Emory Psychiatry

[residency120]

Hey everyone. I have been reading these forums for a while and thought that I could provide some helpful information regarding the Emory Psychiatry department, and why it is a top psychiatry program.

Mark Hyman Rapaport, MD is the Chairman of Psychiatry. He is the Editor in Chief of APA's FOCUS journal, which is one of the main journals for helping psychiatrists maintain their knowledge. FOCUS also publishes the top review books for maintaining psychiatry certifications.

Helen Mayberg, MD is a Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology and is a leader in Deep Brain Stimulation, and is someone who is often interviewed by major news outlets such as CNN. She is on the frontier of innovation and state of the art research.

Frank Brown, MD is on faculty, and just served his term as the American College of Psychiatry's President.

Emory has the Fuqua Center and Treatment Resistant Depression Program. They provide high volume treatment with ECT, TMS, and ketamine. The partial hospitalization program is also very intensive, which provides high quality psychotherapy to help keep patients from being rehospitalized. William McDonald, MD is a professor at Emory and is a big name in psychiatry. He leads the geriatric psychiatry review course at the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry's annual meeting.

The geriatric psychiatry program is certainly a top tier fellowship. The neurology and geriatric psychiatry departments share the same floor in the Emory clinic, which allows for frequent consultation and collaboration between the two. This can shared knowledge helps enhance psychiatry residents/fellows understanding of tremors, gait distrubances, parkinsonian symptoms, Huntington's disease and so on.

Adriana Hermida, MD is the geriatric psychiatry program director and presents with Petrides and Kellner on a national level regarding the latest updates in ECT practice. She is known to be very supportive to her trainees.

The Forensic Psychiatry program is a top program in the country. The program director Peter Ash, MD was recently the AAPL President and is a big name. He is known to be very supportive of his fellows and has an incredible breadth of knowledge. The expert witness for the recent high profile Hemy Neuman case was Joseph Browning, MD who teaches in the forensic psychiatry program.

The faculty and trainees have often engaged in research projects with other big name programs such as Johns Hopkins and McLean.

But most importantly the staff is known for being incredibly supportive in career building and inclusive for those who are wanting to be involved in research activities. For those interested in more of a research focused career also have the opportunity of making contacts at the CDC, which is also located in Atlanta.

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Members don't see this ad.

 

[Shikima]

Umm ok, it has big names.

How does this equate to teaching residents so they understand the finer touches that books cannot relate?

 

[sazerac]

I knew Emory Psych was a top program because they never invited me for an interview.

Matter of fact, neither did their medical school :-/

 

[675015]

Umm ok, it has big names.

How does this equate to teaching residents so they understand the finer touches that books cannot relate?

Everyone knows a teacher is only as good as his or her academic reputation. And everyone knows department chairs usually provide the best clinical education.

 

[residency120]

That is a really great question, Shikima.
The professors provide guidance throughout your clinical experiences, and go through appropriate differential diagnoses, based on symptoms elicited through the comprehensive history taking. You work closely with psychologists and have the opportunity to learn from the faculty in the psychoanalytical institute.
There is a mini ECT fellowship at Emory that trainees from across the US attend. Emory does about 180 ECT treatments per month. If you are on the ECT rotation, you are directly involved in the treatments with the psychiatrist, achieving competencies that are often hard to find in a program.
You get one on one mentoring throughout your clinical rotations with your supervisor, so you can discuss various complex cases and learn about the best evidence based treatment.
Whether you are rotating on Wesley Woods or Grady, you engage in frequent, in-depth conversations about your patients with attendings, while also having a healthy degree of independence so that you can clinically mature as a trainee.
For cases that are rare, faculty will support you to present the case at a conference or to a journal.
One thing that is very important is that the faculty emphasizes rapport building and education of the psychiatric condition with the patient and their families. Listening and working together with the patient is key. This ties in really well with emphasizing the biopsychosocial model, and is very important for the overall wellbeing of the patient.

 

[NontradCA]

That is a really great question, Shikima.
The professors provide guidance throughout your clinical experiences, and go through appropriate differential diagnoses, based on symptoms elicited through the comprehensive history taking. You work closely with psychologists and have the opportunity to learn from the faculty in the psychoanalytical institute.
There is a mini ECT fellowship at Emory that trainees from across the US attend. Emory does about 180 ECT treatments per month. If you are on the ECT rotation, you are directly involved in the treatments with the psychiatrist, achieving competencies that are often hard to find in a program.
You get one on one mentoring throughout your clinical rotations with your supervisor, so you can discuss various complex cases and learn about the best evidence based treatment.
Whether you are rotating on Wesley Woods or Grady, you engage in frequent, in-depth conversations about your patients with attendings, while also having a healthy degree of independence so that you can clinically mature as a trainee.
For cases that are rare, faculty will support you to present the case at a conference or to a journal.
One thing that is very important is that the faculty emphasizes rapport building and education of the psychiatric condition with the patient and their families. Listening and working together with the patient is key. This ties in really well with emphasizing the biopsychosocial model, and is very important for the overall wellbeing of the patient.

What are the financing options? %APR?

 

[SmallBird]

That is a really great question, Shikima.
The professors provide guidance throughout your clinical experiences, and go through appropriate differential diagnoses, based on symptoms elicited through the comprehensive history taking. You work closely with psychologists and have the opportunity to learn from the faculty in the psychoanalytical institute.
There is a mini ECT fellowship at Emory that trainees from across the US attend. Emory does about 180 ECT treatments per month. If you are on the ECT rotation, you are directly involved in the treatments with the psychiatrist, achieving competencies that are often hard to find in a program.
You get one on one mentoring throughout your clinical rotations with your supervisor, so you can discuss various complex cases and learn about the best evidence based treatment.
Whether you are rotating on Wesley Woods or Grady, you engage in frequent, in-depth conversations about your patients with attendings, while also having a healthy degree of independence so that you can clinically mature as a trainee.
For cases that are rare, faculty will support you to present the case at a conference or to a journal.
One thing that is very important is that the faculty emphasizes rapport building and education of the psychiatric condition with the patient and their families. Listening and working together with the patient is key. This ties in really well with emphasizing the biopsychosocial model, and is very important for the overall wellbeing of the patient.

I'm not sure why the reactions to your post have been mixed at best - this is really helpful info for applicants!

 

[SmallBird]

Umm ok, it has big names.

How does this equate to teaching residents so they understand the finer touches that books cannot relate?

It may not do that but it may afford other academic opportunities that some folks will value. You are more likely to get pulled into doing review articles, book chapters and the like if there are lots of big names around. A significant number of career paths will benefit from these experiences, beyond their intrinsic value.

 

[clausewitz2]

I'm not sure why the reactions to your post have been mixed at best - this is really helpful info for applicants!

Because the OP is barfing forth promotional materials that reek with a certain kind of academic mindset that believes academic lineage is the only thing that truly matters?

 

[Merovinge]

I'm not sure why the reactions to your post have been mixed at best - this is really helpful info for applicants!

You aren't sure why posts that read like a promotional pamphlet has generated mixed results? You could make up posts like this about the top 50 programs in the country without much difficulty as pure propaganda, I don't think it would be terribly helpful to applicants.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

That is a really great question, Shikima.
The professors provide guidance throughout your clinical experiences, and go through appropriate differential diagnoses, based on symptoms elicited through the comprehensive history taking. You work closely with psychologists and have the opportunity to learn from the faculty in the psychoanalytical institute.
There is a mini ECT fellowship at Emory that trainees from across the US attend. Emory does about 180 ECT treatments per month. If you are on the ECT rotation, you are directly involved in the treatments with the psychiatrist, achieving competencies that are often hard to find in a program.
You get one on one mentoring throughout your clinical rotations with your supervisor, so you can discuss various complex cases and learn about the best evidence based treatment.
Whether you are rotating on Wesley Woods or Grady, you engage in frequent, in-depth conversations about your patients with attendings, while also having a healthy degree of independence so that you can clinically mature as a trainee.
For cases that are rare, faculty will support you to present the case at a conference or to a journal.
One thing that is very important is that the faculty emphasizes rapport building and education of the psychiatric condition with the patient and their families. Listening and working together with the patient is key. This ties in really well with emphasizing the biopsychosocial model, and is very important for the overall wellbeing of the patient.

I would hope that the majority of this* would be equally true at 95% of residency programs in this country.
It is certainly what we strive for.

*(Agreed, most programs probably do not have a "mini ECT fellowship", per se--but you will get adequate ECT exposure in most teaching hospitals, usually with the expectation of the same direct, full involvement with the attending(s). )

 

[notamindreader]

Hey everyone. I have been reading these forums for a while and thought that I could provide some helpful information regarding the Emory Psychiatry department, and why it is a top psychiatry program.

Mark Hyman Rapaport, MD is the Chairman of Psychiatry. He is the Editor in Chief of APA's FOCUS journal, which is one of the main journals for helping psychiatrists maintain their knowledge. FOCUS also publishes the top review books for maintaining psychiatry certifications.

Helen Mayberg, MD is a Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology and is a leader in Deep Brain Stimulation, and is someone who is often interviewed by major news outlets such as CNN. She is on the frontier of innovation and state of the art research.

Frank Brown, MD is on faculty, and just served his term as the American College of Psychiatry's President.

Emory has the Fuqua Center and Treatment Resistant Depression Program. They provide high volume treatment with ECT, TMS, and ketamine. The partial hospitalization program is also very intensive, which provides high quality psychotherapy to help keep patients from being rehospitalized. William McDonald, MD is a professor at Emory and is a big name in psychiatry. He leads the geriatric psychiatry review course at the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry's annual meeting.

The geriatric psychiatry program is certainly a top tier fellowship. The neurology and geriatric psychiatry departments share the same floor in the Emory clinic, which allows for frequent consultation and collaboration between the two. This can shared knowledge helps enhance psychiatry residents/fellows understanding of tremors, gait distrubances, parkinsonian symptoms, Huntington's disease and so on.

Adriana Hermida, MD is the geriatric psychiatry program director and presents with Petrides and Kellner on a national level regarding the latest updates in ECT practice. She is known to be very supportive to her trainees.

The Forensic Psychiatry program is a top program in the country. The program director Peter Ash, MD was recently the AAPL President and is a big name. He is known to be very supportive of his fellows and has an incredible breadth of knowledge. The expert witness for the recent high profile Hemy Neuman case was Joseph Browning, MD who teaches in the forensic psychiatry program.

The faculty and trainees have often engaged in research projects with other big name programs such as Johns Hopkins and McLean.

But most importantly the staff is known for being incredibly supportive in career building and inclusive for those who are wanting to be involved in research activities. For those interested in more of a research focused career also have the opportunity of making contacts at the CDC, which is also located in Atlanta.

This is all certainly a strength of Emory, no question about it. But an important weakness that stayed with me during my interview there was the fact that the residents were generally tired because of the emphasis of service over education. From the people I talked to, they felt that they were unable to read about their cases on a daily basis, and because of the higher volume of patients, they generally favored medication management over therapy. There's nothing inherently wrong with this, but I was seeking the opportunity to work deeply with patients in a psychotherapeutic capacity and not learn primarily med management cases. Yes, there is an integrated analytic institute, but from what I gathered, it is not available for training residents each year and depends on what cycle of training they are in. (Edit: An important thing to note. This was not the best program for me for the reasons I mentioned above, but it does offer some exceptional opportunities for those interested in academics, research, or diverse clinical experiences (VA, County, Private Hospital). All within the Atlanta area which is a solid city at a much more reasonable cost as compared to say NYC, Boston or SF.)

 

[residency120]

This is all certainly a strength of Emory, no question about it. But an important weakness that stayed with me during my interview there was the fact that the residents were generally tired because of the emphasis of service over education. From the people I talked to, they felt that they were unable to read about their cases on a daily basis, and because of the higher volume of patients, they generally favored medication management over therapy. There's nothing inherently wrong with this, but I was seeking the opportunity to work deeply and effectively with patients and not solely learn about how to churn through med management cases. Yes, there is an integrated analytic institute, but from what I gathered, it is not available for training residents each year and depends on what cycle of training they are in. Amazing pre-interview dinner though!

Perhaps certain applicants would prefer to go to a program where the volume is low, if that is the case, Emory may not be the right match. The case mix, however, is phenomenal, you practically get to see everything. The goal of training is to become equipped to handle the real world by yourself. If a program can also give you the right connections in the psychiatry community, plus teach you about research, that is an added bonus. There is certainly lots of time to do therapy in the outpatient clinic, and it is very much emphasized. Whether you intend to do the psychoanalytic institute training or not, you can easily consult with the faculty who run it to get advice.

 

[SmallBird]

Because the OP is barfing forth promotional materials that reek with a certain kind of academic mindset that believes academic lineage is the only thing that truly matters?

Sure, maybe its a bit biased but as someone with an interest in academics, I appreciate hearing about who the prominent faculty are, and the residents experience of their accessibility. I don't construe this info as some kind of argument that academic pedigree is the be all and end all of residency training - and it would be great if people constructively posted their own views about what is important to residency training. Personally, I'd love to hear this type of information about other programs too and we won't get it if we criticize the posters.

 

[Armadillos]

The general understanding from applicants and residents at assorted programs seems to be that Emory residents are beat down, overworked and specifically at Grady poorly supervised. Emory is obviously a very good program, but it's going to take more than a SDN post to break the "prevailing wisdom" (whether its true or not).

 

[FlowRate]

*(Agreed, most programs probably do not have a "mini ECT fellowship", per se--but you will get adequate ECT exposure in most teaching hospitals, usually with the expectation of the same direct, full involvement with the attending(s). )

I'd imagine my program could say that we have a "mini ECT fellowship" and that's because there's the option of doing however-many number of ECT days with the ECT guy at one of the hospitals and it leads to some sort of certification in ECT. I wonder if things are similar at Emory...

 

[Armadillos]

I'd imagine my program could say that we have a "mini ECT fellowship" and that's because there's the option of doing however-many number of ECT days with the ECT guy at one of the hospitals and it leads to some sort of certification in ECT. I wonder if things are similar at Emory...

This is how it is at my program, we can choose to do more ECT and they will write a letter for hospital credentialing/other purposes that we did X number of supervised ECT cases. I was doing ECT as early as internship because I expressed interest.

 

[clausewitz2]

This is how it is at my program, we can choose to do more ECT and they will write a letter for hospital credentialing/other purposes that we did X number of supervised ECT cases. I was doing ECT as early as internship because I expressed interest.

I think we are gussying up out ever popular ECT elective with some rTMS now because we have an "Interventional Psychiatry Center" or some such, but same in our shop. Some speculation that this also may end up including some ketamine infusions, though less solid at present.

 

[residency120]

The general understanding from applicants and residents at assorted programs seems to be that Emory residents are beat down, overworked and specifically at Grady poorly supervised. Emory is obviously a very good program, but it's going to take more than a SDN post to break the "prevailing wisdom" (whether its true or not).

This has been a rumor that was started many years ago. Grady is one of the gems of the program, and has changed a lot over the years. It is very well supervised and residents are provided a vast amount of mentorship and experiences there. It really has integrated well with Emory. What you describe tends to be feelings that interns across the country feel. If you take a visit to Grady, you can be assured that you will not be seeing "beat down" residents, most will explain how they are happy to have had the opportunity to rotate there.

 

[clausewitz2]

This has been a rumor that was started many years ago. Grady is one of the gems of the program, and has changed a lot over the years. It is very well supervised and residents are provided a vast amount of mentorship and experiences there. It really has integrated well with Emory. What you describe tends to be feelings that interns across the country feel. If you take a visit to Grady, you can be assured that you will not be seeing "beat down" residents, most will explain how they are happy to have had the opportunity to rotate there.

I was quite enamored of Grady in many respects (I am a psychosis guy at the end of the day) but have to second what others have said about my general impression of the crazy workload of Emory residents, with special honor due to the "home call" that I was told required you to come in >60% of the time without much in the way of days off afterwards. I am at a place that is certainly not at all shy about working us, but that smacks a bit too much for service-for-service's sake for my taste.

 

[Armadillos]

This has been a rumor that was started many years ago. Grady is one of the gems of the program, and has changed a lot over the years. It is very well supervised and residents are provided a vast amount of mentorship and experiences there. It really has integrated well with Emory. What you describe tends to be feelings that interns across the country feel. If you take a visit to Grady, you can be assured that you will not be seeing "beat down" residents, most will explain how they are happy to have had the opportunity to rotate there.

It is true that old rumors take awhile to die, but based on what I'm hearing from Medstudents the last couple years, Emory residents still seem very tired and burned out compared to other places they interview. Whether this is true or not, it's a very common impression on the part of applicants.

 

[FlowRate]

I was quite enamored of Grady in many respects (I am a psychosis guy at the end of the day) but have to second what others have said about my general impression of the crazy workload of Emory residents, with special honor due to the "home call" that I was told required you to come in >60% of the time without much in the way of days off afterwards. I am at a place that is certainly not at all shy about working us, but that smacks a bit too much for service-for-service's sake for my taste.

That was also a specific detractor for me, as well. Supposedly they were in the process of "fixing" that, but I don't remember what that was supposed to entail.

 

[amoeboid]

.

 

[Armadillos]

Also have to wonder about the timing of this post, If I were a newly matched Emory intern the neurotic side of me would be worried they were disappointed in me. The more altruistic and hopeful side of me is believing its a eager soon to be chief resident stepping into their recruiting role or something of that nature.

 

[residency120]

Also have to wonder about the timing of this post, If I were a newly matched Emory intern the neurotic side of me would be worried they were disappointed in me. The more altruistic and hopeful side of me is believing its a eager soon to be chief resident stepping into their recruiting role or something of that nature.

I would not read into it that much, but can definitely see the psychoanalytical thinking in you. This post is simply a contribution of information to SDN.

 

[grapefruit17]

Are you on faculty, or are you a current resident?

 

[dna3]

I'm also an Emory resident and can't say enough positive things about the program. Training is excellent at all the sites, and you get freedom to carve out your own niche with extensive elective time. We do see a lot of patients, however not to the extent that I don't have time to read about my patients. Residents carry 6 inpatients both 1st and 2nd year, which I feel is pretty standard.

There are some misconceptions on here about the program, which may have been true in the past but are no longer so.
-Residents used to be more autonomous on grady psych, but this has changed in the past several years. A lot more rounding and supervision occurs nowadays.
-home call is only for 4mo, and you get to leave in the AM the next day
-overall I feel that people are happy to be here and come out as excellent psychiatrists

 

[Doc1401]

I have met so many people that talk highly about the Emory psychiatry training programs. My program director says it is "creme de la creme" for psychiatry and neuro. My friend just told me the university is now sponsoring Lyft drives for tired trainees so that they do not have to drive home on their own.

 

[medhead1990]

So to those who are currently in the emory program. What would you say your average weekly hours are each year respectively?

 

[psychresanon]

Current pgy-2 in psych here - Home call does NOT allow you to leave early in the AM the next day. You take home call for 6 months, 24 hr call for 4 months, and no call for 2 months while on Grady Consults. For the 4 months of 24 hour call, you are on inpatient psych at the VA for 2 months, addiction for 1 month, and an elective for 1 month. Expect to take around twenty 24 hour calls during those 4 months. VA call sucks - you have an attending that you can contact over the phone, but half the time they don't answer. Grady consults are awesome because you don't work any of the weekends and take no call.

During the other six months where you take home call, you are on inpatient psych at Wesley woods (Emory) for 2 months, Emory consults for 2 months, geri for one month, and child/elective for one month. Home call is an average of q7 and you will take around 26 calls total during the six months. Typically, you will have a few admissions every time you're on home call and of the 26 home calls I took, I went in for around 75% of them for one reason or another. You only get a post call day if you have 2 admissions after 1 am. I was never given a post call day.

Second year here is rough compared to other programs. We all feel overworked and carry around 10 patients while on inpatient psych. With notes and everything, expect to arrive at work around 8 am, leave at 5 pm, and finish notes until 8pm. While I took 24-hr call at the VA for four months, my hours averaged around 60-75 a week. Grady consults was around 45-50 hours a week. Geri was around 50-60 hrs a week, etc. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

 

[Shufflin]

Guys it's doesn't matter where you go.

What kind of doctor you are - reliable, hard working, patient-centered, enjoyable to work with, willing to pick up slack, on top of things, punctual, and an easiness about you - will mean the world after graduation.

Remember that your reputation will precede you. I was surprised at how all the psychiatrists in the hospitals in my county knew each other and the private psychiatrists too, and could talk about their reputations and personalities with detail, sometimes not so favorably.

 

[Merovinge]

Guys it's doesn't matter where you go.

What kind of doctor you are - reliable, hard working, patient-centered, enjoyable to work with, willing to pick up slack, on top of things, punctual, and an easiness about you - will mean the world after graduation.

Remember that your reputation will precede you. I was surprised at how all the psychiatrists in the hospitals in my county knew each other and the private psychiatrists too, and could talk about their reputations and personalities with detail, sometimes not so favorably.

This was absolutely astonishing to me as well, even being in a large city, people all seem to have relatively accurate opinions about most residents who are looking to stay in the area. The academic center's deciding who they wanted to offer jobs to proactively was highly correlated to how good the resident is. Even private places clearly went after different people, even at different salary, based on reputation.

 

[Doc1401]

Emory psychiatry graduate and faculty member:
Patrice A. Harris, MD, wins office of AMA president-elect
Patrice A. Harris, MD, wins office of AMA president-elect

 

[DisorderedDoc417]

I'd imagine my program could say that we have a "mini ECT fellowship" and that's because there's the option of doing however-many number of ECT days with the ECT guy at one of the hospitals and it leads to some sort of certification in ECT. I wonder if things are similar at Emory...

We have in-house ECT five days a week. I could help with 30 of them a week throughout all 4 years of residency if I felt it necessary.