing and putting on various events to enhance resident well-being and strengthen relationships in our residency community. It is run by residents and supported by MedStar Wellness staff.

  • Retreat Committee

    The Retreat Committee organizes the annual resident retreat, a one-day event when all of our MedStar Healthy Baltimore psychiatry interns and residents are excused from their clinical duties to participate in team-building activities that not only emphasize core values of the department, such as intellectual curiosity and the importance of reflection but also encourage camaraderie and promote friendships beyond the clinical setting.

  • Recruitment Committee

    We are enthusiastic about our program and its future. Each year the recruitment committee puts time, thought, and enthusiasm into the applicant interview and selection process to ensure our future residents are a good match for our program. Residents from all classes are encouraged to join the committee and support this important process.

  • Education Committee

    The resident representative elected by the resident group attends the Program Evaluation and Improvement Committee The Education Committee’s goal is to evaluate and recommend improvement in the Residency program.

  • Diversity and Inclusion Committee

    Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (EI&D) are at the heart of the MedStar SPIRIT values and there is a robust EI&D Council across the system. There are several areas of focus including Awareness, Communications, Education and Development, Community Involvement, and Health Equity.

    We also encourage residents to join a group of faculty within our department who are committed to social justice and inclusivity with the following goals:

    • Integration of social justice education into all didactics and specific longitudinal didactics in cultural psychiatry for all 4 years.

    • Expectations of consideration of social justice and cultural humility in all core clinical rotations

    • Incorporation of reflection on diversity and inclusion at the retreat and all resident meetings.

    • Cultivation of a diverse library with sections devoted to Black authors, promotion of LGBTQ+ health, anti-racism, and immigrant issues.

    • Development of new efforts focused on recruitment of minority trainees.

    • Participation in MedStar Equity, Inclusion & Diversity Initiatives

    • Development of Culture and Community Day

    • Tour of Baltimore with discussion of history and culture

    • Encouragement to participate in the Maryland Psychiatric Society Community and Diversity Coalition

  • Culture and Community Day and Committee

    This is one of the highlights of our program. Residents organize this full day dedicated to Diversity and community impact with faculty mentoring and support.

Curriculum

  • Core Faculty

    Having a diverse and dedicated core faculty team with expertise in various specialties is crucial for providing comprehensive training opportunities for residents. With more than nine highly dedicated core faculty members, residents can benefit from a broad spectrum of knowledge and experiences, allowing them to explore diverse interests within their field of study.

  • Special Programs

    The residency program offers several events that explore the uniqueness of the Baltimore community to train residents in a holistic community approach to care.

  • Tour of Baltimore Social History

    As a community hospital system, we continuously work towards a better understanding of the historical and socio-cultural influences of health in Baltimore communities. One way we seek to teach and experience this is with an annual tour of Baltimore neighborhoods with people knowledgeable in the lived experiences of the people who live and work here. This is a special opportunity to gain humility in our ongoing attempts to understand and address some social determinants of health.

  • Culture and Community Day

    This is one of the highlights of our program. Residents organize this day dedicated to supporting diversity, intercultural dialogue, and promoting community change with faculty mentoring and support. The goal is to work to reduce health disparities in our community and understand the importance of this work in our role as physicians.

    CCD is sponsored by the residency training office but is mostly a resident-driven program. Interested residents pick the year's topic on a cultural diversity and equity topic of their choosing, and plan the day that includes invited lecturers, community leaders, faculty speakers, panels, interactive exercises, resident presentations, and a grand rounds speaker. Food is provided and the day is a celebration of diversity that culminates with a planned community initiative related to the day’s topic.

The following are some of the major topics covered in didactics:

  • Didactic Series for All Four Years

    • Professional Development 

    • Wellness for residents –regular groups led by wellness coach 

    • Cultural Psychiatry/Anti-racism Curriculum 

    • Quality Improvement Lectures and Projects

    • Clinical Risk Assessment and Safety 

    • Clinical Neuroscience and Neuropsychiatry 

    • Psychotherapy

    • Pharmacotherapy

    • Community Psychiatry

  • PGY-1

    Didactics focus on learning the basic concepts in psychiatric diagnoses

    • pharmacology

    • Psychotherapies

    • Neuroscience

    • Psychiatric Interviewing

    • Wellness

    • Cultural psychiatry

    • Professionalism

    • Clinical practice

    • Reading and interpreting research

  • PGY-2

    Didactics focus on learning about consultation liaison psychiatry

    • Forensic/Legal issues

    • Basics in child psychiatry

    • Expertise in the concepts in psychiatric diagnoses

    • Advanced pharmacology

    • Psychotherapies

    • Neuroscience

    • Advanced interviewing

    • Wellness

    • Special topics in cultural psychiatry

    • Professionalism

    • Concepts in clinical practice

    • Introduction to research

  • PGY-3

    Didactics focus on a wide range of psychotherapies and outpatient practice

    • Wellness

    • Advanced Cultural psychiatry

    • Child psychiatry

    • Advanced Pharmacology

    • Neuroscience

    • Non-pharmaceutical treatments

    • Specialties in psychiatry

    • Professional development

    • Careers in Psychiatry

    • Ethics

    • Telepsychiatry

    • Forensics

    • Quality Improvement

    • Teaching

  • PGY-4

    Didactics focus on a deeper understanding of a wide variety of psychotherapies and specialized treatments

    • Wellness

    • Advanced Cultural psychiatry

    • Special topics in Child psychiatry

    • Advanced Pharmacology

    • Neuroscience

    • Non-pharmaceutical treatments

    • Specialties in psychiatry

    • Professional development

    • Career planning

    • Leadership

    • Ethics

    • Research

    • Board preparation.

Rotations

Our community-based hospitals provide the opportunity for residents to learn about the specific needs of patients in Baltimore City and County. The program is a four-year residency with four residents per year. There is a diverse experience with focus on community and at the two primary training sites, MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center and MedStar Harbor Hospital. The other 2 Medstar hospitals in Baltimore offer some electives in the PGY IV year. The residency is affiliated with MedStar Georgetown University and shares some activities with the Georgetown University Hospital Residency Program, e.g.: Grand Rounds, but is a distinct residency from that program.

As a community hospital system, we are a close-knit group of highly dedicated professionals who are focused on truly understanding they unique needs of the patients in our communities that we serve. Thorough training on evidence-based treatments

We have several different medical trainees in our hospitals and within the Department of Psychiatry including medical students from Georgetown University doing their core rotation in psychiatry, residents in Internal Medicine, Surgery, Family Medicine, and other specialties who enhance the learning experience.

Most of the rotations are at MFSMC and MHH provides most of the required and elective training experiences for the residents. These include Internal Medicine (first year) and Neurology (first year). Psychiatry programs include inpatient adult (MFSMC and MHH), child and adolescent (inpatient at MFSMC), Consultation-Liaison (MFSMC and MHH), outpatient (MFSMC and MHH), and geriatric (MGSH and MHH). Some components of additional required rotations in forensics and addictions are provided by affiliates.

  • PGY-I Year

    The primary objective for the PGY-I year is the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and professionalism necessary to practice as a physician. This is a year in which a resident's professional identity shifts from student to physician. Clinical rotations in the PGY-I year provide a foundation of knowledge and skills in internal medicine, emergency medicine, and neurology, as well as a basic introduction to inpatient psychiatry.

    The IM rotation is an inpatient experience at MFSMC for 4 months. The Neurology rotation includes 1 month of inpatient and 1 month of outpatient experience at MFSMC. The Psychiatry rotation is 6 months of Adult inpatient experience at MFSMC.

    Supervision is at least 2 hours per week, one of those hours is one-on-one with the service unit faculty. Residents can also have a mentor in a specific area of interest.

  • PGY-II Year

    Residents become adept in adult inpatient care and get some additional experience in child inpatient for 1 month. There is 1 month of experience in the Psychiatric Emergency Department where residents collaborate with other staff to learn to assess risk and the need for admission vs. other levels of care. Residents are introduced to a variety of consultative and collaborative care settings including inpatient hospital-based CL, collaborative care with mobile treatment team in the community, and outpatient collaborative care as a selective. Training in collaborative and community care is a major strength of our program and prepares residents for the future of medical care. The mobile treatment experience is a unique and enriching experience that provides a first-hand perspective of lived experience of mental illness and our communities. Residents learn how to conduct family meetings for hospitalized patients that emphasize psychoeducation, relapse prevention, and the countering of stigma against psychiatric illness. Residents learn skills for supportive group therapy with inpatients and complete the first level of training in Brief Supportive Therapy and Motivational Interviewing through seminars, supervision, and psychotherapy cases. There is one month when residents are able to choose which rotation to take so they can create their own unique experience and learning portfolio.

    The Advanced Adult inpatient rotation is 2 months at MHH and includes an ECT experience. The CL rotation is 4 months and is split between MHH and MFSMC: 2 months of Inpatient Med/Surg CL at MFSMC and 1 month at MHH, and 1 month of outpatient collaborative care in a mobile treatment program at MFSMC. The Addiction Rotation is 2 months at MFSMC and includes Inpatient consults/SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) and Outpatient services. There is a 2-month inpatient Child and Adolescent inpatient rotation and 1 month of ED Psychiatry at MFSMC. There is also 1 month of selective rotation when residents can choose to take specialty CL or collaborative care, child, Day Hospital, or Forensics (if they plan to go to a C&A fellowship after the PG3 year).

    Supervision is at least 2 hours per week, one of those hours is one-on-one with the faculty on the service. Residents can also have a mentor in a specific area of interest.

  • PGY-III Year

    The PGY-III year is devoted to outpatient psychiatry. There is the opportunity for diverse clinical experience in rotations at MFSMC in Baltimore County and MHH in the heart of Baltimore City. They gain experience in both adult and child outpatient treatment and in addition to developing an expertise in pharmacologic treatments, residents also receive intensive education in psychotherapy. Residents gain competence in long-term supportive and psychodynamic psychotherapy as well as CBT through a sequence of seminars, weekly supervision with a supervisor, and psychotherapy case conferences. Residents have the opportunity to work in interdisciplinary teams in a range of community clinics and collaborative care clinics. Residents learn the practice of formal psychotherapies as well as the general concept of helping all patients within a humanistic approach. This means that there is an understanding and respect for patients’ choices. That we must strive to help our patients live their lives in a personally fulfilling manner while at the same time respecting their capacity to contribute to the world in a way that gives unique meaning in their lives.

    Residents present their QI-Community Project at the end of their PGY III year. If they leave for a Child Psychiatry Fellowship at the end of this year, they also complete their Academic Project.

    The Adult Outpatient Rotation spans 12 months for 75% time split between MHH and MFSMC. There is a co-occurring Child and Adolescent Outpatient rotation for 12 months at MFSMC for about 15% time. Finally, there is an outpatient Geriatric psychiatry experience at MGS for 5% time. 5% time is allocated as protective time for work on an academic project.

    Supervision over the 12 months includes 1 hour of supervision per week by the clinical site faculty, 1 hour per week of adult psychotherapy supervision, 1 hour per week of child psychiatry supervision, and 1 hour of group and couples/family therapy supervision split over the year.

  • PGY-IV Year

    All Residents in the PGY-IV year focus on their special career interests, continue supervised outpatient therapies, and have the opportunity to gain experience and leadership skills as Chief Residents. The PGY-IV year is broadly flexible to best facilitate each resident's career trajectory and interests.

    Supervision over the 12 months includes 1 hour of supervision per week by the clinical site faculty, 1 hour per week of adult psychotherapy supervision with a focus on dynamic therapy, 1 hour per week of meeting with mentors for the academic project, QI/community project, and psychotherapy case report.

  • Chief Resident

    All PGY4s are encouraged to take on the role of chief resident, though it is not mandatory. The chief resident position is one part of the PGY4 experience to help the resident transition from residency to attending as part of their learning in academic psychiatry and leadership. They will be able to choose between the 4 chief positions according to their learning preference and skills.

Click here to view clinical rotations block diagram

The following is a list of call responsibilities:

PGY-1s: On-call is 3 days/month during psychiatry rotations, typically every 10 days (for 4 months). This includes two short calls/month on weekdays from 5:00 pm-12:00 pm and one 24-hour call/month on weekends from 8 am-8 am.

PGY-2s: On-call is 1-2 days/month throughout the year. This varies depending on clinical rotation. During Adult and Child inpatient psychiatry months (3 months) there are two short calls/month on weekdays from 5 pm-12 pm. During CL/collaborative care months (5 months) there is one 12-hour call from 8 am-8 pm on weekends every 2 months (total 2-3). During Addictions months (2 months) there is one 24-hour call from 8 am to 8 am on a weekend.

PGY-3s: do not have any call obligations.

PGY-4s: do not have any call obligations.

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Additional graduation requirements

Population and Community Health/QI Project

Residents develop a QI project of their choosing. They have multiple choices for this including joining an existing QI project within the department, developing their own QI project, or working with the MedStar Population and Community Health on a community initiative. Residents can do this project individually or as a group.

Psychotherapy Case Presentation

Residents also complete a Psychodynamic Case Report with support from a mentor and present this in class. This is the culmination of their therapy training and offers an opportunity to analyze the whole picture of their work with a patient.

Research

Scholarly Project/Academic Project

Residents complete a scholarly activity before graduating. This may include discovery, integration, application, or teaching activities and is presented as a poster during the Resident Poster Day. Residents choose a topic of interest to them and are paired with a faculty member within MedStar to help guide them. There are several opportunities to learn about research and healthcare innovation at MedStar. This includes the MedStar Institute for Innovation with Dr. Mete, Neuroscience, and Schizophrenia research with Dr. Watkins, and the vast resources at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital Department of Psychiatry. Residents are also highly encouraged to present their project as a talk or poster at the APA.

Training locations

MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center

9000 Franklin Square Drive
Baltimore, MD 21237

 

MedStar Harbor Hospital

3001 South Hanover Street
Baltimore, MD 21225

Affiliate training sites

Other facilities may also be utilized during your psychiatry residency. These include:

Application information

How to apply.

Contact us

Further inquiries regarding the application process should be directed to psy.res.balt@medstar.net.