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.
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship
The forensic fellowship program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) was established and accredited in 2003. The program is housed in the heart of Little Rock, Arkansas within blocks of the state’s forensic hospital. The forensic inpatient service at the Arkansas State Hospital is an 80-bed, four-unit complex. It houses the entire inpatient forensic population of the state and serves as the primary base for the program. Fellows will also rotate at the Arkansas Department of Correction and the UAMS Department of Psychiatry Adult Outpatient Clinic.
The program faculty includes four Board certified forensic psychiatrists, one Board certified child and adolescent psychiatrist and one psychiatrist Board eligible in forensic psychiatry and child & adolescent psychiatry; as well as additional adult psychiatrists who are available to provide instruction and supervision when appropriate. An attorney with expertise in mental health law and several forensic psychologists and licensed social workers are also members of the teaching staff.
Fellows conduct forensic evaluations of both inpatients and outpatients concerning a wide variety of civil and criminal legal issues, including competency, criminal responsibility, suitability for conditional release, civil commitments, risk assessment, psychiatric disability, compensability under the state worker�s compensation laws, guardianship, and parental fitness. Fellows also work on the adolescent unit under the supervision of a child and adolescent psychiatrist where they perform above mentioned evaluations and gain experience with a state of the art sexual offenders unit. Fellows will also spend up to four hours per week responding to consults requested by general practitioners related to the legal regulation of psychiatric practice.
Didactics and seminars are provided to ensure that fellows are familiar with all aspects of forensic psychiatry and are prepared for the practice of forensic psychiatry. Fellows will also be required to complete a scholarly project under the supervision of a forensic faculty member. Fellows are required to acquire an Arkansas Medical License prior to beginning the fellowship.
Fringe benefits include travel support to the annual AAPL meeting and forensic review course.
University of Texas Medical Branch, Forensic and Community Psychiatry
Experience: The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at The University of Texas Medical Branch – Galveston offers a one-year, PGY 5, fellowship in forensic psychiatry. This is a full-time training program with experience in forensic evaluations and consultations, correctional psychiatry, exposure to a variety of forensic issues in both criminal and civil law, and selected areas of research. The fellow will participate in seminars on forensic and legal psychiatry, and take an active role in teaching residents and medical students.
Supervision: Supervisors and faculty members include adult and child forensic psychiatrists, an ethicist, attorneys, an expert in victimology, and a clinical psychologist with expertise in disorders of aggression and impulse control.
Required Reading:
1. Selected case and statutory laws for the State of Texas.
2. Selected case law of national impact.
3. Selected readings in forensic, legal and correctional psychiatry.
University of Texas Southwestern Medical School – Dallas
The UT Southwestern Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship offers a full-time, one-year comprehensive training program that integrates an extensive didactic curriculum with diverse forensic experiences. This program is meticulously designed to cultivate the necessary skills for an ethical and effective engagement with the legal system.
Rotation sites encompass the Terrell State Hospital Inpatient Forensic Service, the Special Needs Offender Program at Dallas Metrocare Services, the Dallas County Jail, the court clinic at the Frank Crowley County Court, and private practice rotations. Fellows will accrue experience in a supervised capacity, acting as consultants and expert witnesses for the Dallas County Criminal, Mental Illness Court, and mental health diversion courts. They will also be involved in examining and treating criminal offenders in both inpatient, jail and outpatient settings, which includes insanity acquittees and sex offenders, conducting court-ordered forensic evaluations, assessments of dangerousness, and civil assessments for involuntary mental health treatment and treatment over objections. The program offers abundant opportunities for consultation with attorneys and courts in Dallas County, courtroom testimony, and engagement with private practitioners in the community. The program’s diverse faculty, including fellowship-trained forensic psychiatrists and affiliated forensic psychologists, help nurture a supportive and rich learning experience.
The didactic curriculum is robust, featuring clinical case conferences, a year-long forensic psychiatry core curriculum course covering all essential topics in the theory and practice of both criminal and civil forensic psychiatry, a landmark case series, research and scholarship seminars that delve into the theoretical and practical aspects of mental health law, and the cultural, societal, and ethical impacts on legal and psychiatric practices. Additionally, fellows participate in a legal seminar to acquaint themselves with new legal precedents from pertinent state and federal court cases.
Louisiana State University Human Sciences Center New Orleans
The 12-month, ACGME-accredited program offers a wide range of educational experiences in forensic psychiatry. Across various clinical and correctional settings, the fellow is trained by board-certified forensic psychiatrists and legal experts in the relevant technical competencies, cutting-edge scientific and legal knowledge, and ethical standards of the subspecialty.
Rotations and sites include judicial commitment evaluations and testimony through the University Medical Center, clinical treatment via telemedicine of individuals incarcerated in state-wide correctional facilities, inpatient forensic psychiatric services for patients requiring long-term treatment at Northlake SE Louisiana Hospital, criminal and civil assessments in a private court clinic setting, juvenile court clinic at the Metropolitan Human Services District of Greater New Orleans, and an experience with a local private forensic psychologist.
The competencies acquired during the training include assessment of various criminal and civil competencies, not guilty by reason of insanity examinations, training in Juvenile Forensic Psychiatry, assessment of post-traumatic stress disorder, intentional/negligent infliction of emotional distress, violence risk assessments, and management of potentially violent patients, sex offender assessment, fitness for duty, disability, interdiction, and other areas of private litigation, training in developmental disability, and assessment of state and federal standard of care requirements.
The program’s faculty is comprised of board-certified psychiatrists, forensic psychologists and attorneys. They teach, together with expert guest lecturers, the fellow in weekly seminars on core topics, landmark cases, clinical cases, and legal digest as well as research seminars. The fellow is encouraged to participate in the monthly inter-fellowship journal club with his peers from the other fellowship programs, and will present at the departmental Grand Rounds. Furthermore, funding is provided for travel, lodging, and meal expenses in order to provide the fellow the opportunity to attend the annual AAPL board review course and conference.
University of Virginia, Department of Psychiatric Medicine
Program description
The program offers clinical experience, a variety of interdisciplinary training seminars, and research experience in the areas of criminal, civil, administrative, and correctional psychiatry. Clinical training takes place at 3 primary sites: The University of Virginia Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy (ILPPP) Outpatient Forensic Clinic; the Western State Hospital inpatient forensic unit; and the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women. Residents also receive extensive specialized training through courses at the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy. These courses include a week-long training program on how to perform criminal forensic assessments as well as advanced one to three day training programs on risk assessment for violence, capital sentencing evaluations, sexual offender evaluations, and forensic assessment of juveniles. Residents also audit courses at the University of Virginia School of Law. Residents attend a weekly multidisciplinary case conference. Residents also engage in a supervised, empirical research project. Travel and lodging to attend the AAPL Forensic Psychiatry Review Course also is provided.