Southeast Psychiatry Residency Programs

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J ROD

J ROD

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I was hoping I might could get some input on programs that might be good that are less well known in the Southeast. Most know the big names like UNC, Duke, Vandy, Emory, MUSC.

I am looking for programs in VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, TN, KY.............

Still thinking about Texas.......maybe West Virginia. Thanks.
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Take a look at UVa. It's a solid program in Charlottesville which has been rated one of the highest quality of life places in the US by plenty of publications (see http://www.charlottesville.org/index.aspx?page=158). I went to medical school there and loved the biking, camping/hiking Shenandoah national park, having access to shows at John Paul Jones arena, DC is a short (2h) drive, Virginia Beach is just a few hours away, etc. It has four seasons but the winters are milder than you get in the northeast. And the cost of living there is not bad at all. As for the program itself my experience as a medical student were uniformly excellent, and residents seemed happy to me.
 
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J DUB said:
I was hoping I might could get some input on programs that might be good that are less well known in the Southeast. Most know the big names like UNC, Duke, Vandy, Emory, MUSC.

I am looking for programs in VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, TN, KY.............

Still thinking about Texas.......maybe West Virginia. Thanks.
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I liked USF but have no interest in geri. Unless you have a strong interest in Geri, FL may not be the state for you
 
I interviewed at Vandy, and while the university and medical school itself is obviously prestigious, I wasn't particularly impressed with the program. Even accounting for location and personal factors, it still would've ended up on the bottom half of my list.

Beyond that I don't really have much input. My wife nixed the entire SE when we were coming up with the list of programs to apply to.
 
clausewitz2 said:
I have heard several people in the know remark that Vandy is an up-and-coming program and always will be.
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Vanderbilt is a great program, probably as good in terms of clinical training as Duke or Emory... better in some respects. Stephan Heckers is a superstar in psychiatry and has recruited bright, young faculty from MGH, Columbia, and the like. And he wants to breed academic physicians. The training is top notch, and the Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital is gorgeous. I interviewed at most of the major programs in the southeast, and this was my favorite. I ended up ranking Vandy #2, though I indeed matched at my #1.

And for other programs, consider University of Florida. Even though Dr. Gold retired as chair, he built up one of the stronger programs in the Southeast- obviously he is known for addiction and UF offers some of the best clinical training in addiction, but they are also strong in interventional psychiatry (have one of the top DBS surgeons in the country). They have a free standing psych hospital that basically serves north central florida, the University is constantly building new buildings, etc.
 
If your looking for the southeast and don't need a prestigious undergrad name like Duke/Emory, then MUSC seems like the obvious choice.

Now if your looking for something super laid back, USC-Palmetto has almost no equal except somewhere like San Mateo
 
Have you considered VCU? Richmond is a very livable and affordable city, and the program seems great - very nice people, a young enthusiastic PD, faculty interested in teaching, broad and diverse training, lots of options for moonlighting and specialization.
 
Amygdarya said:
Have you considered VCU? Richmond is a very livable and affordable city, and the program seems great - very nice people, a young enthusiastic PD, faculty interested in teaching, broad and diverse training, lots of options for moonlighting and specialization.
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Out of curiosity since I live in the area, how does it compare to EVMS?
 
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Sorry, I don't know anything about EVMS (I'm only a med student, and not even in that region). But I got a very good impression from VCU Psych when I visited it recently for a summer program, so I decided to mention it here. The residency program is DO and IMG friendly (no USMLE requirement for DOs). I'm actually surprised it's not more competitive that it is (not that I have anything against DOs or IMGs, it's just that programs that have mostly US MD grads are considered more competitive). It's also apparently family friendly.
 
I wanna bump this and hopefully get some more entries as applications wrap up.
 
Vandy was "up and coming" when I interviewed there 20 years ago. I felt that many programs at universities with big names wanted to depend on the name alone to justify a lackluster program or terrible work conditions. I HIGHLY recommend forgetting about the prestige of a name and going with a program that fits you. If looking in the South, you are limited a lot (helps narrow down choices). Look at how happy the residents and faculty you will directly work with are. Ignore the staff they may stick you with in interviews who really have no hands on time in your training (big researchers and dept head). You may see them for 1-2 lectures and never again. Look at the size of the program, call schedule, call difficulty, location of hospitals you'll cover, and the city you will live in.

MUSC, UNC, UK and UVA are some lesser known ones that scored high on all I listed when I interviewed. I thought Duke, Emory and Vandy looked terrible for me.

As I was told in med school, "You can get a great education at bottom tier program and a terrible education at a top tier program. It all depends on what you are willing to work for while there."
 
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If you're into research, Emory. They were quite full of themselves when I interviewed there, in a nice way lol. My first interviewer was 15 min late because he took his dog for a walk. Subsequent interviews were focused on the "incredible" research faculty members are doing.
 
Psychobabbling said:
If you're into research, Emory. They were quite full of themselves when I interviewed there, in a nice way lol. My first interviewer was 15 min late because he took his dog for a walk. Subsequent interviews were focused on the "incredible" research faculty members are doing.
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I mostly like Emory for the location. Not really interested in the research. Research interest isn't a requirement, according to their website. I wonder how true that is. Also, I have no research background.
 
milesed said:
Vandy was "up and coming" when I interviewed there 20 years ago. I felt that many programs at universities with big names wanted to depend on the name alone to justify a lackluster program or terrible work conditions. I HIGHLY recommend forgetting about the prestige of a name and going with a program that fits you. If looking in the South, you are limited a lot (helps narrow down choices). Look at how happy the residents and faculty you will directly work with are. Ignore the staff they may stick you with in interviews who really have no hands on time in your training (big researchers and dept head). You may see them for 1-2 lectures and never again. Look at the size of the program, call schedule, call difficulty, location of hospitals you'll cover, and the city you will live in.

MUSC, UNC, UK and UVA are some lesser known ones that scored high on all I listed when I interviewed. I thought Duke, Emory and Vandy looked terrible for me.

As I was told in med school, "You can get a great education at bottom tier program and a terrible education at a top tier program. It all depends on what you are willing to work for while there."
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Hmm, Duke, Emory and Vandy are all in my list. What made them terrible? If SDN is any indication, MUSC isn't "lesser known" anymore. I'm not really chasing big names, I'm mostly interested for location.
 
They weren't terrible. Residents training at Duke were all very unhappy. Vandy's program seemed just average in its training and had a poor child/adol program. I currently interact with residents from Vandy when my patients are sent there for inpt care and they often have no idea what they are doing (again, these are child/adol patients). I never made it to Emory due to ice storms when I was scheduled. I have no idea about the program, but I wouldn't live in Atlanta for any amount of money (terrible traffic, crime and high cost of living).

Residents training at the others I listed seemed very happy, the docs training them did too. The cities they are located in seemed like nice places to live. I should add Univ of FL in Gainesville to the lesser known, good list also.
 
Atlanta's cheap compared to most big cities. Of course, it is still on par or more expensive than the smaller cities in the southeast.

Emory is trying actively to expand it's research among residents, so I'm not surprised by the sell. However, it is still mostly a clinical program and most residents don't do research. Not sure how that will evolve over time.
 
Not exactly southeast strictly per se...but anyone with any experience at any of the places in west Virginia?
 
psych72 said:
How about Louisiana?
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I can say that Tulane has a strong psychotherapy training program, even one of the faculty at Einstein/Montefiore (which is clearly obsessed with psychotherapy as a program) said Tulane's psychotherapy is "excellent". Tulane PD is amazing. She's one of the friendliest, most upbeat people I've ever met and she genuinely cares about her residents both as people and in terms of their success. The program is highly customizable and the faculty, who have come from many places including Hopkins and UCSF, are dedicated to helping residents pursue whatever interest. If something you want doesn't already exist, they'll create it for you. You get lots of community opportunities and exposure to under-served, indigent and rural people who've been brought in from the surrounding area. Strong C/L service. They have a good child fellowship and some good child research going on. Forensic fellowship is also available. Brand new hospitals have just opened up in downtown New Orleans and that's where the main inpatient unit is located. New VA coming later this year. Very nice facilities. The residents are extremely cohesive and friendly with each other. Most seem quite happy. Second year call is scheduled by the residents. Tulane also has triple board and Med-psych. Low-ish cost of living. Cons: Intern year didactics are kind of meh. Limited research outside of child without a lot of effort on your part.

I can comment a little on OLOL/LSU Baton Rouge since I did a month long rotation there. It's a newer program (maybe 5 years old now?). The residents are extremely happy and laid back people, who socialize together a lot. Call schedule is relatively light. Dr. Harvey, who recently graduated from Tulane's program, has brought TMS to the hospital very recently. Attendings are friendly and approachable. Patient population is a little more rural than in New Orleans, but you get city people too. There's dedicated psych space in the ER and potentially a dedicated psych ER opening (or may have opened by now). OLOL is a nice, new, clean facility. Wish I knew more. It seems like a positive environment with at least decent training.

I also am friends with Shreveport's PD's son, so I may be able to get answers to specific questions about the program if you PM me.
 
Any thoughts on Alabama-Birmingham? Seems like one of the ignored programs here.
 
Jorje286 said:
Any thoughts on Alabama-Birmingham? Seems like one of the ignored programs here.
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UAB has a well respected internal medicine program. the psychiatry residency is okay and of course the location doesn't help any (psychiatrists seem to care more about location). When I was a grad student we had a guest lecture on one of my classes from a professor at UAB who openly said that being at UAB represented the failure of his career and his punishment for upsetting the wrong people. It's unfortunate that Alabama is usually highlighted as one of those wastelands used to make a point but it cements the notion it is where academic careers (and dreams) go to die.

Sorry I don't have much to add but it seems though they have very little elective time which is a red flag and a fairly lackluster research track. I cant imagine it would be easy to find appropriate cases for psychodynamic therapy either
 
splik said:
UAB has a well respected internal medicine program. the psychiatry residency is okay and of course the location doesn't help any (psychiatrists seem to care more about location). When I was a grad student we had a guest lecture on one of my classes from a professor at UAB who openly said that being at UAB represented the failure of his career and his punishment for upsetting the wrong people. It's unfortunate that Alabama is usually highlighted as one of those wastelands used to make a point but it cements the notion it is where academic careers (and dreams) go to die.

Sorry I don't have much to add but it seems though they have very little elective time which is a red flag and a fairly lackluster research track. I cant imagine it would be easy to find appropriate cases for psychodynamic therapy either
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Thanks for the comments. Regarding research and academic careers though, I don't think it's this dire. They had a recently graduating resident with multiple national awards and big pubs and the training director is very accomplished in neuroimaging. I can see location being a huge issue.
 
Jorje286 said:
Thanks for the comments. Regarding research and academic careers though, I don't think it's this dire. They had a recently graduating resident with multiple national awards and big pubs and the training director is very accomplished in neuroimaging. I can see location being a huge issue.
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Be careful of the pedestal you are creating.

Those that can't, teach. Because there are all kind of recognition, awards and titles doesn't necessarily convey a "good" training environment. Of course this doesn't apply to all people and programs.

Need to temper ideals and expectations to the real end game, being a good physician who doesn't become the candyman and diagnose everyone bipolar and ADHD.
 
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