Why Choose the UH Psychiatry Residency Program
Here are just a few reasons why we’re excited to be a part of the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center Psychiatry Residency Program and why you should be, too.
Our Psychiatry Residents
We are a friendly and supportive group of residents. Our resident special interest groups foster camaraderie, scholarly productivity and mentorship. Our program emphasizes wellness in our didactics, an experiential elective and through our Resident Life and Wellness Committee. We also offer a generous and flexible time away policy.
Our Psychiatry Residency Program Faculty
Our core, on-site faculty of psychiatrists and psychologists represent a wide variety of clinical expertise and are readily available for electives, supervision and teaching. Across the board, they are enthusiastic supervisors, mentors and teachers.
Comprehensive Psychiatry Fellowships
We have all five AGCME-approved fellowships - so our residents are taught by experts in their fields from day one. Our fellowships include Forensic Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Addiction Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine, Public and Community Psychiatry, Women’s Mental Health, College Mental Health, and Research.
Variety of Clinical Sites
We are able to train at a wide variety of clinical locations including community mental health centers, a state hospital, college mental health clinics and intellectual disabilities. Our residents are exposed to a broad range of mental health systems which makes for excellent diversity in patients and provides rich education in overcoming negative social determinants of health.
Our Psychiatry Didactics
We have a comprehensive educational program with protected educational time.
Dedicated Psychotherapy Clinic
Our trainees are able to see long-term and short-term psychotherapy patients in our resident therapy clinic (in person at Walker or via telepsychiatry). This can start as early as second semester of PGY2 year. All trainees have at least two supervisors for this clinic. Our didactic sessions are also designed to enhance and support your development as a therapist. Some residents also elect to do a one-year psychodynamic psychotherapy program at the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center. A few trainees have even stared analytic training while still in residency training!
Psychiatry Leadership and Teaching Opportunities
Our senior residents have many chief roles available to them, tailored to their professional and personal interests and skills. Each resident also has the opportunity to hone their teaching skills through teaching medical students and residents in other specialties. For those who are interested in a career in academic psychiatry, we offer a Leadership in Medical Education Track.
Psychiatry Curriculum Flexibility
Our curriculum allows for six weeks of electives in PGY-2 year, continuing electives in PGY-3 year and nearly all of PGY-4 year is electives. Our residents may choose from any of our established electives, or they may choose a mentor and design their own.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are some unique opportunities at UH?
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- Close relationships with faculty
- Wide variety of clinical sites (main UH hospital, community hospitals, VA, children’s hospital, state psychiatric hospital, community mental health centers)
- Variety of exciting elective opportunities and lots of individualization in schedules: college mental health, women’s mental health, transitional age youth, intellectual disabilities…
- One of the only medical psychiatric units in Ohio
- Leadership in Medical Education Track
- Ability to undertake additional training at the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center
- Strong forensics department
- What are the biggest strengths of the program?
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From a clinical perspective, the psychiatry program at University Hospitals offers robust exposure to community psychiatry and severe mental illness in the context of an academic medical center. UH has partnerships with many community mental health centers and offers a Community Psychiatry Fellowship that residents can participate in during their 4th year of residency.
Another great strength is the program’s emphasis on wellness and work-life balance. Residents here expect to have a life outside of the hospital. In addition to bi-annual wellness retreats, residents often get together to explore the many activities that Cleveland has to offer.
- What do you like to do in your free time?
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Cleveland Metro Parks, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, The Flats, the museums (art, Rock and Roll Hall of fame, natural history, Museum of Modern Art, Great Lakes Science Center), Playhouse Square, Progressive Field, Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, lots of great restaurants, seasonal and cultural festivals.
- Do you feel like residency leadership is supportive?
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Our program is very open to resident feedback and suggestions for ongoing improvements to our residency. Examples of changes suggested by residents include 2nd year nightfloat, caps on daily admits, and changes to didactic structure. Our program directors are always approachable, ready to act as a sounding board to bounce ideas off of. We have monthly didactic time set aside for check-ins with program directors and chief residents (in addition to monthly all-resident meetings and chairman breakfast) to allow for residents to bring up any concerns and to get to know the leadership.
~Anna Blazejowskyj, MD, PGY4 - Does the program prepare you for the real world?
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The most valuable resource that my residency provided me was the opportunity to train at a wide-array of clinically-diverse settings, with access to many mentors. Each one held unique perspectives on patient care. I gained valuable clinical experience with the appropriate level of supervision at each phase of my training. The opportunity to moonlight (while still being a resident) furthered my clinical confidence to make the transition from a resident to an early career psychiatrist.
~Aaron Vazquez, MD, MBA, Alumnus