Program Overview

The Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship program at the Medical College of Georgia was approved in spring 2009.  It will be the second forensic fellowship in Georgia and intends to train one fellow per year in the field of psychiatry and the law.  With the increased need to provide forensic services in Georgia, MCG has expanded its contracts with the Department of Human Resources, the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Division.  The forensic psychiatry fellowship training program will train general psychiatrists to work, teach, and perform research in the evolving field of forensic psychiatry.  The program seeks to enhance the number of qualified forensic psychiatrists in the United States by offering a comprehensive and challenging educational program.

The fellow will spend time at different training sites and work with different supervisors to enhance their clinical knowledge.  The fellow will perform criminal evaluation at East Central Regional Hospital in Augusta and at Central State Hospital (CSH).  The experience at CSH will be unique because of the “high profile” cases at that hospital.

The civil rotation will take place mainly on the MCG campus.  The fellow will work with the faculty on malpractice cases, independent medical evaluations for insurance companies or Worker’s Compensation, sexual harassment, repressed memories, personal injury cases and many more.

There will be a mandatory rotation at the corrections treating adult and juvenile incarcerated individuals.  Additionally the fellow will spend time working with faculty who perform child sexual allegations evaluations. 

Throughout the year the fellow will perform consultations for other services that have legal implications (competency to refuse or accept medical treatment, violence risk assessment, guardianship and/or conservatorship).

The seminars will be held weekly for half a day.  The fellow will be encouraged to attend the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL) review course. 

Although not mandatory the fellow is encouraged to participate in research and to present at the annual American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law meeting in October.