By the Numbers

• 9 residents are accepted each year
• 36 positions are approved for our program
• 80+ faculty members train and mentor our residents

Benefits

• Competitive stipends
• A comprehensive benefits package: 
  • Medical, Dental, Hospitalization, and Pharmacy coverage
  • Life and Disability coverage
  • Malpractice coverage
• 21 days of annual vacation
• 5 additional personal days
• 5 educational days (board exams, conferences, etc)
• Yearly allowance for educational expenses

Program Accreditation

The Psychiatry Residency Program at University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Our four-year training program leads to board certification eligibility in psychiatry.

Where is Iowa City?

Iowa City is 220 miles directly west of Chicago on Interstate 80. It's also within a 4-5 hour drive to Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis, Omaha, Kansas City, and St. Louis. It has the cultural, educational, social, and political opportunities of a bigger city with the values and ambiance of a midwestern town. It is clean, safe, nothing is farther than a 15 minute car ride, it has a great city bus system (with bike racks!), wonderful parks, sports, schools, and even sailing. Those who have lived here and left, frequently return because what they were looking for was in their own back yard. But we're not the only ones who think Iowa City is great.

How diverse is your patient population?

We have a surprisingly large international community here, drawn both from the university students and staff and from refugee resettlement programs in the local area. Iowa City itself is 80% white and primarily English speaking, but it’s also quite common to hear Spanish, French, Swahili, and Lingala whether you’re out around town on a weekend or working in the clinic. We also have several small Amish and Mennonite communities in the area. The university works hard to recruit and retain a diverse group of residents and faculty and is regularly named to US News & World Report’s list of top employers for diversity, as well as its list of top employers for women.

What is there to do in Iowa City when you're not working?

There are 15 different festivals and art fairs, plus concerts and race events. There are many music venues, sports events and neighborhood street fairs and garden walks. We also have a really big mall and several smaller ones, 41 parks, nine golf courses, six public tennis courts, six public pools, some lakes and a reservoir with trails, camping, and boating. There are bike trails, some famous bookstores, a ton of galleries, and excellent museums. There are half a dozen or more performing arts venues including Hancher Auditorium. There is always something going on. Find more information from the Iowa City/Coralville Convention and Visitors Bureau.

What's Iowa City like for kids and families?

There's ice skating, bowling, organized sports, 50 public parks, miniature golf, a great public library, a toy library, fun centers, swimming pools and three beaches, nine museums including a children's museum, dance companies, and public recreation centers that feature many activities for kids and families at little or no cost. We also have 20 movie screens and 50 licensed daycare providers. The Iowa City schools are perennially ranked among the top schools in the nation. Iowa City is unique in the facilities and services available for individuals with disabilities. Many families who have a family member with a disability are reluctant to leave Iowa City because they cannot duplicate those services in another location.

Are there any job opportunities for my spouse/significant other?

Yes! The major industries in our area are healthcare, education, manufacturing, and defense, but many jobs in other fields are also available. The university maintains an office dedicated to helping partners of new hires find work in the area. See the University’s Dual Career Services page for more information on this service. 

What are the fellowship opportunities available?

We currently offer fellowship opportunities in child and adolescent psychiatry, consult-liaison psychiatry, addiction medicine, palliative care and pain management, among others.

Is this a family friendly program?

Yes, the residency is supportive of residents in their efforts to balance work with family life. We have several physician residents with young families and understand the stresses associated with attempting to find a balance. Women residents receive up to six weeks of paid maternity leave after delivery. Men get five working days off for paternity leave. The house staff health insurance policy provides generous coverage options for spouses and children. There are several childcare facilities near the hospital and one on-site. The training program also has frequent group activities, many of which are kid-friendly, including pumpkin carving, the local NAMI walk, and an annual Halloween party.

Is there sufficient patient volume so that I can have multiple exposures to a variety of diseases?

With 2,200 annual inpatient admissions and 31,000 clinic visits, our residents have the opportunity to see plenty of patients with the most common psychiatric presentations as well as the most complicated. Our inpatient units include specialized areas for adults with mood disorders, psychotic disorders, and substance disorders. There are also specialized units for children and older adults. Residents see patients in various outpatient clinics, including the university Adult Psychiatry Clinic, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic, Women’s Wellness and Counseling Service, Huntington’s Disease Clinic, VA clinic, and the Abbe Center for Community Mental Health. Our department also receives and manages referrals for specialized services such as ECT and TMS.

What's the call schedule like?

As a resident in our program, you will not be on call more than every fourth night. Junior residents (first- and second-years) are on call about four times per month. Senior residents (third- and fourth-years) are on call two times per month. First- and second-year residents take call in-house with the senior resident available from home as backup. Two junior residents work together during the evenings and on weekend day shifts, and one resident is in-house overnight. We operate a night float system, meaning no one takes 24 hour in-house call.

Do you have a research project requirement for graduation?

All residents are required to fulfill the ACGME requirement of completing a scholarly activity or QI project during training. We have no additional formal requirement for research, but there are many options to pursue additional research if that is your interest.

What's Iowa got that other programs don't?

• A large catchment area and a wide array of specialized units and services, including geriatric unit, medicine psychiatry unit, electroconvulsive service, women’s wellness clinic, chemical dependency clinic, VA clinic, and Huntington’s disease clinic
• A collaborative environment with opportunities to work with departments across the institution
• A highly intellectual community with premier arts events that are accessible to residents in terms of cost and location
• An outstanding school system for children in grades K-12
• A great training program and a high quality of life at an affordable price

During the first two years of education, residents receive training in psychiatry, medicine, and neurology. These experiences occur both in the inpatient and outpatient settings.

First Year

Psychiatry

Approximately half of the first year is spent training on the inpatient psychiatry units. This occurs at both the University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center and the Iowa City VA Medical Center.
At UI Health Care Medical Center, the adult psychiatry units are organized by primary diagnosis: mood disorders, psychotic disorders, and geriatric psychiatry. We also have an inpatient child psychiatry unit with dedicated pediatric inpatient eating disorder beds. UIHC’s Crisis Stabilization Unit and work on-call provides residents with experience in the emergency psychiatry setting.

With a total of 86 adult psychiatric beds, 15 pediatric psychiatry beds, 15 medicine-psychiatry beds and 12 crisis stabilization beds, the University of Iowa provides residents with a diverse array of inpatient experiences. We also benefit from the use of large multidisciplinary treatment teams on all units, so residents will learn how to collaborate with social work, occupational therapy, dieticians, pharmacists, families, and others in the care of complex psychiatric patients.

Neurology

Residents will spend one month on the inpatient neurology service. They spend an additional month in the outpatient neurology clinic. When rotating on neurology, residents are supervised by senior neurology residents and staff with an attending neurologist.

The University of Iowa provides many additional opportunities to gain exposure to neurology, via participation in ongoing research or clinical electives in the Huntington’s Disease Clinic or the neuropsychology clinic.

Internal Medicine-Psychiatry

The University of Iowa boasts one of the nation’s 16 combined internal medicine-psychiatry residency programs, and is one of the few such programs with its own inpatient medicine-psychiatry unit. Patients on this unit meet inpatient admission criteria for both medical and psychiatric illness, and this unit is where psychiatry interns will complete their required two months of inpatient medicine. This is a great place to learn about the medical sequelae of psychiatric complications such as NMS or complex overdoses. The unit is typically staffed by attending physicians who are board-certified in both specialties, or by a team of two attending physicians (one psychiatrist and one internal medicine physician).

Primary Care Clinic

An additional two months of the first year are spent training in outpatient medicine. Residents may choose between internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatrics. Residents who opt to participate in the rural medicine track will spend their primary care months at a rural family medicine clinic in Washington County, Iowa.

Second Year

Rotations through the general adult inpatient units continue in second year, and residents also begin their exposure to the psychiatric sub-specialties, including child and adolescent psychiatry, addiction medicine, and interventional psychiatry. Additionally, residents begin their outpatient experience with one half-day per week in the university psychiatry clinic, where they will provide medication management and can opt to begin providing psychotherapy as well if desired.

Interventional Psychiatry

The interventional psychiatry rotation provides residents with exposure to procedures such as ECT, TMS, esketamine, and deep brain stimulation.

Addiction Medicine

Residents will spend one month in a variety of settings which focus on addiction medicine. These include the Coralville VA’s dual diagnosis clinic and UIHC’s medication assisted treatment (MAT) clinic, as well as the university’s dual diagnosis and substance abuse partial hospitalization programs. Residents will gain experience in the treatment of substance use disorders along with comorbid psychiatric diagnoses.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

During two months of the second year, residents receive training in child and adolescent psychiatry in a combination of inpatient and outpatient settings. The University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center is home to a 15-bed child psychiatry unit and a large child psychiatry outpatient clinic. Additionally, residents who wish to pursue a career in child and adolescent psychiatric can continue their training in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency. 

Consult-Liaison Service

Residents complete at least one month of training on the consult-liaison service, which is staffed by a psychiatry attending and led by the consult fellow. Residents will evaluate a wide variety of psychiatric disturbances that among the medically ill. They will additionally gain experience consulting and collaborating with non-psychiatric colleagues. Residents return to the consult-liaison team as seniors to deepen their exposure to this area.

The majority of a resident's third year is split between the adult psychiatry clinics at University of Iowa and the Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic, with an additional elective longitudinal component at the Abbe Center, a local community mental health center, for residents with interest in community psychiatry. All residents participate in both medication management and supervised psychotherapy during this year of their training.

Residents also have opportunities for elective continuity clinics in a wide range of specialty areas, including medication assisted treatment, community psychiatry (based in the local homeless shelter), women’s wellness, and crisis stabilization. Those who are interested in deepening their psychotherapy experience can choose to work with one of our group therapy offerings, including STEPPS (developed here at Iowa!) or DBT.

At University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center, residents see patients with a variety of illnesses – depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, personality disorders, substance use disorders, eating disorders, adjustment disorders, etc. Appointments are generally 90 minutes in length for a diagnostic evaluation and 45 minutes for follow-up medication management. This gives residents time to take a thorough, independent history while also allowing time for staffing and education.

After seeing the patient independently, residents will staff with an attending physician in a dedicated conference room, and then both the resident and the attending physician return to the patient’s room to finish the visit. Residents also have at least one half-day of clinic reserved to see patients for psychotherapy.

At the Veterans Affairs clinic, return appointments are 30 minutes. An attending physician is always in-house and cases must be discussed before leaving for the day, but residents may conduct and conclude the appointment independently if they feel comfortable doing so, providing an opportunity for increased autonomy.

During the fourth year, residents are able to further pursue their own specialized interests. 11 blocks of the year are dedicated for electives where the resident can organize their schedule to include a variety of educational experiences. A resident may choose to repeat past rotations for more in-depth learning, as listed under the first three years. Designing one's own electives is also supported. Options might include work in pharmacology, psychotherapy, community psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, and/or research. One may opt to rotate in settings such as a prison, the partial hospitalization program, a homeless shelter, a drug treatment facility, or the Center for Disabilities and Development. These are only some examples, a resident need only demonstrate that an experience be educational and coordinate with the appropriate people.

The other two blocks of the year, the fourth year resident will function as a senior resident on one of the inpatient psychiatry units or the consult service. The resident will have more of a leadership role and will be responsible for supervising junior residents and medical students. There will also be significant opportunities to teach junior residents and medical students. Fourth year residents on the inpatient units usually carry one to two patients on their own and are not expected to round on the inpatient units on holidays and weekends.

For a half-day each week, the resident is allowed to continue treating a sample of his or her patients from the year prior in a continuity clinic. Residents are given greater autonomy with patients during the fourth year, and the continuity of care can be truly rewarding. Two hours each week of psychotherapy patients are also required during the fourth year and are often included in half-day a week of continuity clinic. The fourth year resident also continues to learn by attending didactic sessions and providing support on back-up call about twice per block.

Junior Call

As a PGY-1 and PGY-2, the junior residents take in-house call. For the first four call shifts, the PGY-1 residents are on-call with an in-house senior resident taking “training call.” A PGY-2 is also in-house to assist during training.

After the completion of training call, two junior residents are in-house from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Monday through Friday (“short call”) and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday (“long call” or “day call”). Additionally, a junior resident takes call from Saturday at 8 p.m. to Sunday at 8 a.m.

The other six nights of the week are covered by a dedicated PGY-2 night float resident. Call coverage is limited to the University of Iowa, and junior residents take an average of four call shifts per four week block.

Night Float

A PGY-2 will spend one four-week block on night float. The night float resident works 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. on Sunday night and 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. Monday through Friday night.

Senior Call

The PGY-3 and PGY-4 residents take home call, serving as a back-up to the junior residents. During senior call, the senior resident is available by telephone or pager if juniors need support during their call shift. Most often, this involves staffing consults or patients to be discharged from the emergency room. The senior resident will listen to the case, ask pertinent questions, and help develop an appropriate management plan. On rare occasions, the senior resident is called into the hospital; examples include high patient census, junior resident illness, or a very complicated case. On average, senior call occurs twice per block.

Didactics for All Psychiatry Residents

Grand Rounds

• Who: Residents and faculty
• Attendance: Required

Description: Distinguished visitors or departmental faculty members present interesting and challenging patients or discuss topics of special interest. Most grand rounds include a case presentation, typically with a live interview. Relevant literature, including the natural history and current treatment of the disorder, is presented, reviewed, and discussed.

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Journal Club

• Who: Residents
• Attendance: Required

Description: In this twice-monthly seminar, a resident presents a current journal article for review and discussion. With a faculty member serving as facilitator, the methods and design of the study, as well as the results and conclusions are discussed. Journal club always begins with a “mini-lesson” by a faculty member on a selected topic in evidence-based medicine. In addition to helping residents remain well-informed on current research topics, the seminar encourages critical thinking about current literature.

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Psychopharmacology

• Who: Residents
• Attendance: Required

Description: Faculty members and clinical psychopharmacologists provide up-to-date information on psychotropic medications and their use. These lectures review the neurochemistry, efficacy, side effects, contraindications, drug interactions, and long term effects of the medications we commonly prescribe. Additional topics include acute and maintenance treatment of the major disorders, considerations for pediatric and geriatric populations, treatment of refractory cases, management of drug-induced illnesses and side effects, and treatment of drug overdose and withdrawal.

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Chair Rounds

• Who: Residents
• Attendance: Required

Description: Residents present a detailed case summary to a rotating faculty member. After the presentation, the patient is interviewed by the faculty member. Following the patient interview, the faculty member leads a discussion in which residents are encouraged to comment on an aspect of the case.

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Didactics for First and Second Year Psychiatry Residents

Psychotherapy

• Attendance: Required

Description: The history of psychotherapy, interview methods, and types of psychotherapy are discussed by faculty members. Some topics include:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• Motivational Interviewing
• Dialectic Behavioral Therapy
• Family and Marriage therapy
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
• Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Practical applications include the therapist-patient alliance, transference, countertransference, resistance, strategies for change, and termination. The purpose of this series is to provide residents with a solid foundation for their supervised psychotherapy experience in their third and fourth years.

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Foundational Psychiatry Lectures

• Attendance: Required 

Description: Faculty members lecture on the psychopathology of major psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, eating disorders, substance use, forensic psychiatry, and personality disorders. The series also provides an introduction to the mental status examination, psychiatric emergencies, psychological testing, commitment procedures, and utilization review.

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Didactics for Third and Fourth Year Psychiatry Residents

Psychotherapy

• Attendance: Required for third year residents

Description: The history of psychotherapy, interview methods, and types of psychotherapy are discussed by faculty members. Some topics include:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• Motivational Interviewing
• Dialectic Behavioral Therapy
• Family and Marriage therapy
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
• Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Practical applications include the therapist-patient alliance, transference, countertransference, resistance, strategies for change, and termination. The purpose of this series is to provide residents with a solid foundation for their supervised psychotherapy experience in their third and fourth years.

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Foundational Psychiatry Lectures

• Attendance: Required

Description: Faculty members lecture on the psychopathology of major psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, eating disorders, substance use, forensic psychiatry, and personality disorders. The series also provides an introduction to the mental status examination, psychiatric emergencies, psychological testing, commitment procedures, and utilization review.

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Other Didactics

Clinical Skills Exams

All psychiatry residents have biannual clinical skills exams with an assigned faculty member. This involves interviewing a patient unknown to the resident and then presenting the case to the faculty member, including all relevant history, discussing case formulation, differential diagnosis, and treatment plans.

Psychotherapy Supervision

Third and fourth year residents are required to meet regularly with their assigned psychotherapist (one hour per week) to discuss ongoing therapy patients and their treatment. 

Ongoing departmental and residency program communication:

• Resident-only lunches
• Program Director lunches
• Clinical updates
• R1 Chief Medical Officer orientations
• Individual class leadership meetings with Drs. Nopoulos, Crocker, and Van Den Beldt

Structured opportunities for resident involvement and leadership:

• Diversity Interest Group Meetings
• Residency Policy Committee Meetings
• Resident Liaison Committee Meetings
• Resident Wellness Committee Meetings

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Psychiatry Conferences

All residents are encouraged to attend annual psychiatry conferences that take place throughout the United States. These include, but are not limited to, conferences held by the American Psychiatric Association, Iowa Psychiatric Society, Academy of Consult-Liaison Psychiatry, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, and American Neuropsychiatric Association and conferences sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

In addition, residents are encouraged to attend psychotherapy workshops including training events sponsored by the Iowa Psychotherapy Training Institute at the University of Iowa. These events have new topics annually and include training in interpersonal psychotherapy, motivational interviewing, and acceptance and commitment therapy.

Residents are given five excused educational days each year to attend educational events related to psychiatry, separate from their other paid time off, as well as a small academic fund to help defray the associated expenses.

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Psychotherapy Supervision

Third and fourth year residents are required to meet regularly with their assigned psychotherapist (one hour per week) to discuss ongoing therapy patients and their treatment.

Second year residents are also given the option of beginning longitudinal psychotherapy cases with supervision for a half-day per week.

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The Department of Psychiatry offers three specialty tracks for residents who desire a special emphasis on research, geriatric psychiatry, or child and adolescent psychiatry during their residency training.  

Research Track

The UI Department of Psychiatry offers a research track (RT) for selected residents with a strong interest in research. Typically, these individuals will have demonstrated interest through prior research experiences, publications, and presentations. The expectation is that RT residents will develop into highly skilled physician-scientists. RT residents are assigned a faculty mentor to help begin the process of professional development. The mentor is typically a senior investigator in the trainee’s area of interest. Thus, research mentors are also available in other departments within the Carver College of Medicine. Residents are provided with dedicated research time during their four years of training. These experiences involve supervised laboratory and/or clinic experimentation, as well as independent scholarly literature review. Click to learn more about the research track.

PGY-1

• Resident is assigned a faculty mentor
• Training plan is developed to fit trainee’s research interests
• One block dedicated to research experience

PGY-2

• Two blocks dedicated to research experience

PGY-3

• Resident transitions to outpatient clinic blocks in third year
• 40% effort (2 days per week) allotted to research experience

PGY-4

• Continued engagement in research block electives as able
• Develop applications for fellowship training or individual career development award
• Apply for faculty positions, if desired

RT residents are encouraged to publish a scholarly review or empirical experimental findings. They are additionally encouraged to participate in a national or international scientific meeting (supported by the department).

The RT resident may also be eligible to enter the Physician Scientist Training Pathway (PSTP). Find additional information about the PSTP program here.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) Track

Residents in the General Psychiatry Training Program with interest in completing a CAP fellowship have the opportunity to participate in our Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) track. 

Residents accepted into the CAP track will have the following experiences during their General Psychiatry training:

PGY-1

• Assigned Child and Adolescent faculty mentor
• 1-2 blocks of Pediatrics as part of primary care requirement
• Invitations to CAP didactics

PGY-2

• Optional second year COC clinic in the CAP outpatient clinic
• 2-3 blocks of Child and Adolescent psychiatry (inpatient and outpatient)
• Invitations to CAP didactics
• Opportunities to receive mentorship from CAP research faculty

PGY-3

• One half-day of CAP clinic during the third year outpatient clinic experience
• Opportunities to co-facilitate outpatient DBT group with adolescents
• Opportunity to participate in preschool observation or autism full team evaluations

PGY-4 & 5

• Resident formally enters the CAP Residency

For more details related to the University of Iowa’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency, please visit the program’s webpage.

Public and Rural Health Track

The Public and Rural Psychiatry Track is designed to provide an added focus for residents who are passionate about mental healthcare delivery models and would like increased experiences in the public psychiatry sector. Residents who complete the track will be equipped to become leaders in community psychiatry and engaged in population-level mental healthcare. Residents will be introduced to a variety of models of care throughout their training. The goal of the track is to increase the number of psychiatrists prepared to meet the recruitment and retention needs of public agencies in Iowa.

Residents are assigned a mentor who has an interest in public and rural psychiatry to work with throughout their training. During the four years of psychiatry training, a variety of additional opportunities are available to track residents, including family medicine rotations in rural communities, opportunities to work with community agencies, participate in telepsychiatry to rural communities, engage in additional lectures and workshops focused on public and rural psychiatry, and work in a variety of psychiatry practices located in rural Iowa settings.

Intellectual and Developmental Disability (IDD) Track

The UI Department of Psychiatry offers an Intellectual and Development Disability (IDD) Track to psychiatry residents who are interested in obtaining specialized training, education and experience in working with individuals with an intellectual and/or development disability (IDD). UI Health Care Medical Center is home to numerous specialized programs which all focus on improving the lives of individuals with IDD through clinical care, education, advocacy and research. This track can be tailored to focus on clinical, advocacy and/or research experiences depending on the learner’s interests. For residents that want to focus on research, this track can be combined with the Research Track at UI Health Care Medical Center.

The IDD Track supervisor will work with each resident in this track to tailor their experiences to their individual interests. In addition there will be a monthly IDD journal club offered to all IDD Track participants.

Interventional Psychiatry (IPSY) Track

The division of Interventional Psychiatry at the University of Iowa has robust clinical and research programs involving different treatment modalities. Clinically, we have an active Electroconvulsive Treatment (ECT) service performing over 2,000 treatments each year. Our Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) program administers treatment for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and also performs navigated TMS for pre-surgical mapping. Trainees can receive exposure to a variety of TMS stimulators and neuronavigation equipment from different manufacturers (Magventure, Magstim, Nexstim, Localite, Brainsight, and other). We have active and growing intranasal esketamine and intravenous ketamine services. In addition, we are the only site in the state of Iowa and one of few in the Midwest region with an interdisciplinary team capable of managing patients with Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for treatment of OCD and Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) for the treatment of refractory depression.

Roughly half of our IPSY faculty are research/tenure-track faculty and we have active research programs involving TMS, ECT, DBS, and esketamine. We are involved in the GenECT study and have been identified as one of four sites in the U.S. to recruit subjects for an inpatient accelerated intermittent theta-bust stimulation (aiTBS) trial. We also maintain a biomarker registry of patients who receive interventional treatments and have close collaborations with the departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery, as well as the Iowa Neuroscience Institute.

The main objective of the IPSY track is to develop psychiatrists highly skilled in the assessment for and delivery of IPSY treatment modalities. Enrollment in this track provides opportunity for close mentorship with IPSY faculty as well as expanded exposure to the IPSY service. Residents’ experience will be tailored to their individual interests. For those interested in research, enrollment in the IPSY track may be combined with enrollment in the Physician Scientist Training Pathway.

For inquiry on the IPSY track, please contact Dr. Anthony Purgianto (anthony-purgianto@uiowa.edu).

At the University of Iowa, residents with and without previous research experience have the opportunity to participate in research during residency. They are encouraged to select a project and a mentor that is tailored to their areas of interest. For selected residents with previous research experience and with a strong interest in a career as a physician-scientist, the program offers a formal Research Track. This includes unique resources from within the Department of Psychiatry, and is further enhanced via our partnership with the University of Iowa’s Physician-Scientist Training Pathway. 

The Psychiatry Research Track at the University of Iowa supports residents’ career development as future physician-scientists.  A limited number of residents are admitted to this track as it is designed for those who have developed laboratory or clinical research skills prior to entering residency. 

Through the Iowa Neuroscience Institute, the University of Iowa remains a leader in ongoing neuroscience research. The institute allows for neuroscience research to be conducted collaboratively, amongst scientists in diverse fields of study. A few areas of research include neurodegenerative diseases, molecular psychiatry, and behavioral neuroscience. Additionally, the University is home to the Iowa Neuroimaging Consortium, recognized as one of the founding leaders in the field of neuroimaging. Important research across many domains in psychiatry is also moving forward at Iowa in conjunction with the Hawk-Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (Hawk-IDDRC), Iowa Institute of Human Genetics, Scanlan Center for School Mental Health, and the Native Center for Behavioral Health among other vibrant research programs.

Participating residents may tailor this track to meet their individual needs and interests. Each resident is paired with a mentor who provides supervision and evaluates the resident’s progress. Each participant will also become part of the broader Carver College of Medicine Physician-Scientist Training Pathway, and thus benefit from the interaction with trainees from Medicine, Pediatrics, Neurology, and other departments.

Residents participating in the University of Iowa Psychiatry Research Track have the opportunity set aside significant amounts of time during training to develop their research projects. Our research track residents can set aside up to 8% research time in the first year, 23% research time in their second year, and up to an average of 50% research time over the third and fourth years (residents have the flexibility to decide how they want these years structured).

Additionally, funding support for research projects is available. The University of Iowa Physician Scientist Training Program provides up to $4,000 pear year to support the costs of research projects for participating residents. Residents are also able to apply for additional funding for research through multiple internal grant-supported programs including the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, Hawk-IDDRC, Pappajohn Biomedical Institute Microfinance Program, and the Mollie Tibbetts Memorial Fund for Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

 

Mark Niciu, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry

Faculty Advisor, Psychiatry Resident Research Track

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Some of our current residents participating in the Physician-Scientist Training Program (PSTP):

 

Amanda Benavides, MD, PhD

Dr. Benavides is a graduate of the University of Iowa’s Medical Scientist Training Program and earned her PhD in Neuroscience. Some of her work to date includes examining early brain imaging outcomes, with a plan to translate these neuroimaging techniques into projects involving young patients at risk for psychotic disorders as part of the Psychosis-risk Intervention, Education, and Research (PIER) Program, a comprehensive clinical research center at the University of Iowa with goals of addressing the mental health needs of those aged 12-45 who are experiencing unusual changes in their mood, thoughts, perception, and/or behavior.  Other current research interests include an upcoming pilot study on Psilocybin-Assisted vs Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy for Alcohol Use Disorder.

Carly van der Heide, MD, PhD

Dr. van der Heide has a special interest in working with individuals with intellectual disabilities. She is completing the residency program’s Intellectual and Developmental Disability (IDD) Track and is also involved in research focused on rare genetic mutations that are associated with intellectual disability, epilepsy, and autism. She is interested in using informatics approaches to work towards a better understanding of ways to improve care for individuals with intellectual disabilities. She is originally from California and is a graduate of the University of Iowa Medical Scientist Training Program with a PhD in molecular physiology and biophysics.

Jackson Richards, MD, PhD

Dr. Richards completed a PhD in oncological sciences before discovering his passion for psychiatry. He brings his background in exploring the mechanism of disease and pursuing personalized medicine to the study of mental illness. His primary areas of interest are mood disorders and interventional psychiatry, particularly neuromodulation. Dr. Richards is currently working with Dr. Nick Trapp on novel applications of rTMS.

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Our INSPIRE T32 Research Fellowship Program also provides meaningful resources and mentorship for individuals beginning a career as a physician-scientist, and research track residents can pursue this fellowship program after residency graduation.

Some graduates of our INSPIRE T32 Research Fellowship Program: 

 

Nick Trapp, MD

Dr. Trapp is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at the University of Iowa who specializes in procedural treatments for neuropsychiatric conditions. He is currently the director of the interventional psychiatry service. He grew up in Cary, Illinois in the suburbs of Chicago. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame where he received Bachelor degrees in Sociology and Preprofessional Studies, and remains an avid Notre Dame football fan. He completed medical school at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, NE, followed by residency training in psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis. He completed a 2-year neuromodulation and neuroscience fellowship program at the University of Iowa in 2019, where he is currently serving as an Assistant Professor. Most recently, he completed a 1-year Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Neurology fellowship at Stanford University. Dr. Trapp’s research focuses on clinical and translational projects related to brain stimulation.  Interests include neuropsychiatry, neurostimulation, traumatic brain injury, device development, clinical trials, treatment-resistant mood disorders, scientific communication, education, and neuroimaging. Non-clinical interests include sports, hiking, reading, travel, and spending time with his wife and kids.

https://trapp.lab.uiowa.edu/people-0

Aubrey Chan, MD, PhD

Mental illnesses such as anxiety disorder are very common but have always been challenging to study because most symptoms are subjective, qualitative, and can vary widely across different individuals.  The brain is also more complex than many other organs because different regions of the brain can serve very different functions.  Our goal is to identify objective neurophysiologic patterns that underlie subjective responses to threats and other stimuli.  We are also interested in connecting behavior with body physiology such as changes in respiration.  We use mouse models and implanted electrodes to measure and analyze field potential and individual neuron activity during responses to different stimuli.  Parallel studies in human subjects are also underway in collaboration with the neurosurgery department.

Research areas

• Cellular and molecular neuroscience
• Systems neuroscience
• Behavioral neuroscience
• Computational neuroscience
• Ion channels
• Psychiatric disorders
• Frontal cortex
• Amygdala
• Fear learning
• Respiration
• In vivo electrophysiology
• Transgenic models
• Animal behavior 

 

Learn more about:

• Department of Psychiatry’s current research efforts
• Huntington’s Disease Center of Excellence

 

Our Physician-Scientist Training Pathway allows residents to continue to develop as scientists and to keep abreast of advances in technology and in their area of research.

A limited number of residents are admitted to this program as it is designed for those who have developed laboratory or clinical research skills prior to entering residency.

Residents may elect to spend up to three months of each post-graduate year in a molecular genetics, neuroscience, or neuropharmacology laboratory, or in a clinical neuroscience laboratory, to learn new techniques or to assist in on-going research projects.

Participating residents may tailor this track to meet their individual needs and interests.

Each resident is paired with a mentor who provides supervision and evaluates the resident’s progress. Each participant will also become part of the broader Carver College of Medicine Physician-Scientist Training Pathway, and thus benefit from the interaction with trainees from medicine, pediatrics, neurology, and other departments.

The psychotherapy curriculum includes longitudinal training through weekly didactic seminars, psychotherapy supervision, and clinic experiences.

During the PGY-1 year, residents will have weekly didactics seminars on the topics of supportive therapy, motivational interviewing, and mindfulness.

In the PGY-2 year, training expands to include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Group Therapy, and Family Therapy. Second-year residents begin getting exposure to CBT and DBT group therapy sessions while on selected clinical rotations. As early as the PGY-2 year, residents can begin seeing psychotherapy patients in the adult psychiatry clinic.

For PGY-3 residents, psychotherapy seminars are lengthened to include the theoretical basis and practical aspects of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (an advanced seminar series), Psychodynamic Therapy, Mentalization-Based Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

During the PGY-3 and -4 years, residents see patients for individual therapy on a weekly basis, and they meet weekly with their assigned psychotherapy supervisor. Residents have one half-day per week starting in their third year dedicated to seeing psychotherapy patients.

Another opportunity for psychotherapy training includes co-leading one of the department’s STEPPS groups, designed to support patients diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. The program, originally developed by clinicians at the University of Iowa, is utilized on an international scale as an evidence-based treatment for BPD.

Residents may also choose from a variety of psychotherapy-specific electives during their PGY-4 year. Learn more about elective opportunities. Residents can also elect to use their CME funds to attend a conference for more in-depth training into a specific psychotherapy.

An outstanding feature of the Psychiatry Residency Program at University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center is the camaraderie among residents. Residents enjoy many activities together, including casual get-togethers, annual parties, and conferences.

• Welcome Dinner at the Chairman’s house
• Matball - Residents vs. Faculty
• Iowa State Fair (a group of residents go most years)
• Karaoke
• Halloween Party
• Ugly Sweater Party
• Super Bowl Party
• Doc Dash
• ​NAMI Walk
• Trivia nights
• Orchard visit
• Local minor league games (baseball, indoor football, hockey)
• Farmer’s market visits
• Community Theater and Shakespeare in the Park
• Physician on the Hill Day (a group of residents joined visited with congress people at the state capitol)
• Several conferences including APA (American Psychiatric Association), IPS (Iowa Psychiatric Society), AMP (Association of Medicine and Psychiatry) and others

Marisa Ascencio, MD
22-23 UIHC Quality Leadership Academy
2022 Graduated from the HEAL-USA Program, launched by UT Southwestern's Office of Faculty Diversity & Development

Amanda Benavides, MD, PhD
2023 Honorable Mention recognition for the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Outstanding Resident Award
APA Diversity Leadership Fellow

Bill Chen, MD
2023 UIHC GME Excellence in Clinical Teaching Nominee
2021 ACLP Annual Meeting Training Grant for CLP

Lena Maginot, MD
23-24 UIHC Quality Leadership Award

Brooke Olson, MD
23-25 APA Public Psychiatry Fellowship

Jackson Richards, MD, PhD
2023 UIHC GME Excellence in Clinical Teaching Award

Carolyn Wong, MD
2022 University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Student Government (CCOMSG) M4 Resident of the Year

Nicole Woodson-DeFauw, MD
APA/SAMHSA Substance Abuse Minority Fellowship

Kevin John Rivera, MD
APA/APAF Diversity Leadership Fellowship

Stephen Brennan, MD
UIHC Quality Leadership Academy

Brandon Neisewander, MD

• Nicholas T. Trapp, M.D., M.S., Benjamin D. Pace, M.S., Brandon Neisewander, M.D., Patrick Ten Eyck, Ph.D., Aaron D. Boes, M.D., Ph.D. A randomized trial comparing Beam F3 and 5.5 cm targeting in rTMS treatment of depression demonstrates similar effectiveness. Brain Stimulation. 2023 Sep 14;16(5):1392-1400. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37714408.
• Neisewander, B., & Trapp, N. (2023). Electroconvulsive therapy complicated by ventricular fibrillation: A case report. Annals of clinical psychiatry: official journal of the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists, 35(2), 133-134. https://doi.org/10.12788/acp.0105
• Neisewander B. (2023). Idiopathic burning mouth syndrome treated with electroconvulsive therapy. Annals of clinical psychiatry : official journal of the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists, 35(1), 137–138. https://doi.org/10.12788/acp.0099 PMID: 36716469
• Neisewander, B., & McGinty, K. (2023). The Practitioner's Guide to the Science of Psychotherapy. American journal of psychotherapy, appipsychotherapy20220051. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.20220051 PMID: 36762390
• Writing selected for the Editor’s Choice in Psychiatric Services for the October 2021 Issue

Nicholas Bormann, MD

• Bormann NL, Borcherding N, Crotts SB, Ortolan LS, et al. A transcriptomic map of murine and human alopecia areata. JCI Insight. 2020 Jul;5(13). DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.137424.

Jacob Miller, MD, PhD

• Miller JN, van der Plas E, Hamilton MJ, Miller JN, et al. Brain Structural Features of Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 and their Relationship with CTG Repeats. Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases. 2019 ;6(3):321-332. DOI: 10.3233/jnd-190397.
• Miller JN, Black DW. Bipolar Disorder and Suicide: a Review. Current Psychiatry Reports. 2020 Jan;22(2):6. DOI

Nicholas Bormann, MD

• Bormann NL, Allen J, Shaw M, Black DW. Religiosity and chance beliefs in persons with DSMIV pathological gambling enrolled in a longitudinal follow-up study. J Gambl Stud. 2019 Borcherding N, Bormann NL, Voigt AP, Zhang W. TRGAted: A web tool for survival analysis using protein data in the Cancer Genome Atlas. F1000Res. 2018;7:1235.
• Shinozaki G, Bormann NL, Chan AC, et al. Identification of high mortality risk patients and prediction of outcomes in delirium by Bispectral EEG. J Clin Psychiatry, 2019 in press.
• Kolb R, Kluz P, Tan ZW, Borcherding N, Bormann NL, ... , Zhang, W. Obesity-associated inflammation promotes angiogenesis and breast cancer via angiopoietin-like 4. Oncogene. 2019;38(13):2351-2363.
• Heinzman JT, Hoth KF, Cho MH, ... , Bormann NL, ... , Shinozaki G. GWAS and systems biology analysis of depressive symptoms among smokers from the COPDGene cohort. J Affect Disord. 2019;243:16-22.

Shea Jorgensen, MD

• Jorgensen SM. A Place Called Home. American Association of Community Psychiatrists Newsletter. 32(2), Oct 2018.
• Jorgensen SM, Jorgensen MC, Fiedorowicz JG, Williams NA. Increasing the impact of IMPACT on preventable health conditions. Poster presentation at the American Psychiatric Association IPS Conference, Chicago, IL. Oct 2018.