PS 1996; 47:512-516
Copyright © 1996 by American Psychiatric Association
Columbia University's fellowship in public psychiatry
J Ranz, S Rosenheck and S Deakins
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York. USA. jmrl@columbia.edu
In 1981 the fellowship in public psychiatry was established at New York
State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University College of Physicians
and Surgeons to provide subspecialty training for psychiatrists who plan
careers in the public sector. Ten one-year postresidency fellowships are
awarded annually. The fellowship consists of supervised work and didactic
experiences focused on the clinical modalities most effective in public
mental health services and the managerial skills that the psychiatrist must
possess to make those services work well. Fellows work three days a week at
collaborating public-sector agencies throughout the New York metropolitan
area. The curriculum includes an academic seminar, which gives fellows an
introductory overview of major topics in public psychiatry; an
organizational practicum, which is an exercise in management principles and
practices; an evaluation practicum, which addresses the theory and practice
of program evaluation; and an applied seminar, organized as a cycle of
clinical, administrative, fiscal, and evaluation presentations in which
each fellow applies the concepts learned in the other seminars to his or
her field placement work. Of the 75 fellows who have graduated from the
program, only six have chosen to leave the public arena. Nearly all work
full time in the public sector, where more than half hold management
positions. More than three-fourths hold academic appointments at medical
schools in the area in which they are working as public psychiatrists.
