Medical University of South Carolina

The Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina is a 12-month accredited program that provides a diverse training experience in matters of psychiatry and the law. Our program is committed to educating fellows in forensic psychiatry and allowing them to cultivate their own individual interests while having support and guidance from our faculty, who have a wealth of expertise in the field.
Fellows have the opportunity to conduct a variety of criminal evaluations, including competency to stand trial evaluations and criminal responsibility evaluations for adult and juvenile populations. Additionally, fellows are exposed to a variety of civil forensic cases, including disability evaluations, fitness-for-duty evaluations, guardianship and conservatorship, parental fitness, child custody, gun rights restoration evaluations, and sexually violent predator evaluations.
Fellows also gain experience in the probate court serving as designated examiners for both mental health and chemical dependency judicial commitment hearings. They have the opportunity to provide consultative services for specific cases within the MUSC Department of Psychiatry, generally related to suicide and/or violence risk assessments for hospitalized patients. Clinical experiences occur primarily in the correctional setting, working with adults at the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) as well as youth at the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ).
Unique to MUSC, a fellow’s forensic training can be tailored to fit their personal interests. We also work closely with forensic psychologists and this interdisciplinary environment fosters a deeper understanding of the field. Forensic psychologists provide additional expertise on psychometric testing while also helping to supervise and teach the forensic psychiatry fellows. There is also a forensic psychology fellowship in our division and psychiatry and psychology fellows have specific opportunities to work and learn together.
Didactics include a weekly landmark case series and courses in the basics of law and psychiatry. Mock trials and office case conferences are utilized to prepare fellows to present testimony in court. As a part of the academic component of the program, fellows complete a quality improvement project under the direction of the program director. Fellows also present during grand rounds each year and this is historically one of the most popular talks in the department. Additional benefits include a funded trip to the Annual Meeting of AAPL as well as attendance at the Forensic Psychiatry Review Course. And of course, living in Charleston, South Carolina for the year is a special perk, with beaches, wonderful culinary experiences, and a variety of interests in our beautiful historic city. Please feel free to reach out to us directly with any questions!

University of Texas Health Science Center – San Antonio

The Department of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio offers a one year, full-time fellowship training program in Forensic Psychiatry. The program has major clinical rotations at the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital, Kerrville State Hospital, Bexar County District Court Clinic, Bexar County Juvenile Detention Center, and a private practice rotation for civil forensic cases with forensic psychiatry faculty in the community (adult and child cases). These rotations provide the fellow with a broad-based experience and supervision in criminal and civil forensic psychiatry.

The core didactic curriculum includes a landmark case seminar, case conferences, and lecture series on tort law; civil competency; risk assessment for suicide and violence; medical malpractice; criminal competency; criminal responsibility; sexual offenders; children and families; correctional psychiatry; occupational psychiatry; and administrative psychiatry. Experienced faculty provide extensive individual and group supervision.

Psychiatrists interested in the fellowship should go to the website listed above for information on applying to the program. Qualified candidates will be invited to San Antonio for an interview. Medical licensure in the state of Texas is required.

University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship

The Fellowship in Forensic Psychiatry is a full-time 12-month program that encompasses didactic and supervised clinical experiences on a Jackson Memorial Hospital county jail diversion and competency restoration psychiatry unit, in VA health law and justice outreach activities, and at the University of Miami School of Law Clinics. Opportunities abound for fellow participation in teaching psychiatry residents and medical students, and for conducting collaborative research. Resources for the fellowship program include Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami VA Medical Center, Miami-Dade County 11th Judicial Circuit Court, and forensic psychiatrists and attorneys affiliated with the University of Miami Department of Psychiatry and School of Law who will engage the fellow in apprenticeship and tutorial activities.

Requests for applications to the Fellowship Program in Forensic Psychiatry are accepted starting in July and should sent by email to Andrea Santo, Program Coordinator with an attached curriculum vitae ([email protected]). Additional information and personal interviews may be requested.

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.

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.

Saint Vincents Hospital/ New York Medical College

The St. Vincent’s Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program, located in the vibrant and diverse Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, was founded in July 1997 and offers the expertise of a broad-based faculty. As many faculty members of this fellowship program are child psychiatrists involved in substantial forensic activities, this residency uniquely provides in-depth exposure to child and adolescent forensic issues of abuse and neglect, juvenile delinquency, foster care, and custody evaluations.

The forensic fellows are fully integrated into the Department of Psychiatry and provide teaching to trainees at all levels and consultations to a wide variety of clinical services. One of the forensic fellow’s primary responsibilites is to evaluate forensic cases for assessment and adjudication in court, including providing expert testimony. Because the fellows will be expected to testify in various court settings, a New York State license is required. All activities are fully supervised by experienced forensic psychiatrists and attorneys.

The residents receive substantial exposure to criminal aspects of forensic psychiatry, both treatment-oriented and consultative, at the Supreme Court Clinic of the State of New York and at the New York City Department of Corrections on Riker’s Island. Both locations are accessible to the hospital and are supervised by forensic faculty.

A particular strength of the program is the close mentoring and guidance by the forensic faculty on their private cases. This aspect of the fellowship allows for the opportunity to observe varied approaches of psychiatrists in the private practice of forensic psychiatry. In addition, throughout the academic year, residents will join trainees from other New York City forensic programs at weekly didactic symposia conducted by faculty from other forensic programs on the New York City area.

University of Alabama

This program has been destroyed by loss of funding for the State of Alabama. It is not expected to reopen in less tha 5 years, if ever. It has not yet been officially closed, was ACGME accreditied through 2011, but will not be taking candidates.

University of Hawaii

The University of Hawaii forensic psychiatry residency program’s major goal is to train psychiatrists to become expert in conducting psychiatric evaluations for the legal system. Faculty includes four ABPN forensic-certified psychiatrists. It is a year-long program offering residents the opportunity of supervised experiences in a full range of facilities including Hawaii State Hospital, Oahu Community Correctional Center, Kalihi-Palama Mental Health Center, the Hawaii Family Court Mental Health Liaison Branch, and the UH Forensic Psychiatry Clinic, which provides forensic evaluation and testimony for the civil bar. There are opportunities for teaching and system consultation statewide, as well as elective coursework at UH Law School. There are special opportunities for integrating forensic and cultural psychiatry; the population served by the UH Department of Psychiatry is one of enormous ethnic diversity. Residents become certified as forensic examiners in the Hawaii court system, and, under supervision, conduct evaluations and provide testimony in a full range of felony and misdemeanor cases. Funding is provided to attend the annual meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, and the AAPL Review Course.