Georgetown University

(Note: Program is not currently accepting applications)

The Medstar Georgetown University Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship is a one year full time PGY 5 training program. The fellowship trains psychiatrists who have completed their general psychiatry residency and who wish to prepare for the specialty of forensic psychiatry. The goal of the program is to train competent, socially responsible, ethical practitioners of general and forensic psychiatry.

The program presents comprehensive didactic curricula covering the principles and foundations of forensic psychiatry in both law and science of human behavior. The program also emphasizes teaching of expertise in the performance of forensic evaluations. Skills include both the treatment of populations of mentally ill involved in the criminal justice system, people with addictive disorders in the legal system, and children with behavioral problems that interact with the legal system. Additionally, those skills associated with the legal system relating to the performing of evaluations, detection of malingering, writing of forensic reports, the presentation of those reports and effectively testifying in court are covered in the curricula. All of the clinical rotations have been chosen to provide a full learning experience in more specific skills, as well as in the core competencies for forensic psychiatry.

Fringe benefits include a fully paid trip to the annual meeting of AAPL and the board review course.

Louisiana State University – Shreveport

The program offers a wide range of didactic and clinical forensic experience for up to two forensic residents over a 12-month period. Forensic residents will experience the following at the assigned locations: Assessment of competency to stand trial, not guilty by reason of insanity, pre-sentencing and post-sentencing, and other essential forensic psychiatric evaluations and courtroom testimony through the First Judicial District Court in Shreveport and surrounding district courts; and training in Juvenile Forensic Psychiatry; assessment of post-traumatic stress disorder, intentional/negligent infliction of emotional distress, fitness for duty, disability, interdiction, and other areas of private litigation at the University Health Hospital and Clinics in Shreveport; correctional experience through the Caddo Correctional Center in Shreveport; training in developmental disability and state and federal standard of care requirements at the Pinecrest Supports and Services Center in Pineville. The fellows also participate in AAPL every October for their review course and added training.

University of California, San Diego, UCSD

RECENT CHANGE: The University of California-San Diego forensic fellowship is a new program and looking for candidates interested in sharing the launching. The final set-up of the program has changed and is still in negotiation. The portion of the program already confirmed will be structured as several one day or half day components while located at the sponsoring institution, University of California in San Diego. It is designed to pair with a state hospital rotation so as to result in a full well-rounded year. The fellow will spend time at Juvenile Forensics (San Diego County). There is a Navy rotation which will include treatment of female offenders in a brig, sex offender treatment groups and military forensic evaluations. The fellow will rotate on the UCSD medical center consult service to gain experience in competency regarding treatment, guardianship, involuntary hospitalization, forensic geriatric issues and neuropsychological testing in forensic matters. Pretrial criminal evaluations from court appointment or the Public Defender’s office will include the opportunity for the fellow to do reports and testimony, with the supervision of a senior forensic board certified member of UCSD faculty. There is provision for mentoring experience in the community with private practice forensic psychiatrists who do civil work. The fellow will be able to audit classes at the University of San Diego Law School.
The fellow will be given time to work on the required scholarly project. Didactics and seminars conducted with full range of criminal, civil, and legal regulation of psychiatry topics throughout the entire year. Some optional experiences may be arranged especially for the child-trained applicant.

Northwestern University

The one-year, full-time, ACGME-accredited Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program offers training in law and psychiatry and is designed to develop proficiency in all aspects of forensic psychiatric practice, including didactic study and supervised clinical experiences. The goal of the program is to enable forensic fellow(s) to understand and effectively interface with the legal system and to provide ethical, quality, and timely professional expert services in a wide variety of civil and criminal forensic evaluations. We aim to work with fellows to develop an area of special interest within forensic psychiatry during the fellowship year, and tailor the experience to the individual interests and career goals of each fellow. Unique features of our fellowship include that fellows participate in complex civil and criminal forensic cases in the faculty practice; fellows get frequent testimony experience in mental health court; we have a strong focus on child, adolescent, and parenting issues; fellows are able to apply for the Cavanaugh Fellow with research mentorship and funding from the Isaac Ray Research Program; current and former fellows and division faculty meet monthly for forensic journal club; our didactic curriculum is led by a JD with expertise in mental health law; and we have a large number of forensic psychiatrists and psychologists on faculty so fellows have the opportunity to learn from a diverse group of forensic experts.

Ohio State University, Fellowship in Forensic Psychiatry

The Ohio State University offers an ACGME approved fellowship in forensic psychiatry. In conjunction with Ohio’s only maximum security forensic hospital at Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare and the world renowned Nationwide Children’s Hospital, this fellowship offers specialized training in the intersection of psychiatry and the law. Fellows will have the unique opportunity to be involved in many different aspects of forensic patients’ assessment and evaluation. Fellows will aid in evaluation of defendants’ competency and sanity at the time of the act both in jail and hospital settings. Treatment opportunities will be available in the maximum security forensic unit as well as on an outpatient basis for mentally ill offenders who have worked their way through the hospital system. Juvenile evaluations will consist of both bind-over to adult court and recommendations to the court for treatment. Civil cases will include a mix of fitness for duty, disability, malpractice, and consults to other physicians on challenging patients. Additionally, there are opportunities for interested fellows to become involved in advocacy and policy matters at the state level through the Ohio Department of Mental Health also located in Columbus.

Saint Elizabeths Hospital, Department of Behavioral Health, Washington, DC

The Department of Behavioral Health-Saint Elizabeths Hospital forensic fellowship program (Fellowship Program) is a one-year ACGME-accredited program designed to train and foster the development of forensic psychiatrists with interests across the entire range of forensic scholarship. The program is based in Washington DC’s brand-new St. Elizabeths Hospital, one of the most historic forensic facilities in the nation, and offers an extensive array of forensic experiences along with a comprehensive didactic curriculum designed to prioritize the fellow’s educational experience.

The experiential component includes rotations within the Department of Behavioral Health – Saint Elizabeths Hospital itself, the Assessment Center (Child/Families), local court clinics, Unity Health Care/District of Columbia Correctional Facility, and exposure to experts in private forensic practice. During these experiences, fellows will gain experience conducting forensic inpatient assessment and treatment, monitoring long-term insanity acquittees, conducting child and adolescent forensic evaluations, performing inpatient and outpatient competency evaluations and civil commitment evaluations. Fellows will testify in court and gain experience in numerous pre- and post-adjudication interactions with the judicial system. Private cases will include malpractice litigation along with civil and criminal forensic assessment.

The faculty includes six forensic psychiatrists and four child/adolescent forensic psychiatrists who are committed to education and scholarship, and the career development of their fellows. Specific faculty interests include ethics, the regulation of Psychiatry, the insanity defense, outpatient commitment, violence risk, sovereign citizens, and physician health. Washington DC is a vibrant backdrop with political, cultural, and educational opportunities for early career professionals, families, or practitioners seeking to enhance the course of their careers.

Benefits include support for travel to the annual AAPL meeting and attendance at the AAPL forensic review course, as well as a $500 book allowance. H-1 B and J-1 visa sponsorship is available.

Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship

The fellowship will prepare the fellow to competently function at the interface of psychiatry and the law in both the civil and criminal arenas. Areas of focus include the performance of civil and criminal forensic psychiatry assessments, consultations to attorneys and agencies, testimony in deposition and trial, evaluation and treatment of mentally disordered juveniles and adults involved in a variety of legal settings such as sex offender programming, and consultations to other clinicians on psycholegal and ethical issues such as risk assessment and risk management.

The curriculum will provide in-depth multidisciplinary instruction in fundamental topics in criminal, mental health, and family law. The Mental Health Law Program will be taught in collaboration with the Saint Louis University School of Law, which has the top-rated health law program in the country according to U.S. News and World Report. The fellow will also be exposed to methods of trial advocacy and will learn to conduct legal research. There will be a year long seminar on landmark legal cases that have directed and shaped forensic psychiatry in the United States. The Clinical Forensic Psychiatry Seminar, a year long seminar, will address relevant topics in forensic psychiatry. Additionally, the fellow will gain academic experience by serving as assistant director of the forensic psychiatry seminar for the adult psychiatry residents and by completing a scholarly project on the topic of his or her choosing with resulting presentation or publication quality paper.

University of Texas Medical Branch

The University of Texas Medical Branch (Greater Galveston and Houston region) is seeking a Fellow in Forensic Psychiatry for the 2027-2028 (start date 7/1/27) academic year. This ACGME-accredited one-year fellowship is an exciting chance to gain subspecialty training in psychiatry and law. The position is open to candidates who will have completed general psychiatry residency by the start of fellowship. The fellowship is a comprehensive training program that incorporates academic, correctional, community, administrative, and governmental settings. UTMB offers a diverse range of clinical forensic experiences, a robust research program, and strong collaborations with NASA, the Texas state prison system, and the Harris County Jail. Fellows will have unique opportunities to become versed in aerospace psychiatry, medical leadership, and research in forensic and correctional psychiatry.

– Fellows rotate approximately two days per week on the UTMB Forensic Service, where they provide forensic evaluation and consultation to local courts and attorneys. Fellows should expect to complete approximately 20-25 competence to stand trial evaluations and 10-15 non-competency evaluations (insanity, sentencing mitigation, fitness for duty, asylum, guardianship, testamentary capacity, personal injury, malpractice, etc.) over the course of the year, testifying as needed.

– Fellows rotate one day per week in the Texas prison system, where they join medical leadership to evaluating, developing, and improving mental health policy and programming in the prison system. Notably, although fellows provide direct patient care in the correctional setting, a goal of the rotation is to develop administrative and leadership skills.

– Fellows rotate one day per week in Harris County Jail, where they provide jail-based competency restoration treatment and conduct competency and sanity evaluations.

– Fellows rotate full-time for one month at NASA Johnson Space Center (the site of mission control and astronaut training), where they join NASA’s prestigious Aerospace Medicine Clerkship. They tour NASA facilities, receive training about the science, medicine, and mental health considerations involved in human spaceflight, and are mentored by NASA aerospace forensic psychiatrists. Fellows also participate in fitness for duty assessments for NASA and the FAA. Additional experiences in aerospace and aviation are available as well.

– Fellows have didactic sessions totaling approximately one day per week, including lectures, case seminars, Landmark Cases, and group and individual supervision. Fellows prepare for and testify at mock trial. They attend the Forensic Board Review Course at the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Annual Meeting and may attend one other conference.

– Additional experiences and mentorship are available for child and adolescent psychiatrists.

Interested candidates should contact Rocksheng Zhong, Fellowship Training Director: [email protected], 409-266-5253.

Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Medical Center

FMC Butner provides a one-year Fellowship Program in Forensic Psychiatry. Varied experiences
are available throughout the fellowship year. The primary clinical site is FMC Butner. It is one of the five national referral centers used by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. As such, it provides a full range of evaluation and treatment services. Duke University is within a 20-minute drive and fellows have the opportunity to attend courses at Duke Law School, as well as seeing child/adolescent, and civil forensic cases through adjunct staff at Duke.

During the year, fellows will evaluate a wide variety of individuals involved in the legal system and have opportunities to testify in court. The fellows will have an opportunity to teach Duke residents who regularly rotate through our program.

During the fellowship, the fellow is expected to complete a scholarly project or participate in ongoing research. Didactic experiences are provided on a weekly basis. Topics covered include ethics, criminal and civil forensic psychiatry, child and adolescent issues, regulation and licensing of psychiatry, landmark legal cases, correctional psychiatry, and special issues.

The on-site staff includes six full time psychiatrists with board certifications that include forensic, child and general psychiatry. Five Ph.D. level psychologists work in a “Team” format with psychiatrists and lend their expertise to the program. Three attorneys are also on site.

The Program allows interaction with a wide range of other Federal agencies. Attendance at national meetings and field trips around forensic issues are integrated into the experience.

NYU Grossman School of Medicine Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship, Fellowship in Forensic Psychiatry

The NYU Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship is an ACGME-accredited one-year full time program designed to develop proficiency in the practice of forensic psychiatry, including evaluations, report writing, courtroom testimony, and treatment in correctional (carceral) settings.

The NYU Forensic Psychiatry Fellows participate in supervised forensic experiences in five principal rotations. These rotations include a court-based evaluation clinic, an acute jail psychiatric unit located in a general hospital, a jail facility, a forensic state hospital, and a court mandated outpatient treatment program. Fellows also have a part-time supervised rotation in a general forensic psychiatry private practice, which includes exposure to civil and child and adolescent evaluations.

The didactic core curriculum includes robust instruction on forensic evaluations, criminal law, civil law, mental health law, correctional psychiatry, child and adolescent forensic psychiatry, neuroscience in forensic psychiatry, and introduction to forensic research. This core curriculum is shared with the other New York City area forensic fellowship programs. An additional NYU-specific yearlong didactic experience includes seminars on ethics, the fundamentals of the law and legal system, administrative psychiatry, and addiction medicine. Furthermore, NYU forensic psychiatry fellows participate in a Mental Health Disability law class at NYU School of Law, multiple mock trial experiences, and scholarly projects with a goal of academic presentation or publication.

Please refer to the NYU website listed above for information about the application process and deadlines.