Emory University

The fellowship program includes a wide variety of clinical experiences. Fellows conduct inpatient and outpatient evaluations of criminal defendants, provide psychiatric treatment for jail inmates, and evaluate outpatient sex offenders. In addition, the program runs an innovative in-jail competency restoration unit in the local jail. For civil work, fellows conduct asylum, disability, and fitness for duty evaluations at the Emory outpatient services. Civil work also includes participation in personal injury and malpractice cases with faculty. For fellows who have completed child psychiatry training, participation in a wide range of forensic child activities is available.

There are ongoing didactic seminars at the various sites, and fellows can sit in on courses at the Emory Law School with the approval of the professor. The program has a strong academic orientation, and fellows participate in research projects and in the teaching of other professionals. In addition to the training of fellows, the program’s mission includes the development of public policy, research, and continuing forensic education of mental health professionals in the state. The program has important affiliations with several departments of state government, and experiences in the development of public policy in forensic psychiatry are available.

Fringe benefits include travel support to the annual AAPL meeting and forensic review course.
The program accepts the common application developed by AAPL for forensic training programs (see top paragraphs at https://aapl.org/fellowship). In addition, applicants should submit documentation of citizenship/ visa status (copy of one of (a) main page of US passport, (b) US birth certificate, (c) green card, or (d) visa).

*minimum salary for a PGY-5 for academic year 2025-26.

Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship

Atrium Health’s 1-year Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship program equips psychiatrists to practice at the intersection of psychiatry and the law. We emphasize translating forensic psychiatric expertise into community psychiatric care by offering clinical consultation, education and training in general psychiatric settings and providing consultations to legal professionals. Fellows work with an underserved forensic psychiatric inpatient population at Broughton Hospital, conducting competence to stand trial evaluations and restoration services. They also perform these evaluations and competency restoration treatment in an outpatient community-based program at Atrium Health Behavioral Health Charlotte, using both in-person and telepsychiatry evaluations. Our experienced faculty, consisting of board-certified forensic psychiatrists, engage in teaching, presenting and writing, offering exposure to a wide range of civil and criminal cases, including issues like sanity, diminished capacity, psychiatric malpractice, guardianship, fitness for duty and risk assessments. We provide comprehensive didactics and hands-on experiences to prepare fellows for national board examinations and successful careers in forensic psychiatry.

USC – Institute of Psychiatry, Law and Behavioral Science

Founded by Seymour Pollack in 1975, the forensic psychiatry fellowship at USC/LA General was one of the first programs of its kind.
Our ACGME-accredited, full-time, one-year fellowship program is comprised of lectures, seminars, first-hand experience, and expert supervision from psychiatrists board-certified in forensic psychiatry, as well as forensic psychologists. Fellows are directly involved with hospitals, county jails, juvenile justice agencies, dependency courts, the Los Angeles County Mental Health Court – and other agencies in which mental health and the law are intertwined. Additionally, forensic psychiatry fellows have numerous opportunities to serve as expert witnesses, analyze cases, prepare reports, and deliver testimony, all while benefiting from close supervision and guidance from experienced faculty members. Fellows work closely with faculty on multiple scholarly projects, including presentations and submissions for national professional meetings and publications.
Comprehensive didactic courses include lessons in a variety of areas including:

• Biological, psychological, and sociological determinants of crime and delinquency
• Civil law
• Criminal law
• Family law
• Federal criminal law
• Juvenile & Dependency law
• Mental health law
• Correctional psychiatry
• Biases applicable to forensic assessments
• Landmark mental health cases (including all AAPL-specified cases)

Additional benefits include health/dental insurance, malpractice insurance, meal reimbursement, parking, initial bonus, educational stipend, 24 days of vacation, and 8 paid sick days.

University of South Florida

The University of South Florida Psychiatry Fellowship provides a wide-gamut of training in multiple areas of forensic psychiatry, including both the civil and criminal arenas. The program is designed for fellows to excel in various components of being an expert, including evaluation, consultation, report preparation, and testimony. A major strength of the program is direct supervision regularly with the program director and teaching faculty.

Fellows in this program rotate at a variety of sites, including expert consultation at the Veteran’s Court through the James A. Haley VA, inpatient clinical care on a competency restoration unit at Gracepoint hospital, and outpatient clinical care of individual’s in the correctional system through a public defender’s office. Time is also specifically allotted for fellows to participate in their own independent criminal evaluations and prepare parallel cases for civil evaluations with the program director.

Both the landmark case series and didactic seminars are specifically tailored not only to meet the ACGME requirements for training in forensic psychiatry, but also to provide the building blocks for a fellow to succeed as a forensic psychiatrist. The faculty associated with this fellowship include multiple board-certified forensic psychiatrists, psychologists, and attorneys. Many of the faculty that teach in the fellowship have national reputations in various areas, including competence to stand trial, addictions and the law, and child forensic psychiatry.

One burgeoning area of forensic psychiatry is the practice of using standardized instruments in evaluations. Fellows in this program are trained in the use and interpretation of a multitude of instruments, including those used in risk assessment, competence to stand trial, and detection of malingering. The fellows benefit from the presence of multiple psychologists who teach these instruments throughout the year and fellows practice their use during evaluations and under supervision.

Applicants are encouraged to apply once applications are available in May. Interviews will take place from July through October of the recruitment year.

Columbia/New York State Psychiatric Institute Research Fellowship in Forensic Psychiatry

The Columbia/New York State Psychiatric Institute Research Fellowship in Forensic Psychiatry was established by the New York State Office of Mental Health to encourage the development of forensic psychiatrists with research skills. The fellowship program is individualized to the skills and interests of each fellow. In general, fellows will be expected to undertake coursework in statistics, research design, grantsmanship, and mental health law, including courses at Columbia Law School. They will have access to the didactic program of the Division of Law, Ethics and Psychiatry, and the Public Sector Psychiatry Fellowship. A primary activity of the fellowship year will involved the design and conduct of a research project under the supervision of Dr. Appelbaum, and depending on the focus, other faculty at Columbia/NYSPI and personnel at the NYS Office of Mental Health.
Appropriate applicants may have completed a forensic fellowship or be intending to pursue one after the fellowship; candidates further along in their careers will also be considered.

Tulane University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Program description

The Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship at Tulane University School of Medicine offers a comprehensive and diverse range of experiences in Forensic Neuropsychiatry. Our fellows spend time at East Louisiana State Mental Health System (ELMHS) in Jackson, Louisiana, the Orleans Justice Center (OJC), New Orleans Criminal Court, the Forensic Aftercare Clinic, a private custody clinic based in New Orleans, and with various members of our faculty doing private cases which can include civil, criminal, and juvenile issues. We have one of the largest forensic psychiatry faculties in the country with more than 18 members including four faculty members who are fellowship-trained with added qualifications in both forensic and child and adolescent psychiatry.

Fellows gain further criminal forensic experience (e.g., criminal responsibility and aid-in-sentencing evaluations) at the Orleans Criminal Court, where they gain much experience in courtroom testimony. Fellows also perform a full range of civil forensic evaluations (e.g., malpractice, disability, and child custody evaluations) and receive training in report-writing, testifying for court and depositions, and interacting with the legal system.

In addition to the above clinical rotations, we have a comprehensive didactic series which covers all topics to successfully pass forensics boards. A Landmark case seminar is also conducted weekly with faculty members and psychology fellows. Fellows participate in a Journal Club and write a case review for Legal Digest with faculty supervision.

Expenses for the AAPL Review Course and Annual Meeting are provided for the fellows. Three textbooks are provided at the beginning of the academic year.

University of California, Los Angeles

The UCLA forensic psychiatry fellowship program emphasizes educational value over service and will prepare fellows not only for forensic practice but also to become leaders in academic and organizational forensic psychiatry. Fellows will become proficient in the roles of expert witness, forensic consultant in and out of the courtroom, informed advocate for public policies that affect the regulation and practice of psychiatry and forensic psychiatry.

UCLA has unusual breadth to our high quality faculty (including four past AAPL Presidents) many of whom have national and international reputations and have been involved in high profile cases. There will be an emphasis on learning how to do strong forensic assessments, reports, and testimony. There will be seminars on all aspects of forensic psychiatry including a special forensic ethics curriculum that will equip fellows with frameworks to resolve ethics dilemmas in the field. Additionally, the fellows have a Landmark Case Seminar in a consortium with Hastings Law School and UCSF Forensic Psychiatry. They have special forensic case seminars with faculty that delve deeply into criminal and civil cases.

The forensic fellows receive their clinical training in a wide variety of forensic settings. These rotations include the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH), the Greater Los Angeles (GLA) VA Healthcare System, the Los Angeles County Superior Court Expert Witness Panel, the Sonoma County Court, as well as being supervised by faculty on private criminal and civil forensic cases. Forensic fellows will have unique opportunities to work at UCLA Law School

During their LA County DMH rotation, fellows learn unique approaches to treating special correctional patient populations in the Men’s Reintegration Clinic, to liaising with judges, attorneys, and other stakeholders in the LA County Mental Health Court, to opining on Felony Mental Health Diversion and other special forensic evaluations (including juvenile) for the County. At the VA, fellows perform psychiatric disability evaluations for service connected disabilities. As members of the GLA VA Disruptive Behavior and Ethics Committee, fellows learn and perform specialized violence risk and ethics assessments that the implement in their consultative role. Fellows virtually perform competency to stand trial evaluations for Sonoma County where they have opportunities to testify including for Sell Hearings. The fellowship is on the Los Angeles County Superior Court Approved Panel of Expert Witness Psychiatrists and perform criminal forensic evaluations on issues of insanity defense, diminished responsibility, sentencing considerations, diversion, among other.

Fellows will be guided in completing scholarly project(s) with a faculty member mentor. The aim is to produce one or more presentations for national professional meetings and/or publications. Fellows receive guidance on how to teach residents on forensic topics in addition to instruction on how to effectively present forensic material to various audiences (e.g., other psychiatrists, legal professionals, laypersons).

Fellows receive a $2,000 educational stipend towards the AAPL annual meeting and board review course; they are encouraged to attend other professional meetings with protected time when they are presenting or play a role in the organization. All fellows receive the Rosner and Scott Principles and Practice of Forensic Psychiatry textbook.

Saint Louis University

The program is designed to prepare fellows to competently perform both civil and criminal case work. Areas of focus on learning to conduct civil and criminal forensic psychiatric assessments, consult with attorneys/agencies, and present deposition/trial testimony. Fellows are also taught to write well-organized, concise forensic reports that clearly convey their opinions.

In addition to conducting forensic evaluations and writing reports, fellows also rotate at a variety of sites including the Saint Louis County Jail (clinical care), VA (independent medical evaluations), and Missouri DMH (clinical care associated with competency restoration program and sexual offender unit). Each rotation is specifically designed to offer an experience that contributes toward development as a forensic psychiatrist.

The didactics broadly cover the field of forensic psychiatry. There is a year-long seminar covering landmark legal cases that have directed and shaped forensic psychiatry in the United States. Fellows also learn to conduct pertinent psychological testing pertaining to competency evaluations, malingering assessments, violence risk assessment instruments, and sexual offender assessment instruments. Our group of forensic psychologists also administer a year-long seminar designed to increase each fellow’s knowledge of statistics and comfort with additional psychological testing that may be encountered during case work, such as the MMPI.

During the year, each fellow will also be guided in completing a scholarly project or projects. The aim is to produce one or more presentations and/or publications. Extensive time will be spent teaching the fellows how to effectively present material to large groups.

We strongly encourage applicants to apply as soon as possible. Feel free to contact either Dr. Newman or Ms. Ehrenreich directly to express interest in the program.

University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)

The UCSF fellowship program in Psychiatry and the Law offers rigorous training in civil, criminal, clinical, and consultative forensic psychiatry. The core faculty includes three board certified psychiatrists including a forensic child and adolescent psychiatrist. Affiliated faculty members include a Board Certified (ABPP) neuropsychologist, another board certified forensic psychiatrist with expertise in the evaluation of sex offenders, psychiatrists with special expertise in correctional psychiatry and faculty of the UC Hastings School of Law. The Psychiatry and the Law Program is accredited by the ACGME.

Seminars include a Landmark Case Review and extensive didactics, case conferences, and a Forensic Research Seminar. Additionally, fellows attend courses relevant to forensic psychiatry at the UC Hastings School of Law.

Fellows participate in a wide variety of civil and criminal forensic evaluations with intensive faculty supervision. These include psychic injury, medical malpractice, psychological autopsy, family court issues, and juvenile and adult criminal court referrals. Fellows participate in clinical rotations at San Quentin Prison and the Veterans Hospital and clinics. Consultative experiences to health professionals, employers, and professional organizations exist as well. The program provides comprehensive supervision on forensic report writing and training in court testimony in both civil and criminal settings. There are elective opportunities, depending on the interests of the fellows.

During the fellowship year, fellows are expected to make a scholarly contribution by participating in a forensic research project or by undertaking a review of the legal and/or psychiatric literature. Fellows will receive direct research supervision from faculty members. Research interests of faculty include violence risk assessment, civil commitment, and criminalization of the mentally ill.

University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Program in Forensic Psychiatry

The University of Colorado at Anschutz School of Medicine offers a one-year, full-time fellowship training program in forensic psychiatry. We have 4 fellowship positions each year. The University of Colorado at Anschutz Forensic Psychiatry Services and Training Program partners with the Colorado Office of Civil and Forensic Mental Health (CO-OCFMH) and the Colorado Department of Corrections (CO DOC) in offering a 1-year fellowship program that exposes fellows to various criminal justice evaluations (sanity, competency, NGRI release evaluations) and clinical experience in the treatment of incarcerated patients. Fellowship faculty include academic and clinical faculty in the Department of Psychiatry, in the Behavioral Health Program at Denver Health Medical Center, forensic experts from CO-OCFMH, CO DOC, private forensic practitioners, and faculty from Denver University’s Forensic Services and Training program. Dr. Martinez specializes in ethics in forensic psychiatry, issues in criminal forensic psychiatry including neonaticide and infanticide and is involved in setting standards for forensic report writing and testimony. Dr Adi, the associate director, specializes in evaluations of refugees and trauma victims seeking asylum. Dr. Jeff Metzner, associate director, is an international expert in correctional psychiatry. In addition, the program has several faculty members with expertise in child/adolescent and forensic psychiatry, forensic psychology and testing, and a professor of law from the Sturm School of Law at University of Denver. https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/psychiatry/education/psychresfellowships/forensic
https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/psychiatry/community/new-forensic-psychiatry-services

The program is designed to familiarize fellows with all aspects of forensic psychiatry, and to prepare them for forensic practice in forensic and correctional settings, teaching, research and system consultation, and/or academic careers. Topics covered through didactic seminars and supervised practical experience include procedures for forensic evaluations, report writing, relevant research and phenomenological literature, landmark mental health cases, treatment of patients in correctional and forensic settings, system consultation around forensic issues, collaboration with other professionals (law enforcement, correctional, etc.), the evaluation of foreign victims of torture, fitness for duty examinations, IMEs, and ethical issues involved in forensic practice. Didactic seminars are taught in interdisciplinary structure with forensic psychology fellows from Denver University and Colorado Mental Health Hospital -Pueblo (CMHH-P). All Fellows rotate at the CMHH-Pueblo, the state forensic facility in Pueblo, CO, and rotate on an in-jail restoration unit, Restoring Individuals Safely and Effectively (RISE), providing restoration services for those adjudicated incompetent to proceed. The program seeks to balance experiences that involve both the treatment and management of patients within correctional and forensic settings, while learning the skills of doing expert evaluations and reports involving both the criminal and civil justice systems.

Fellows are provided the opportunity to observe experienced forensic professionals performing evaluations, preparing reports, and testifying in civil and criminal cases. They then have direct, supervised experience in performing forensic evaluations in those areas, preparing reports, and testifying in court. Mock trial experiences are conducted in coordination with DU Sturm School of Law. Fellows are encouraged to conduct research in forensic areas. The program strives to organize the fellowship experience around each Fellows area of interest. We have trained numerous Fellows with backgrounds in child/adolescent psychiatry. For fellows interested in teaching, there are numerous opportunities to supervise PGYII and PGYIII general psychiatry residents and medical students.

Fellowships are funded at a PGY-5 level. 2025-26 Annual Stipend for PGY-5 $92,282.46 plus benefits.

Salary includes funding to attend the annual meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (including enrollment in the Forensic Psychiatry Review Course) and a second trip to the APA annual meeting or an alternative chosen by the fellow.

We accept application materials through ERAS starting July 2, 2025. Interviews begin July 16 – October 3rd. We also participate in the NRMP MATCH and MATCH Day will be October 22.