Public Psychiatry Fellowship
of Columbia University 

Faculty
Fellows and Alumni
Syllabus
Brochure Application Form

Now in its thirtieth year, the Public Psychiatry Fellowship of New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University Medical Center was initiated in 1981 with funds from the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH). OMH's goal was to facilitate recruitment and retention of high caliber psychiatrists in the public sector. Ten one-year Fellowships are awarded to young psychiatrists desiring a career in public psychiatry. Fellows spend three days a week working in a community- or hospital-based public mental health service organization selected as a placement site and two days a week in seminars, supervision and consultation with the Fellowship faculty.

The academic curriculum is organized as a series of seminar sequences that run throughout the year (see Syllabus). In addition, Fellows use the academic framework to organize a series of clinical, management and fiscal presentations of their field placement experiences. These presentations are a crucial aspect of the fellowship year, offering Fellows the opportunity to organize, present and evaluate their efforts at implementing the concepts they have learned during the year.

There are approximately 250 alumni. Each year, approximately 20 come back to make presentations. Most of these alumni are program or agency medical directors.  They describe their agencies briefly, and then present a current or past management issue. Fellows and faculty give feedback as to how to deal with the issue presented. Not only do these presentations provide an opportunity for alumni to receive valuable yearly feedback on their roles as medical directors, but they also give Fellows an opportunity to meet their predecessors and learn the range of issues with which they are dealing.

Funding for Fellows comes from OMH with support from placement sites. Partial tuition support is available for one Fellow enrolled simultaneously in the MPH program at the Mailman School of Public Health

Published surveys (see links, below)  reveal that Fellowship alumni rate their experience in the Fellowship as crucial to their development as public psychiatrists. According to our current records, over 95% identify their primary work setting as a public agency (state, federal, CMHC, municipal, public voluntary) and over 80% have academic appointments. The vast majority work essentially full-time at these sites, and 66% have management positions. These surveys confirms that the Fellowship fulfills its mandate to train psychiatrists committed to public sector work. The increasing quality and quantity of applicants to the fellowship each year is testimony to the vitality of the commitment of young psychiatrists to actively participate in the shaping and delivery of mental health services in the public sector.

The Fellowship is in the Department of Postgraduate Education of New York State Psychiatric Institute, the headquarters of the Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center.  Field Sites are public mental health organizations located throughout the New York Metropolitan area.

In October 2007, the Fellowship was awarded the 2007 Lilly Reintegration Award, Education-First place.

In 2009, Drs Ranz and Deakins initiated a new column in Psychiatric Services, called Case Studies in Public-Sector Leadership, simulating discussions that take place when alumni present their roles to Fellows. The first column, was authored by Dianna Dragatsi and Susan Deakins (see article). The second column was authored by Chris Tam (article) and the third by Tomer Levin (article).
 
Core Elements
 As the oldest, largest and best known program training post-graduate psychiatrists to be public sector leaders, the fellowship is frequently consulted by professionals around the country interested in establishing such programs. In response, the faculty has developed seven core elements which they view as essential for such a training program. 
Brochure Of special interest are sections describing Innovative Aspects of the Fellowship and Programs started and/or run by alumni and list of Agencies that have served as field placement sites
Syllabus
For an up to date description of academic curriculum modules and reading material
Annual Report
Alumni make up a large percentage of the major professional committees in the New York metropolitan area  (See Activities, Awards, New Association Leadership Positions, New Management Positions and Research Funding of Alumni, Fellows and Faculty)

An article describing the Fellowship and results of the alumni survey was published in May 1996 (Psychiatric Services 47:512-516, 1996; See article ) .

A second article, appearing in the July 1997 issue of Psychiatric Services , reports that based upon a survey of alumni's roles in public agencies, medical directors perform a significantly greater variety of tasks and report significantly greater job satisfaction compared to staff psychiatrists ( Psychiatric Services 48:915-20, 1997; See article) .

A third article,  published in Psychiatric Services in September 1998, further examines the results of the survey of alumni's roles in public agencies. Despite respondents' belief that clinical collaboration activities most contribute to job satisfaction, it is in fact the performance of administrative tasks that are best correlated with overall job satisfaction. Most of the medical directors in the survey had program, rather than agency, level responsibilities. The article concludes that the role of program medical director can serve as a crucial next step for staff psychiatrists, offering the opportunity to perform administrative tasks. (Psychiatric Services 49:1203-7, 1998 See article).

An interview with Dr. Ranz , director of the Fellowship, summarizing the above findings, was published in the September 15th, 2000 issue of Psychiatric News.

Reunion Pictures

2011 - 30th
 2009
 2006 - 25th
2004
 2001 - 20th


Pictures of the Fellows and Faculty of the Classes of:


2010-11
 2009-10 2008-09
2007-08 2006-07 2005-06 2004-05 2003-04 2002-03 2001-02
2000-01 1999-2000 1998-99 1997-98 1996-97 1995-96 1994-95

Further Information is available about each of following:
Definition of Public Psychiatry Director Faculty
Fellows and Alumni Syllabus Field Placements
Surveys Program Evaluation #1 Prog Eval #2
Alumni Survey Form  Role of Psychiatrist Survey Form 

To New York State Psychiatric Institute Home Page
To Department of Psychiatry Home Page

For information about applying to the Fellowship contact Jules Ranz, M.D., Fellowship director (telephone: 212-543-5655, fax: 212-543-6608)

e-mail: jmr1@columbia.edu

Applicants must have completed psychiatric residency training and possess a New York State Medical License by the time the program commences in July. Columbia is an Affirmative Action Equal Opportunity Employer.

Applications can be submitted directly from this page: Application Form

This document was last updated on February 7, 2012