Yale Integrated Program (CAP

[Saluki]

Yale's integrated child and adolescent psych program sounds good, because like MGH/McLean, you can do peds instead of internal medicine in your first year...

Here's the thing, though; clinical research is fun, but almost all of their residents appear to be hard core basic science people- neuroimaging, genetic studies, torturing lab mice,etc.

Anyone have any insight on this program? (esp. basic vs. clinical research)

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[CarleneM]

Yale's integrated child and adolescent psych program sounds good, because like MGH/McLean, you can do peds instead of internal medicine in your first year...

Here's the thing, though; clinical research is fun, but almost all of their residents appear to be hard core basic science people- neuroimaging, genetic studies, torturing lab mice,etc.

Anyone have any insight on this program? (esp. basic vs. clinical research)

Hey- I just matched into one of those spots you mentioned at MGH/McLean and interviewed at the yale child program. My sense is that yes, the majority are during more translational work. My experience has been clinical research and they did have me meet with someone who does a lot of clinical trials and it seemed like that would be readily available to me if I went there. However, I did feel a bit overwhelmed by the number of interviewers (and they have 8-10 interviews during the day with the applicant!) talking to me about their own basic/translational research rather than talking with me about my interests. I like adolescents and it didn't seem like they had a ton going on in that population. It is also a 6 year commitment and the structure of the program makes it difficult to transfer out if you were unhappy.

In addition to these two programs, Brown and UMASS also offer substantial pediatrics training in the intern year instead of Medicine. UCLA offers a month to be substituted from medicine. Ask around- more and more programs are incorporating this and are not triple boards. PM me if you want to discuss further or have questions along the way.

 

[masterofmonkeys]

Denver has a 'child integrated track'. However, you have to ask for it after you match into their program. You find out if you got the track before you start your intern year though. I just matched there, and talking to the program coordinator, she said that most of the time those who choose that track get it. I have no idea what 'most of the time' is. Could be like being 'ranked to match' for all I know. In their defense, i didn't press her ofr exact numbers and odds ratios lol.

The also offer a child interest track which gives you the peds experience and early exposure to child psych, but doesn't have protected research time or guaranteed acceptance into the child fellowship.

It does have a research component, but based on who I've interacted with so far, there's a lot of clinical research going on as well.

I interviewed at Yale, and although I thought the program was great, and really liked all the researchers and residents I interacted with, I too came away with the feeling that it was way too basic sciencey for me.

Denver is pretty high up there in NIH funding and has a strong component of clinical research. Both the assistant program director for research and the child program director seem very interested in people with a clinical bent.

That said, they also have a lot of the basic sciencey stuff like MEG (much more spatially specific than EEG), 3t MRI and the rest of it.

The downside of the integrated child research track is that it doesn't have a separate match number like MGH, UMASS, and Yale do. It does have protected research time from intern year onward which is awesome and a huge deal, because even at many places where research is emphasized, protected time (no clincial responsibilities) during 1st and 2nd year is impossible to get, and you can sometimes have to fight pretty hard for it in the third year as well. And the UCH Children's Hospital is a pretty big deal as well, which is helpful. One possible upside for some is that the 6th year--a fully funded full-time research year--is optional.

Anyway, good luck with figuring it out. I'd encourage you to apply to all of those programs though, as you might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[dianamd]

As mentioned above, UCLA allows a month of peds in place of inpatient medicine, and Mount Sinai allows a "pediatrics track" -- completely replacing medicine in the intern year with pediatrics (except for one month of adult ER).

Can't speak to the Yale program, which sounds fantastic, though with a long commitment.