Meh

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Jack Napier

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Does anyone know how difficult it is to obtain a position in Yale's forensic psychiatry fellowship? What would be necessary to make one competitive?

Yes, it is among the top programs in the country: CRWU, Yale, some NYC and Cali programs.
How to be competitive: consistent and documented interest in forensic psychiatry, research in forensic psychiatry, letters from forensic psychiatrists, excellent writing sample, leadership awards, poster presentations at AAPL, etc.
 
Fellowships in forensic psychiatry can be competitive. Yale? Well those people at Yale weren't exactly helpful when I inquired them. They referred me to a fellow who really didn't seem to give a damn.

For example, when I was referred to the fellows, they just gave me answers I could've gotten from a Lindsey Lohan fan.

"It rocks!"
"It's great!"

Geez, thanks. I gave some pretty detailed questions and that's all I really got. I decided not to apply there.

Now their fellows (at least when I applied) didn't show too much brain activity but that doesn't mean the program is bad. I can say the following based on superficial knowledge.

Howard Zonona is there. He' s a top guy in the field and a former AAPL president.
Yale has a forensic psychology program that works with the forensic psychiatric program-so it most definitely has f-psychiatrists that know their psychology and their fellowship likely has a solid foundation in psychological testing, an important area that several forensic fellowships and f-psychiatrists have little if any knowledge.
The Yale title does matter as an expert witness. For better or worse, titles do impress judges and juries even if those titles are upon those not worthy of them. That's not to say that Yale is bad, but since this superficial edge is an edge nonetheless, well hey, they do work.

The real things about the program that I'd be interested in, I can't answer. Someone from that program would be better off answering.
 
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I don't know details about the fellowship other than that it is highly regarded and that the fellows find it to be a great experience. I found our forensics experience during residency thus far to be excellent - in particular I enjoyed working with the law school students as an expert for their mock trials.

If you have any specific questions that you are struggling to have answered let me know, I'd be happy to find out for you.
 
If you're looking for a good program for child and forensics-U of Cincinnati. The program director, Doug Mossman is a child and forensic psychiatrist. Drew Barzman also has both certifications. Mossman is considered legendary in this field. Barzman himself has won national awards. Mossman recently published a new scale for use in child-forensic psychiatry. I consider it one of the best programs. If you are interested in both fields and express this to Mossman, he will go out of his way to get you experienced in both areas.

Yes, it is among the top programs in the country: CRWU, Yale, some NYC and Cali programs.
UC-Davis, U. Mass, at least when I applied all the fellows told me Einstein had the best teaching in NYC. Things changed but the same PD is there I believe and they told me he made the program. This was among several fellows throughout all the NYC fellowships.

Most fellowships are very small. Only 1 to a handful of fellows that will most likely work very closely to the PD. So the PD does matter. A problem here is no matter how respected the person is, as most of us find out the hard way, some highly respected people in the field are difficult to tolerate when working one-on-one. Don't assume that just because the person is highly respected you'll want to be there. I can think of some people right off the top of my head where I'd rather not even attend fellowship at all if they were my PD.
 
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