Clinical Rotations

All clinical rotations are located at the main campus or within a short drive (within 15 minutes). Emphases are placed on fellows working collaboratively as part of a multi-disciplinary team. Supervision is available both on-site of the various rotations and during weekly supervision with a core child psychiatry faculty.

First Year Rotations

Pediatric Consult/Liaison

Location: UVM Medical Center

Rotation Director: Haley McGowan, D.O. and Courtney Fleisher, Ph.D.

Duration: 50% time for 3 months

Description: Child and adolescent fellows provide consultation using the Vermont Family Based Approach to inpatient pediatric and PICU patients as well as to children and adolescents  who present to the emergency department with mental health questions and concerns. Common questions include psychiatric assessment and treatment of medically ill children, safety assessments, and somatoform disorders. Outpatient consultations to primary care physicians and telepsychiatry consultations using videoconferencing technology are also included in this rotation.

Acute Care - Adolescents

Location: Northeast Family Institute

Rotation Director: Leslie Conroy, M.D.

Duration: 70% time for 3 months

Description: Northeast Family Institute (NFI) is a 6-bed hospital diversion unit for severely affected adolescents in need of acute stabilization and assessment. Fellows will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team while working with patients and their families. Fellows will also participate in group therapy.

Inpatient Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Location: Champlain Valley Physician’s Hospital

Duration: 70% time for 6 months

Description: The child psychiatry inpatient unit at Champlain Valley Physician’s Hospital is a 12-bed unit staffed by University of Vermont Medical Center faculty. Fellows will be directly responsible for the care of acutely ill children and adolescents, working within multi-disciplinary teams.

Pediatric Neurology

Location: UVM Medical Center

Rotation Director: Peter Bingham, M.D.

Duration: One day per week for 3 months

Description: Fellows see patients with supervision in the pediatric neurology clinic of the state's only tertiary care hospital. Primary diagnoses are diverse and consist of movement disorders, seizure disorders, and cerebral palsy in addition to other diseases of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral muscles and nerves. Procedures include comprehensive medical evaluation, neuroradiological procedures, EEG, skin and muscle biopsies, and collaboration with neurosurgery. Residents learn more advanced components of the neurological exam as well as the management of common pediatric neurological disorders.

Outpatient Psychiatry/Psychotherapy

Location: Vermont Center for Children, Youth, and Families

Rotation Director: Andrew Rosenfeld, M.D.

Duration: 10-20% across the year

Description: The outpatient clinic receives referrals and consultation requests from all across Vermont and northeastern New York State. Residents will learn how to perform a thorough assessment and design multi-modal treatment plans using a family based approach. Residents will also be trained in evidenced-based psychotherapy and psychopharmacology with individual supervision.

Research Project

Location: Vermont Center for Children, Youth and Families

Rotation Director: Jim Hudziak, M.D., and selected faculty

Duration: 10-30% across the year

Description: Please see the section on research training for details. During the first year, residents work with their research mentor to acquire and analyze data on a research project of their choosing. It is expected that the research project rotation will result in at least one first author original research paper and one first-author review or chapter.

Second Year Rotations

Outpatient Clinic/Psychotherapy

Location: Vermont Center for Children, Youth and Families

Rotation Director: Andrew Rosenfeld, M.D.

Duration: 30-40% time across the year

Description: This rotation is the continuation of the first year experience. Fellows who trained in the UVM General Psychiatry Residency will have had the opportunity to follow some of their patients for three consecutive years.

Research Project

Location: Vermont Center for Children, Youth, and Families

Rotation Director: Jim Hudziak, M.D.

Duration: 30% time across the year

Description: In the second year, fellows will be finishing up their research projects for publication or presentation at a national conference.

Emergency Psychiatry

Location: First Call, Howard Center

Rotation Director: Leslie Conroy, M.D.

Duration: 1 day per week for 3 months

Description: First Call is a county-wide community agency that responds to acute mental health crises by performing urgent assessments and interventions at individual homes, schools, clinic offices, and in the emergency department. Fellows will receive training in the management of suicidality, acute agitation, and psychosis.

School Consultation

Location: Stern Center for Language and Learning

Rotation Director: Julia Molson, Psy.D and Sharon Leach, Ph.D.

Duration: 1 day per week for 3 months

Description: Fellows will learn cognitive, linguistic, psychological, and neuropsychological assessment at the community non-profit center that serves as a valuable resource to families and school requiring specialized assessment and recommendations for children with different learning styles. During the outpatient rotation, fellows will also accompany faculty when they perform school evaluations and observations and will be strongly encouraged to attend school meetings for their patients.

Substance Abuse

Location: UVM Medical Center

Rotation Director: Peter Jackson, M.D.

Duration: Variable. Fellows see patients in a new substance abuse clinic for six months that performs substance abuse treatment using psychotherapy and medical assisted therapy with suboxone.

Description: Fellows will gain knowledge and experience in substance abuse assessment and treatment through the co-leading of a substance abuse group for residents at the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center.

Developmental Disorders

Location: UVM Medical Center

Rotation Director: Michael Hoffnung, D.O.

Duration: 10% time for 6 months

Description: Fellows work with developmental disorders specialists doing autism assessments at our autism assessment clinic in addition to other clinical experiences both at the University of Vermont Medical Center and elsewhere. 

Forensic Child Psychiatry

Location: Vermont Forensic Assessment

Rotation Directors: Victoria Marini-Bowley, PhD

Duration: 4 hours per week for 6 months

Description: Fellows will be introduced to the juvenile justice system, as well as the legal system for transitional-age youth and its interaction with mental health.  Fellows may have the opportunity to observe forensic psychological evaluations, psychosexual evaluations, risk assessments.

Elective

Location: To be determined

Duration: 1 half-day per week for 6 months

Description: A variety of electives are possible with approval of the Training Director. Possible sites could include off campus community health centers, and adolescent intensive outpatient program, or working with clinicians with particular areas of expertise.