Psychiatry Training for Medical Students | NYU Langone Health

Skip to Main Content
Department of Psychiatry Education Psychiatry Training for Medical Students

Psychiatry Training for Medical Students

The Department of Psychiatry provides medical student education throughout all stages of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine curriculum, including in preclerkship module content, a core clinical psychiatry clerkship, extensive senior electives and Selectives, as well as early and longitudinal research opportunities.

The medical student education leadership team includes:

Molly Poag, MD
Director of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry
Molly.Poag@NYULangone.org

Mark Abroms, DO
Psychiatry Clerkship Director
Mark.Abroms@NYULangone.org

Bem Atim, MD
Associate Clerkship Director
Bem.Atim@NYULangone.org

Jeffrey Sanchez
Program Coordinator
Jeffrey.Sanchez@NYULangone.org

Our program’s primary mission is to enhance the psychiatric literacy of the next generation of physicians across all specialties. In recent years, we have seen extraordinary advances in the understanding of etiologies underlying psychiatric disorders, mechanisms of symptom production and treatments. For example, we now have an increasingly sophisticated appreciation for the ways in which the environment can alter gene expression and brain structure and mechanisms by which emotion impacts physical health.

In the preclerkship Brain & Behavior module, you acquire a basic understanding of core psychiatric illnesses, as well as the rapidly unfolding advances in this area of brain science. Our clinical psychiatry clerkship teaches you how to put this knowledge into practice. After completing your core psychiatry clerkship, you can pursue a variety of clinical and research topics in greater depth through an array of clinical electives and Selectives. Summer research opportunities (SROs), a 12-week scholarly concentration in psychiatry and a research year with a chosen lab and mentor, are also available.

Our department offers students access to world-class leaders in many areas of psychiatry, including: post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, addictions, attention deficit disorders, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, dementias, brain imaging and neuromodulation. You also have opportunities to work with national experts in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in areas such as trauma, imaging, attention deficit disorders, and anxiety disorders. Whatever your interests in psychiatry, we look forward to your studies with us.

Preclerkship Curriculum in Psychiatry

The Department of Psychiatry faculty teach extensively in the interdisciplinary preclerkship Brain & Behavior module in the first year of our MD program. Psychiatry residents also participate in this course, interviewing patients with small student groups, connecting the classroom to the clinic.

In the seven-week Brain & Behavior module the psychiatry content focuses on the neurobiology of psychopathology and psychiatric disorders, including associated emotional, behavioral and cognitive problems. The lectures also introduce psychiatric treatments, including psychopharmacology, evidence based psychotherapies, and other somatic treatments. Lectures are further enhanced by team based peer instruction activities to solidify the lecture material.

There are also supervised small group sessions on the psychiatry inpatient units, where you interview psychiatric patients—an exciting first exposure to patient care! In addition to making connections between lecture material and actual patients, these sessions help you develop clinical interviewing skills, learn to take a psychiatric history, conduct a mental status examination and understand the phenomenology of psychiatric disorders. These small group clinical activities take place on the clinical inpatient units of NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, NYU Langone’s Tisch Hospital, and the VA NY Harbor Healthcare System.

Core Clinical Clerkship in Psychiatry

The required psychiatry clerkship, under the leadership of Mark L. Abroms, DO, and Bem L. Atim, MD,  is a full-time, five-week experience with a primary role in the care and treatment of patients with psychiatric illness. You are assigned to a primary inpatient or consultation service at an NYU Langone inpatient location, Bellevue, or the VA NY Harbor Healthcare System. You have the opportunity to work on a general adult service or the adolescent service. In addition, you spend one half-day each week learning in a complimentary outpatient setting.

Under close supervision of psychiatry faculty and residents, you are given significant responsibility for the care of patients. You conduct initial psychiatric evaluations with attending faculty supervision, write notes, and follow patients through to discharge. We provide a series of didactics, case-based seminars and simulations throughout the rotation covering major clinical psychiatric disorders, substance use disorders, and more advanced psychopharmacology. You also learn to write comprehensive data-based case reports. During the clerkship, you touch back on the basic and clinical sciences related to your clinical work.

Examinations include a psychopharmacology exam, a clinical reasoning exam, an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), and the psychiatry subject examination of the National Board of Medical Examiners.

Core Clerkship On-Call Experience

As part of the five-week clinical clerkship in psychiatry, you have one on-call shift with the Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP) at Bellevue Hospital and one shift with the NYULH Psychiatry Consultation–Liaison Service.

You also take one call with the Children’s Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (C-CPEP) at Bellevue Hospital, a unique experience among medical student education programs nationally. One of the busiest psychiatric emergency services for children in the country, the C-CPEP offers an unparalleled setting for learning how to evaluate and manage psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents.

Electives in Psychiatry

After completing the core psychiatry clerkship, you are eligible to take one or more psychiatry electives. Electives are available with most of our department’s clinical services, including: consultation–liaison, addictions, forensics, acute inpatient, psychiatric emergency services, psychoanalytic medicine and select outpatient clinics.

There is also a psychiatric publishing elective with the author of Kaplan & Sadock's Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry.

A number of electives in child and adolescent psychiatry are offered separately through the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Specific elective descriptions are outlined in NYU Grossman School of Medicine's elective catalog.

Selectives in Psychiatry

We offer selective courses on topics including geriatric psychiatry, autism spectrum disorders, reproductive psychiatry, and child and adolescent psychiatry.

Research Opportunities in Psychiatry

Student research projects in Psychiatry foster student–faculty mentoring opportunities and enhance core competencies in preparation for residency training.

NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s C21 curriculum integrates early research experience during the first summer between preclerkship and clerkship years through a funded Summer Research Opportunities (SRO) program, augmented with weekly clinical exposure in the Departments of Psychiatry or Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, depending on the six-week research focus.

Following the core clerkship year, students may return to their SRO team and complete a 12-week scholarly concentration (Kerberos ID required), for a more longitudinal research experience with increased opportunities to present and publish their work.

Students who are considering a clinician-scientist career may elect to do a research year after core clerkships and prior to advanced clinical rotations required in their final year.

Research areas with internationally recognized psychiatry faculty include:

Research projects and proposals must demonstrate clear and attainable goals and lead to a worthwhile and high-quality scholarly product. Contact Molly E. Poag, MD, director of medical student education, to arrange a time to discuss potential interests or a specific project. Together you will identify mentors and refine your project.

Contact Us

For more information about medical student education, please contact Molly E. Poag, MD, director of medical student education in psychiatry, at Molly.Poag@NYULangone.org or Jeffrey Sanchez, program coordinator, at Jeffrey.Sanchez@NYULangone.org.

Thank you for printing content from NYU Langone Health. © 2024 NYU Grossman School of Medicine.