FROM THE TRAINING DIRECTOR: ROSS YAPLE, M.D.

VCU Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship

Hello, and welcome to the Virginia Commonwealth University Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program webpage!

The Virginia Commonwealth University Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellowship is a fully ACGME-accredited, two-year training program primarily located at the Virginia Treatment Center for Children (VTCC). Serving a highly diverse patient demographic spanning all of Virginia, our fellows receive extensive training in broad areas of mental health delivery for our patients and their families, including a significant focus on acute inpatient hospitalization, outpatient clinical treatment, consultation-liaison experiences within the VCU Health System, as well as interfaces in several of our outpatient community collaborative programs. Throughout the program, our fellows engage in service delivery with a patient population ranging from infancy to young adulthood that spans multiple cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, with an emphasis on the underserved. We have a growing and extremely diverse and experienced faculty dedicated to the education and supervision of our fellows, emphasizing a strong, multidisciplinary approach to education which includes additional on-site training programs in psychology, social work, nursing and pharmacy, among others. Supporting our rotational experiences, our didactic program includes 5-6 protected hours per week and emphasizes the interface of genetics and neuroscience, psychosocial factors, trauma, culture, current diagnostics, psychotherapeutic and somatic interventions, in addition to family and systems-based approaches. The VCU Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellowship program offers fellows multiple opportunities for scholarship, including teaching opportunities for students and residents across disciplines, formal presentations at AACAP/APA/AADPRT, and various venues for research opportunities within the VCU Department of Psychiatry as well as across the entire VCU Health System. Overall, the VCU Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellowship promotes a high degree of individualized attention to the education and supervision for each fellow as they develop in order to promote best outcomes for our patients and families as well as to build strong mental health clinicians to care for and support our future generations.

WHAT’S NEW AND EXCITING:

Our program continues to grow in our pursuit to train more and more future Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists, and we have just entered our third year as a program with three fellowship positions per year, with plans for future expansion to four positions per year very soon! In addition, we continue to grow our program faculty as well, including a total of seven outstanding additions to our already experienced group over the last three years, including faculty with extensive backgrounds in eating disorders, care of the transgender population, child and adolescent substance use disorders, as well as mental health systems and managed care expertise.

In addition, in April of 2018, our Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry moved into our brand new, state-of-the-art Virginia Treatment Center for Children. The product of a sixty-million dollar investment by the General Assembly as well as significant efforts by the VCU Department of Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital of Richmond Foundation, our new flagship facility offers 32 inpatient beds, a significantly expanded outpatient clinic including observation suites, integrated space for research and training in the Center for Child and Family Studies as well space to connect our patients and families to community treatment services through our Children’s Mental Health Resource Center. Additionally, the facility features fully integrated educational technology which enhances our online multidisciplinary curriculum, provides audio-visual recording capabilities for clinical supervision and education, as well as resources for community and state-wide educational endeavors!

Finally, our fellowship program, in collaboration with the VCU Medical School’s Instructional Technologists, has launched the first fully integrated online educational and didactic curriculum entitled the VCU Child and Adolescent Mental Health Curriculum. Initially developed in July, 2016, the curriculum serves as a permanent repository for all resources utilized in the didactic curriculum over the two-year program, and emphasizes a multidisciplinary approach including our psychiatry and psychology training programs working together in tandem. The curriculum utilizes an online platform including blogs, videos, articles, podcasts, and more with a focus on active-learning, flipped classroom principles as the primary modality for teaching and learning, including problem-based learning (PBL) modules, process-oriented, guided inquiry learning (POGIL) sessions, and Just-in Time Teaching (JiTT), among other innovative strategies!

So on behalf of our training faculty and administration, all of our trainees and our amazing staff, we hope that you’ll come visit us, check out our new facility and the amazing city of Richmond, and become one of the first fellows to experience the clinical and educational innovations that our fellowship program at the new Virginia Treatment Center for Children has to offer!

Sincerely,

Ross A. Yaple, M.D. Program Director

CURRICULUM:

First-year fellows in our program experience a curriculum designed to promote core skills in the diagnostics, evaluation and treatment of children and families with a wide range of mental health needs, including the following rotations:

• ●   Acute Inpatient Hospital Unit at VTCC
• ●   Consultation-Liaison Rotation at VCU Health System
• ●   Outpatient Continuity Clinic at VTCC
• ●   Psychotherapy Clinic at VTCC
• ●   Pediatric Neurology – General and Epilepsy Clinics at Children’s Pavilion

Second-year fellows will expand on the core skill sets developed during the first year curriculum with an emphasis on applying these skills in a variety of clinical and community settings, including the following rotations:

• ●   Community Psychiatry Rotation at the Richmond Behavioral Health Authority
• ●   Outpatient Continuity Clinic and Psychotherapy Clinics at VTCC
• ●   Telepsychiatry Clinics at VTCC
• ●   Faculty Specialty Clinics – ADHD, Mood Disorders, Autism Spectrum, Eating Disorders, Transgender, Attachment
• ●   Pediatric Adolescent Collaborative Clinic at Children’s Pavilion
• ●   Pediatric Genetics Clinic at Children’s Pavilion
• ●   Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic at Children’s Pavilion
• ●   Forensic Experiences at the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice and the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy
• ●   School-Based Mental Health Rotations through the Virginia Treatment Center for Children and the City of Richmond Public Schools
• ●   Multiple Research/Scholarship and Elective Opportunities
• ●   NEW TO VTCC THIS YEAR! – Outpatient Child and Adolescent Substance Use Services

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT OUR NEW FACILITY AND RICHMOND, VIRGINIA:

Please check out our Fact Sheet about the new Virginia Treatment Center for Children here:

Children’s Hospital of Richmond Information about the New VTCC: https://www.chrichmond.org/New-VTCC-Facility.htm

Infographic on VTCC and Children’s Mental Health: VTCC Infographic.pdf

Behavioral Healthcare’s 2016 Design Showcase Award of Merit: https://www.news.vcu.edu/health/New_Virginia_Treatment_Center_for_Children_receives_Behavioral

Information about the River City: https://www.visitrichmondva.com

INSTRUCTIONS FOR APPLICANTS:

Eligible candidates include those who will have completed their PGY-3 year of their Psychiatry Residency prior to the fellowship start date, have passed their USMLE Step 3, and must be able to secure a Virginia medical license.

We participate in the NRMP Psychiatry Fellowship Match (January Match) and require that all applications be submitted through the ERAS system: https://www.aamc.org/students/medstudents/eras/fellowship_applicants/

Applicants will only be considered for an interview once all elements of the ERAS application are completed, including the C.V., Personal Statement, Medical School Transcript, MSPE, USMLE Scores, ECFMG certificate (if applicable) and three Letters of Recommendation, one of which must be from your Psychiatry Residency Training Director.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Program Director:
Ross A. Yaple, M.D. Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Phone: (804) 828-3130
Fax: (804) 628-1615
E-mail: ross.yaple@vcuhealth.org

Educational Program Coordinator:
Sharon Scott, BA
Phone: (804) 828-4371
Fax: (804) 628-1615
E-mail: sharon.scott@vcuhealth.org

Training Director: James Levenson, M.D.

Why Consider Fellowship Training in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry?

The Virginia Commonwealth University Health System training program in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry has been in existence since 1978, and is one of the first fellowship programs accredited by the ACGME and approved by the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. For over 35 years this program has been under the directorship of James L. Levenson, M.D., an internationally acclaimed leader in the field of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.

Dr. Levenson is the editor of the American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Psychosomatic Medicine, (2005, 2011, 2018). Dr. Levenson has also been recognized with VCU's highest teaching award and its Distinguished Clinician Award. Other members of the Consultation-Liaison Division have also been recognized with awards for teaching and supervision and have made many contributions to the literature.

This exciting one-year fellowship offers advanced training in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry in a 750-bed university hospital to psychiatrists who have completed residency. Fellows choose from numerous clinical and research opportunities in transplantation, primary care, traumatic brain injury, pain management, oncology, infertility, HIV and more. Individual weekly supervision is provided for psychotherapy, liaison activity, teaching and research. Fellows have the opportunity to choose both liaison involvements and teaching medical students and psychiatry residents.

Our fellows also can rotate at our sister training facility, the Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center, a 500 bed flagship facility which offers diverse opportunities, including one of only six PolyTrauma Units nationwide, as well as Primary Care-Psychiatry collaborative care, a regional Spinal Cord Injury program, organ transplantation, pain clinic, and palliative care. The site director for the fellowship is Alex Trutia, M.D., who serves as the Chief of the Consultation/Liaison Service.

Our fellowship meets the requirements for board certification in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Instructions for Applicants:

Fellowship eligibility requirements include completion of an accredited residency in Psychiatry, passing all steps of USMLE and the ability to obtain a Virginia medical license.

We use the common application form available online at https://www.clpsychiatry.org/residents-fellows/common-application/

It should be submitted along with a C.V. and three letters of recommendation, one of which should be from your residency training director, to Dr. Levenson at the address below.

We fully participate in and follow the policies of the National Residency Matching Program.

James L. Levenson, M.D. Professor of Psychiatry,
Internal Medicine and Surgery Vice-Chair,
Department of Psychiatry Chair,
Division of Consultation/Liaison Psychiatry
VCUHS
P.O. Box 980268
Richmond, VA 23298-0268
Phone: (804) 828-0762
Fax: (804) 828-7675
E-mail: james.levenson@vcuhealth.org

Training Director: ALBERT J. ARIAS, M.D., M.S.

The Addiction Medicine Fellowship is a one year, with optional second year fellowship. The second year a research-based fellowship.

Fellows will have four 3-month rotations for the first year, which will include:

• ●  VCU Health Outpatient Addictions Clinic (Motivate)
• ●  VCU Outpatient Prenatal Addiction Clinic
• ●  Virginia Health Practitioner Monitoring Program (HPMP)
• ●  VCU Health Addiction Consult-Liaison Service (VCU Medical Center)
• ●  Pain Rotation with VCU Anesthesiology Pain Service
• ●  Research/Quality Improvement Project
• ●  Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center

Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center Outpatient Rotation: Fellows gain experience working in the Outpatient Opioid (Methadone and Suboxone) Treatment Clinics and Intensive Outpatient Substance Abuse Program, where patients receive 9 hours per week of treatment. Fellows follow patients with opioid addiction and patients with other substance abuse disorders long term. Fellows conduct new intake evaluations and provide treatment, including medication management, individual, group and family therapies, and various other modalities of treatment.

Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center Inpatient Rotation: Fellows gain experience working in the 60-day residential substance abuse treatment program, learning residential-based therapies.

Fellows also receive hands-on training in clinical addictions research. They may apply for funding for pilot studies in which they can serve as principal investigator for research projects. Clinical research in which fellows may participate include:

• ●  A research-dedicated 3T Philips Ingenia 3.0 Tesla MRI scanner. This MRI scanner is housed the VCU Collaborative Advanced Research Imaging (CARI) Center and is used to study the neurobiology of addictions. Recent upgrades to the CARI research-dedicated MRI scanner include MR shear Elastography (MRE) to measure liver fibrosis, Cardiac Expert Specialist and StarQuant. For more information regarding VCU’s Collaborative Advanced Research Imaging, please go to https://cctr.vcu.edu/support/clinical-research-service-providers/cari
  
  
• ●  The Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies (IDAS) seeks to explore the complex problems of drugs through multidisciplinary research and training, with a focus on the neuroscience of addictions and related neurobehavioral disorders. The institute is led by F. Gerard Moeller, M.D., a preeminent researcher whose addiction research has been funded since 1996 by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. His work is published in more than 110 peer-reviewed publications. For more information regarding IDAS, please go to https://idas.vcu.edu/
  
  
• ●  The VCU C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research (CCTR) provides the commonwealth with infrastructure and resources that promote interdisciplinary human health research. As the first federally funded clinical and translational research center in Virginia, CCTR fosters research collaborations across the state and accelerates the translation of scientific discoveries to patient care. For more information regarding CCTR, please go to https://cctr.vcu.edu/

INSTRUCTIONS FOR APPLICANTS:

Application requirements include a CV, personal statement, list of publications, medical school transcripts and MSPE, USMLE scores, ECFMG certificate (if applicable), and three letters of recommendation, one of which should be from your residency training director.

Albert J. Arias, M.D., M.S. Associate Professor, Psychiatry
Program Director, Addiction Medicine Fellowship
Albert.Arias@vcuhealth.org

Cynthia M. Greiner, M.A.M.
Associate Administrator, Division of Addiction
Program Coordinator, Addiction Medicine Fellowship
Cynthia.Greiner@vcuhealth.org

Phone: 804-828-1467
Fax: 804-628-1247