Didactic Curriculum

A diverse, comprehensive curriculum occurs throughout a resident’s four years of training. Residents will have one full day of protected time every Tuesday for participation in scheduled didactics. This includes when residents are off service on internal medicine and neurology. While rotating on internal medicine and neurology, residents will attend didactics at those sites when offered as well.

Residents receive instruction in psychopathology, psychopharmacology, various psychotherapies and community and forensic psychiatry. Residents also participate in lectures on substance abuse, child and adolescent and geriatric psychiatry. During this period, residents will also attend a research seminar and learn to design their own research projects. Residents also participate in seminars focusing on neuropsychiatry, ethics,  journal club and departmental grand rounds, often given by nationally recognized speakers.

The psychopathology didactic is taught weekly as a movie club known as Reverent Understanding of the Macabre (REDRUM). Initiated and run by Dr. Anthony Tobia, the didactic is an innovative approach that uses film to teach the etiology, clinical characteristics, course, and formulation of a broad range of mental illness affecting adults. Popular culture is often used as a medium to teach psychiatry at our residency program, and many residents go on to present at national conferences every year.

The Advanced Psychopharmacology course is taught weekly and provides residents with evidence-based information on medications and related areas (pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, pharmacogenetics, pharmacoeconomics, etc.). In addition, residents are expected to present on specialized topics of their choice within psychopharmacology. This creates an opportunity for residents to analyze evidence on their own while also fostering presentation skills. Through this course, residents will learn to choose the treatment options that best suits the personal characteristics of each individual patient.

List of Seminars: