Program Curriculum

Clinical activities include experience working collaboratively with physicians and care teams in a variety of settings including: adult and child psychiatry inpatient services, pediatric services, neurology services, inpatient and outpatient internal medicine, emergency and acute care settings, psychiatry consultation-liaison services, psychiatric evaluation team for transplant services, correctional and forensic psychiatry, interventional psychiatry, and the outpatient mental health clinic. Interdisciplinary collaboration with peers is encouraged throughout CPMC with residents and fellows from other services, as well as with post-doctoral psychology fellows and Dartmouth medical students on a number of our clinical services.

PGY1

PGY-1 residents spend two months on Inpatient Adult Internal Medicine at CPMC’s Van Ness Campus, one month of Emergency Medicine at the Van Ness Campus, and a one-month selective at either San Francisco Free Clinic or Benioff Children’s Hospital. They also have two months of Neurology (in a variety of inpatient and outpatient settings) and six months of Inpatient Psychiatry.

PGY2

The focus of the PGY-2 year is acute care psychiatry, with rotations on the Consult-Liaison service and in the Emergency Room of various CPMC campuses. This offers exposure to a diverse array of clinical scenarios in settings ranging from community hospital to urban tertiary care center. Also included in the PGY-2 year are two months of Inpatient Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at St Mary’s Hospital, scholarly projects (Journal Club, QI project, M+M conference), and three months of Inpatient Psychiatry.

PGY3

PGY-3 residents focus on outpatient psychiatry, including adult, child and adolescent experiences. There is extensive training in psychotherapy based on psychopharmacology, psychodynamic psychotherapy, CBT, and brief treatments. In addition to seeing patients at the main CPMC-Davies clinic, residents also spend time working in outpatient child psychiatry (primarily at the CPMC Child Development Center) as well as the Child and Adolescent Consultation Liaison Service. One day a week, PGY-3 residents spend the day working with mentors in specialty settings such as correctional and forensic psychiatry, interventional psychiatry, and collaborative care. These rotations take place at San Quentin State Prison, Mindful Health Solutions, and the CPMC Mission Bernal Women’s Mental Health Clinic.

PGY4

PGY-4 residents continue their outpatient work and have the opportunity to hone specific skills of interest as they prepare for their post-residency careers. There is opportunity for administrative and leadership development through chief residency, and by representing the program at professional meetings. There is also time for electives, which are tailored to individual interests. In the past, residents have pursued additional psychotherapy training through the prestigious San Francisco Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program, worked on legal cases with Chair Emeritus and renowned Forensic Psychiatry expert Dr Alan Newman, received training in Electroconvulsive Therapy at Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley, pursued additional Geriatric Psychiatry training at The San Francisco Jewish Home, and worked in transgender mental health at Healthright 360's Lyon-Martin Clinic.