Areas of Concentration
We encourage our PGY 3-4 residents to identify particular areas of interest and passion where they will develop expertise and leadership. Many use their elective time to craft individualized, eclectic programs. Others apply for entry into 1 of 7 areas of concentration in our residency program and achieve distinction.
Community & Recovery-Oriented Psychiatry
Joseph Guillory, M.D., Director
Residents are equipped to deliver strengths-based psychiatric care to underserved populations and prepare to serve as leaders and advocates in their local communities. The concentration bridges community psychiatry (providing holistic care to individuals in public health care systems) with recovery-oriented psychiatry (helping patients foster meaningful lives beyond symptom reduction).
- Resident Responsibilities
- Complete two electives; examples:
- VA Community Psychiatry
- Parkland Integrated Care Clinic
- Parkland HIV Psychiatry
- Metrocare Assertive Community Treatment Team
- Meet monthly with chosen mentor experienced in the area of concentration
- Participate in at least one community-based volunteer event per trimester of PGY3 and PGY4; examples:
- ROCC Stars (peer-led recovery-oriented workshops)
- UTSW student-run psychiatry clinic
- NAMI or other community mental health-focused agency
- Expected Outcomes
- Clinical expertise:
- Proficiency in recovery-oriented, community-based care for underserved populations
- Experience in integrated care settings and with specialized populations (e.g., HIV, homeless outreach, ACT teams)
- Scholarly outputs such as research publications, conference presentations, quality improvement projects, or grant proposals that advance community psychiatry knowledge or services
- Leadership and advocacy skills:
- Roles in local community mental health initiatives (e.g., NAMI events, PLAN, ROCC Stars)
- Advocacy for recovery-oriented models within clinical systems
- Partnership development, sustained collaborations with community recovery organizations such as PLAN, APAA, local AA/NA/SMART Recovery chapters, The Living Room, Resource Center
- Career preparation:
- Longitudinal mentorship to hone skills in developing systems-level interventions
- Strong foundation for future leadership and advocacy in community psychiatry
- Resident Responsibilities
Participate in selected didactic experiences
Meet regularly throughout the year to review opportunities in undergraduate and graduate medical education teaching, plan scholarly projects, identify mentors, and support academic productivity such as conference presentations and manuscripts
- Expected Outcomes
Developing a teaching portfolio
Gaining hands-on experience as an educator in multiple settings
Contributing scholarly work that advances psychiatry education
Josh Hubregsen, M.D., Director
Residents gain advanced education, mentorship, and research in ECT, TMS, and other neuromodulation techniques. This concentration takes advantage of our robust interventional psychiatry programs and stands as one of the few across the U.S. and the first in Texas to offer advanced training in this evolving field.
- Resident Responsibilities
Interested residents apply in the mid-point of PGY2. Selected residents participate throughout PGY 3-4, and accommodations are made for residents fast tracking into child and adolescent psychiatry.
Residents complete electives that prepare them to manage patients with treatment-resistant depression, learn to deliver high-quality, evidence-based ECT, and gain familiarity with administering ketamine-based treatments and performing TMS mappings. Through ECT training, residents gain procedural familiarity in preparation for credentialing, to develop familiarity with anesthesia and airway management protocols, and to master electrode-lead placement management throughout all phases of ECT.
Over the 2-year concentration, residents can tailor the track to meet their career/professional aspirations. The educational component is flexible to allow residents time to hone their skills in the neuromodulation techniques that they find most appealing, such as TMS, ECT, and esketamine. Residents graduate with a well-rounded education in neuromodulation to become leaders in interventional psychiatry.
Along with education and training, a primary focus is mentorship. From the beginning through the end of the concentration, residents are expected to meet with mentors in their areas of interest. Mentors serve as guides and assist in education, research, and networking for residents.
Residents may also have multiple mentors across various modalities. For example, a resident may have an ECT mentor and a TMS mentor. Residents themselves may become mentors to medical students, pre-med students, and other learners who are interested in expanding their education about interventional psychiatry.
- Expected Outcomes
Along with education and training, a primary focus is mentorship. From the beginning through the end of the concentration, residents are expected to meet with mentors in their areas of interest. Mentors serve as guides and assist in education, research, and networking for residents.
Residents may also have multiple mentors across various modalities. For example, a resident may have an ECT mentor and a TMS mentor. Residents themselves may become mentors to medical students, pre-med students, and other learners who are interested in expanding their education about interventional psychiatry.
The final aspect is a scholarly project to be completed by the end of residency, such as original research, case reports, education/advocacy pieces, and legislation. The project goal is broad so that residents can generate individualized products in line with their passions. Scholarly projects also serve to synthesize the other objectives of education and mentorship into tangible outcomes that have the added benefit of bolstering our reputation as a leading institution in research and innovation. Examples:
- A Model for Formal Residency Training in Interventional Psychiatry article published in Academic Psychiatry
- Assistance in the creation of the new ECT service at Parkland Hospital
- Presentations at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting
- Presentation at the International Society of ECT and Neuromodulation Annual Meeting
- Presentation at the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry Annual Meeting
Mental Health, Policy, and Law
Sarah Baker, M.D., Director
Residents prepare to become leaders in forensic psychiatry and mental health advocacy, using their clinical expertise and policy analysis skills to advocate for policies that address challenges facing people with mental illness within the legal system. Residents learn how to analyze health-related public policy problems and work toward developing solutions and gain valuable forensic psychiatry experiences to inform their advocacy efforts.
- Resident Responsibilities
- Meet monthly with concentration mentor (a faculty forensic psychiatrist)
- Participate in forensic clinical electives
- Forensic Unit of Terrell State Hospital
- Special Needs Offender Program at Metrocare
- Scholarly work in forensic psychiatry and/or mental health policy/advocacy
- Attendance at UT Southwestern Forensic Seminar Series and local Forensic Group meetings
- Expected Outcomes
- Preparation to be effective leaders who advocate for change and create better systems of care for individuals living with mental illness
- Scholarly activity, which has included the development of a recidivism risk assessment tool
Aly Nakamura, M.D., Director
Residents who wish to further develop their psychotherapy skills and knowledge beyond that of our already robust psychotherapy curriculum participate in psychotherapy scholarship and receive career mentorship in addition to clinical rotations and can focus on a particular psychotherapeutic modality or choose a more generalist approach.
- Resident Responsibilities
Participate in a minimum of one half-day of psychotherapy-related electives per week, which include dialectical behavioral therapy, third-wave CBT-based therapies, family studies, psycho-oncology, and trauma-focused therapies.
Meet with a mentor regularly for career development
- Expected Outcomes
Develop, complete, and present a psychotherapy-related scholarly project by the end of PGY 4; previous project examples:
- First author of article in the American Journal of Psychotherapy: Repairing Cultural Ruptures in Psychotherapy: Strategies to Enhance the Therapeutic Alliance
- Development of a CBT-based group therapy intervention for patients with eating disorders
- Feasibility and acceptability study of Written Exposure Therapy for PTSD in pregnant and postpartum adolescents
- Resident Responsibilities
Rotate among a variety of sites that serve children, adolescents, young adults, and college students, including at UTSW, Children’s Health outpatient psychiatry clinic and suicide prevention program, Paul Quinn College health and wellness clinic, UT Arlington counseling center, and UTSW’s Student Wellness and Counseling
Work with young adults who are managing issues of transition to adulthood and may participate in the LAUNCH group at Children’s Health, a 6-week skills-based group to help high school students transition to adulthood
Participate in bimonthly didactic meetings, with topics such as the transitional age brain, addressing suicide on college campuses, college mental health developmental/learning disorders, and mental health issues for college students who are minorities
Receive mentorship to provide support in developing and working toward career goals
- Expected Outcomes
Develop clinical skills in assessment, diagnosis, and management of eating disorders, first episode psychosis, autism spectrum disorders, developmental disorders, and adolescent substance use disorders
Complete a scholarly project before the end of training that includes the topic of transitional age youth or college mental health
Meitra Doty, M.D., Director
Residents develop expertise in managing psychiatric disorders related to reproductive life events such as pregnancy and postpartum, perimenopause, and gender-specific disorders in psychiatry. This 2-year concentration begins at PGY3 and allows residents to seek in-depth clinical knowledge in diagnosis and managing psychiatric conditions related to women, familiarize with essential readings of women’s wellness, and participate in scholarly activities.
- Resident Responsibilities
Residents rotate at three core training sites: the combined OB-complications and postpartum depression clinic and violence intervention and prevention clinic at Parkland, the Women’s Stress Disorders and Military Sexual Trauma clinic at the VA, and the Eating Disorders Research and Outpatient Clinic at UTSW. Under faculty supervision, residents develop clinical skills to diagnose and manage psychiatric disorders in the peripartum period, PTSD and trauma and stressor-related conditions, eating disorders, and complex personality disorders in women, using evidence-based treatments.
Residents have opportunities to train in advanced, evidence-based psychotherapies such as cognitive processing therapy for PTSD, cognitive behavioral therapy for peripartum disorders and eating disorders, and dialectical behavioral therapy for personality disorders. In addition, residents attend a monthly psychoeducation group for women seeking psychiatric consultations.
The Women’s Mental Health and Wellness Group and Reading elective is a yearlong, half-day rotation offering essential readings of women’s mental health and wellness.
- Expected Outcomes
Residents present at case conferences at the end of their core clinical rotation, present at VA mental health grand rounds, and complete a scholarly project before graduation. Residents prepare an article (review, case report, or research) during their rotation with the eating disorders team.
Example projects and accomplishments:
- Residents created a new elective providing psychotherapy services clinic for female inmates in the Dallas County Jail System
- A resident received the Association of Women Psychiatrists travel award while a resident in this concentration, which included contributing to its newsletter, where the resident highlighted the unmet mental health needs of women in incarceration
- Residents gave Grand Rounds presentations on PTSD during pregnancy and the postpartum period, a model for behavioral integration in women’s health, and military sexual trauma