Seventh Annual Research Day - Monday, June 4, 2007
Rationale and Development
Among the
many challenges facing 21st-century medicine is the need
to train psychiatrists who will undertake basic and
clinical research careers in psychiatry. Western
Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC) and the
Department of Psychiatry have created a specialized
residency research track that offers a wide range of
opportunities for clinical and basic neuroscience
research experiences. The track is available to
residents in both the four-year general and the
five-year combined general and child psychiatry
residency programs. Residents gain expertise in the
etiology of mental disorders, clinical treatment trials,
service delivery systems, and research methodology by
participating in WPIC's broad-based training approach,
in which clinical care, research, and education are
offered in an integrated context. The coordinated
program gives the research track resident both the
theoretical knowledge and the practical clinical and
research training that are necessary for a successful
research career in academic psychiatry.
WPIC offers
very considerable resources for research and education
and is richly endowed with investigators examining core
questions in psychiatry through the windows of molecular
biology, genetics, cellular and systems neuroscience,
neuropharmacology, genetic epidemiology, behavioral
pharmacology, psychosocial studies, services research,
and law and psychiatry. An extensive clinical
therapeutics program, which includes both
pharmacological and psychosocial treatments for a
variety of psychiatric disorders, provides opportunities
to study direct applications of research results. With
more than 100 full-time faculty who are principal
investigators on research grants, the department offers
unique opportunities for teaching and mentorship. In
addition to individual research programs, the department
houses several federally funded centers: the Alzheimer
Disease Research Center (NIA), Pittsburgh Adolescent
Alcohol Research Center (NIAAA/NIDA), Center for
Education and Drug Abuse Research (NIDA), the
Obesity/Nutrition Research Center (NIDDKD), Mental
Health Intervention Research Center for Mood and Anxiety
Disorders (NIMH), Conte Center for the Neuroscience of
Mental Disorders, the Advanced Center for Interventions
and Services Research for Late Life Mood Disorders (NIMH)
Pittsburgh Mind/Body Center/Understanding Shared
Psychobiological Pathways (NHLBI), Affect Regulation and
Adolescent Brain Center (NIMH), Advanced Center for
Interventions and Services Research for Early Onset Mood
and Anxiety Disorder (NIMH) and Center for Suicide
Prevention: A Lifespan Approach. Research residents
have the opportunity to interact with postdoctoral
fellows in more than a dozen postgraduate research
training programs associated with the department.
Residents may go on to
a postdoctoral research
fellowship on completion of their residency training.
The
research track is designed for residents who intend to
pursue a research career after graduation from the
residency program. Residents may express interest in the
research track at any point during their training, but
do not formally apply to the track until the end of
their second year. Upon acceptance into the program,
residents will be given protected research elective
time, allowing an in-depth research training experience.
Training includes working with a senior investigator /
mentor on a research project as well as didactic
lectures and journal clubs. All research track
residents meet twice-monthly with the research track
director, Dr. Charles Reynolds III, the research track
chief resident, and invited research faculty. These
meetings concentrate on successful use of your mentor,
research design, conduct of pilot studies, preparation
of manuscripts for review, research survival skills,
balancing life and work, and application for NIH loan
forgiveness programs.
Many
other residents for whom research may be an important
but less central component of their post-residency
career will choose to participate in research
opportunities outside the research track. These
residents will allocate less time to research to
accommodate other experiences important to their planned
career.
The
research residency track diverges from the traditional
residency in the third year. The service requirements
for the twelve-month PGY3 outpatient psychiatry service
are reduced in a manner to allow significant portions of
time to pursue research. For residents in both four-year
adult psychiatry and five-year combined programs, a
majority of the final year of training may be used for
research. RTRs primarily interested in laboratory
research can select from a wide range of approved
research assignments. RTRs primarily interested in
clinical research choose mentors working in one of
WPIC's clinical research centers. The focus here shifts
from learning the role of an interdisciplinary team
leader in primary patient care to learning the role of a
research project leader and developing scientific
thinking skills as applied to clinical research.
The research track is flexible
enough to accommodate alternative training options with
proper planning.
At the end
of the residency training, many research track residents
will go on to a research post-doctoral training program
either in our department or elsewhere. We have funded
post-doctoral training programs in child, adult, and
geriatric psychiatry, behavioral medicine, and
psychiatric epidemiology. Within our department, one
can follow a research career progression arc from the
research track while a resident, to an NIH-funded
research post doc position, to successful receipt of an
NIH individual career development award and faculty
status. Our success rate for residents following this
progression is extremely high -- be sure to ask us more
about others who have done this before you.
Continued development of the residency Research Track (RT)
The Research Track continues to develop as
a unique prospective research training program for residents,
and remains one of only three programs nationwide which
served as model examples in the recent IOM report on
training future generations of psychiatry researchers.
It includes
(1) a system
for matching the residents with productive
scientific mentors with the assistance of faculty
leaders ("meta-mentoring"),
(2) a formal
application process with rigorous review of residents'
background and research proposals by RT faculty and
residency training director,
(3) clear
minimal requirements focusing on "high-yield"
time-limited projects such as secondary data analyses
and reviews leading to first-author publications during
the residency,
(4) rich,
supportive learning environment provided by bi-weekly RT
resident meetings,
(5)
protected time to pursue research projects and attend
scheduled activities.
Over
the 2004-2005 academic year, improvements implemented by
RT faculty director Dr. Charles Reynolds and then RT
chief resident James Tew included
(1) mandatory presentations of senior residents'
research projects, which are critiqued by peers under
the direction of a senior faculty member,
(2)
practical, case-based workshops on biostatistics,
reference software, grant and manuscript writing,
(3)
increased monitoring of RT meeting attendance, WPIC
Research Day participation and feedback on residents'
performance,
(4)
dissemination of the University of Pittsburgh RT
experience through presentations at annual meetings of
the American Psychiatric Association and the American
Association of Directors of Psychiatry Residency
Training as well as the preparation of an
article1, published in
Academic Psychiatry.
Currently,
seven residents are enrolled in the RT, and eight
candidates have formally expressed their interest in
applying. We are also encouraging applications to the RT
from first-year fellows in Child Psychiatry.
List of RT residents 2007-2008:
Laila Contractor
Rasim Diler
Avinash Hosanagar
Matthew Keener
Han-Chun Liang
Keith Stowell
David Volk
List of RT candidates (residents who have formally
expressed their interest in applying):
David Benhayon
Gil Citro
Ryan Herringa
Julie Kmiec
Michael
Marcsisin
Michelle
Primeau
Adam Tripp
Natalie Velasquez
Further
information may be obtained by contacting:
David Volk, MD, PhD
Research Track Chief Resident
Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic
University of Pittsburgh
3811 O'Hara Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Email: volkdw@upmc.edu
1Gilbert
AR, Tew JD Jr, Reynolds CF 3rd, et al., A
Developmental Model for Enhancing Research Training
During Psychiatry Residency.
Acad Psychiatry.
2006; 30: 55-62
Seventh Annual Research Day - Monday, June 4, 2007
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