PGY-1

In the first year, residents rotate through psychiatry, medicine, and neurology services, gaining a broad foundation in patient care. Psychiatric rotations include inpatient psychiatry and emergency psychiatry.

While on internal medicine, emergency medicine, and neurology, residents join in subject-specific learning with their peers. Psychiatric didactics include:

• Weeklong pre-residency orientation including an intensive introduction to acute care psychiatry
• Introduction to psychiatric interviewing, diagnosis, and biopsychosocial formulation
• Basics of psychopharmacology
• Emergency psychiatry assessment and treatment
• Introduction to psychotherapy principles
• Monthly wellness group focusing on narrative medicine, mindfulness, and positive psychology
• Journal clubs and case conferences to develop EBM literacy as well as interviewing and evaluation skills

PGY-2

The second year enriches and broadens resident skills as they develop their identity as psychiatrists. Rotations include:

• One month each of: emergency psychiatry, inpatient, addiction (detox and rehab), consultation-liaison, night float, child and adolescent inpatient, geriatric inpatient, partial hospital program
• Three months at the Center for Intensive Treatment of Personality Disorders (or CARES therapeutic high school)
• Weekly half-day at the Harlem Health Center Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic
• Residents in the VA Track spend three months in the VA outpatient clinics
• Elective options including neuromodulation, forensic psychiatry, eating disorders, sleep medicine, mobile crisis outreach and more

Didactics cover core areas including advanced interviewing, research methods, neuroscience, psychopharmacology, supportive and psychodynamic therapy, personality disorders, and public psychiatry.

PGY-3

The third year focuses on developing outpatient psychiatry skills, with residents treating a diverse caseload in the Adult and Child Outpatient Psychiatry Clinics. Key components of the PGY-3 include:

• Mastery of multiple psychotherapy modalities: supportive, dynamic, cognitive behavioral, dialectical behavioral, and group therapy
• Child and adolescent psychiatry training, including assessment, psychopharmacology and play therapy
• Five to seven hours of weekly supervision in patient evaluations, psychopharmacology and various psychotherapies including group therapy
• VA Track residents spend the full year at the VA, participating in a mentored scholarly research project in addition to learning evaluation, psychopharmacology and psychotherapy
• Elective time (longitudinally each week) to engage in research, integrated HIV care, reproductive psychiatry, homeless outreach, couples and family therapy or other options

Didactics include advanced psychodynamic theory and practice, cognitive-behavioral and dialectical-behavioral therapy, advanced psychopharmacology, reproductive mental health, trauma-focused care and career planning.

PGY-4

The final year focuses on developing skills for independent practice, supervisory expertise, and pursuing specific areas of interest. Key components include:

• Four-to-six-month senior resident rotation on an inpatient or outpatient service or a college student health service
• Continuation of a small outpatient caseload from PGY-3
• One month of advanced consultation-liaison psychiatry
• Extensive elective time in specialized month-long or longitudinal clinical experiences (neuromodulation, sleep disorders, reproductive psychiatry, outpatient addiction care, forensic psychiatry, ACT team, couples therapy and more)

PGY-4 residents can also participate in our specialty pathways: Research, Educator, Global Mental Health, Public Psychiatry or Psychotherapy. Didactics include leadership in psychiatry, teaching and supervising skills, career planning, ethical issues and advanced clinical topics. All PGY-4s work with mentors on a grand rounds presentation in the spring before graduation.

Adult Inpatient Psychiatry

Residents rotate through inpatient units at Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai West, and the Bronx VA, managing acute psychiatric conditions in multidisciplinary team settings. Residents gain experience in comprehensive assessment, treatment, and discharge planning for a broad range of psychiatric disorders. Our inpatient services at Mount Sinai Morningside and West treat more than 2,000 adult patients annually, offering residents many opportunities to develop their clinical acumen.

Emergency Psychiatry

Trainees rotate through our Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Programs (CPEP) at both Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West, serving more than 6,000 patients yearly. Residents learn to manage psychiatric emergencies, conduct rapid assessments, and make critical decisions about patient care. The CPEP model includes extended observation beds, a mobile crisis team, and crisis residence beds, providing patients with much needed services and residents with a thorough understanding of emergency psychiatric care.

Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry

On this rotation, residents work closely with medical and surgical teams, responding to the complex psychiatric and psychosocial needs of hospitalized patients. They learn to provide assessments, crisis management and treatment recommendations, gaining invaluable experience in the intersection of psychiatry and general medicine.

Addiction Psychiatry

At the Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai, residents rotate through inpatient detoxification and rehabilitation services. They learn to assess and treat substance use disorders, honing their skills in motivational interviewing, medication-assisted therapies for alcohol, opioid and other substance use disorders, and other evidence-based treatments for addiction.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

During rotations in the child and adolescent inpatient unit at Mount Sinai Morningside, residents learn about acute care in this specialized population. They also obtain outpatient experiences in the Harlem Health Center Child Clinic and emergency setting, gaining exposure to a wide range of child and adolescent mental health issues. Electives in the CARES therapeutic high school, the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment and Center of Excellence in Eating and Weight Disorders can enhance the child training experience. 

Geriatric Psychiatry

Trainees gain experience in geriatric psychiatry through rotations at Mount Sinai Morningside and the Bronx VA, learning to address the unique mental health needs of older adults.

Outpatient Psychiatry

A significant portion of training occurs in our outpatient clinics, including the Adult Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic based in the Harlem Health Center. Residents provide both short-term and long-term care, learning various psychotherapy modalities and medication management for a diverse patient population. 

Veterans Affairs

Residents, particularly those in the VA Scholarly Track, will rotate through the James J. Peters VA Medical Center. Rotations at the VA offer unique experiences in the care of veterans, covering inpatient psychiatry, emergency services, consultation-liaison, and outpatient clinics. The specialty clinics include geriatric, addiction, integrated care, and research clinics.  Residents gain expertise in treating conditions prevalent in the veteran population, such as PTSD, while also engaging in cutting-edge research and therapies.

Public Psychiatry Pathway

For those passionate about public mental health, the Public Psychiatry Pathway offers mentoring and directed readings in community psychiatry, rotations in various community settings starting in PGY-3 and opportunities to work with underserved populations. This pathway prepares residents for a career in public psychiatry and includes experiences with assertive community treatment teams, homeless outreach and other community-based treatment programs. Residents complete a mentored project that may include review of a relevant topic, a systems-based intervention or an advocacy project.

Global Mental Health Track

The Global Mental Health Track provides a unique perspective on mental health care in diverse global settings. Residents have the opportunity to take a class on global mental health, offer virtual consultation to mental health providers overseas, and travel abroad to work with our international partners.  They learn about mental health care delivery in resource-limited settings, develop cross-cultural competence in psychiatric care, and engage in global mental health research or program development.

Educator Pathway

The Educator Pathway allows residents to focus on classroom teaching and curriculum development, develop clinical supervision skills, work closely with medical students and junior residents, create educational resources, review didactics and innovate in psychiatric education. They serve on the Education Committee throughout the residency and may be elected to the position of Chief Education Resident as a PGY-4. 

Psychotherapy Pathway

For residents who want to gain additional experience and expertise in psychotherapy, this pathway provides extra therapy supervision, a yearlong course in family and couples therapy, and more dedicated time to provide therapy.

Research Pathway

For residents interested in pursuing a career in psychiatric research, our Research Pathway offers dedicated time for research projects, with short blocks in PGY-2, longitudinal time in PGY-3 and extended full time in PGY-4. Residents receive mentorship from experienced researchers across the Mount Sinai Health System, support for grant applications and manuscript preparation and opportunities to present locally and at national conferences.

Veterans Affairs (VA) Scholarly Track

The VA Scholarly Track, beginning in July 2025, has its own match number and offers focused training at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx. The VA Track residents spend dedicated time learning about the unique psychiatric needs of veterans, engage in cutting-edge research on topics such as PTSD, suicide prevention, and innovative treatments, and work within the VA's single-payer system. They receive additional research time and mentorship, start VA outpatient clinics in PGY-2, and spend their full PGY-3 year at the VA. They share didactics, rotation and elective opportunities, and social events with the General Track residents.

Our program offers diverse research experiences across various psychiatric subspecialties, including clinical trials, neuroimaging studies, psychotherapy research, addiction research, health services research, translational research and more.

Residents in the VA Scholarly Track have unique opportunities to engage in research focused on veterans’ mental health. Current areas of investigation include suicide prevention, PTSD and trauma-related disorders, psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD, neuroimaging and biomarkers for addiction and psychotic disorders, and innovative treatments for personality disorders and dementia.

We provide comprehensive support for residents interested in conducting research. PGY-2 residents complete Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) training and can prepare their research plans by joining a research group from within the Mount Sinai Health System. PGY-3 residents can engage in research longitudinally for a half to a full day/week. PGY-4 residents can dedicate several full-time months to research projects, and faculty mentors are available to guide residents in developing and executing their studies. Our Introduction to Research course covers essential topics such as study design, ethics, basic statistics, and the IRB approval process. We also offer advanced training and assistance to Research Pathway residents in applying for research grants, support for presenting findings at national conferences, and guidance in preparing manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals.

Beyond traditional research, we encourage various scholarly activities. Residents can develop and implement quality improvement projects to enhance patient care, write up and publish clinical case reports, conduct comprehensive literature reviews, or create educational resources for medical students and other trainees.