Welcome to the Internal Medicine-Psychiatry training program at the University of Iowa! As the Department Chair in Psychiatry, I am excited about our educational mission. We are a highly regarded psychiatry department nationally in clinical care and research. We similarly believe we are a top department in the educational domain, as we are deeply committed to excellence in teaching, and have had great success in turning out well trained and highly sought after residents. Certainly our Internal Medicine-Psychiatry residents have often been among our best.
We are very proud of the success of our combined training programs. Our medical psychiatry inpatient unit has a national and international reputation for its unique blend of internal medicine and psychiatry expertise, typically under the direction of a dually trained physician. Additionally, we are one of only three departments in the country that has both a combined Internal Medicine-Psychiatry and a combined Family Medicine-Psychiatry residency. These programs are built on the strong backbone of our department’s historic commitment to medical psychiatry. Witness former Department Chair George Winokur’s 1994 book The Medical Basis of Psychiatry, and the 2010 book edited by another former Department Chair, Bob Robinson, along with Clinical Professor Jim Amos, Psychosomatic Medicine: An Introduction to Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.
The department has been training psychiatrists since the 1920s, with the first of these being Dr. George Sprague, who graduated in 1922. He went on to a distinguished career that included being on the committee that wrote the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual or DSM, in 1952. Training in the combined Internal Medicine-Psychiatry program began in the 1980s under Dr. Roger Kathol. One of his first dually trained mentees was Dr. David Lewis, who went on to become a very successful schizophrenia researcher, and the current Chair of Psychiatry at University of Pittsburgh.
Our Program Director, Dr. Vicki Kijewski, is a model clinician and teacher. She has been called “thoughtful, compassionate and a fierce advocate for her patients.” Dr. Kijewski has won eight different Teacher of the Year awards within the University of Iowa, and she has been an active educator outside of our walls, lecturing widely around the state, and at national meetings such as the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry. This year, an Associate Program Director will come on board, Dr. Hanna Zembrzuska, who was dually trained at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and currently serves as Associate Program Director in psychiatry there.
Our faculty includes some of the world's most distinguished investigators, whose presence contributes to a spirit of inquiry. For example, Dr. Nancy Andreasen, has made key contributions to our understanding of clinical features and brain structure changes in schizophrenia. And Dr. Bill Coryell has illuminated the long-term course of mood disorders. The research of these and other experts provides residents with the latest information about the causes and treatments for many mental disorders.
Residents have an opportunity to learn and ask questions of leaders in their field, including, for example, Dr. Black, an expert on anxiety and impulse control disorders, and Dr. Michael Flaum, an expert on the treatment of schizophrenia, and President of the American Association of Community Psychiatrists. Faculty members receive high marks for their teaching and for providing high quality patient care. Teaching occurs through didactic courses and seminars, but also through informal interactions. I personally see patients with our residents and discuss case formulation and management with them. A casual atmosphere encourages interaction between residents and faculty.
Many residents have published the results of research projects or literature reviews under the supervision of a faculty member, an activity that provides another valuable educational experience (about 60% do so). Some of our residents participate in the College of Medicine’s Physician Scientist Training Program. This unique program provides opportunities for mentorship, peer support, and funding to support research.
Our goal is to provide residents with a broad education that will prepare them for life-long self-learning and dedication to the practice of psychiatry at the forefront of evolving knowledge. We seek to provide residents with a variety of educational experiences so that they may choose among the many available career options. Our residents consistently score high on national examinations and frequently receive awards. These have recently included election to an APA/Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Minority Fellowship, and winning the Arnold Gold Humanism and Excellence Teaching Award. The success of former residents in both clinical practice and academic settings attests to their quality and to the effectiveness of our training program.
While many of our Internal Medicine-Psychiatry residents have gone into clinical positions, others have headed towards fellowships and academics, including positions in psychosomatics at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the Mayo Clinic. We are quite proud of these trainees as their excellent placements point to the high quality of the people who train here. It reflects well on the educational experience that is provided by our training directors and by all of our teaching faculty. It also highlights the esteem in which our program is held by these other outstanding medical centers.
We welcome your interest in the department, and look forward to getting to know you and letting you know more about the terrific opportunities that exist here in Iowa City. Both the city and the department are wonderfully friendly places with a strong sense of community. Come have a look. You’ll like what you find!
James B. Potash, MD, MPH
Paul W. Penningroth Professor
Chair and Department Executive Officer of Psychiatry