Dear applicant,

Thank you for the interest in our program. As associate program director, I work closely to support Dr. Stewart Shevitz in the goal of creating a superior educational experience for you at the Medical College of Georgia.

Our school is currently under a growing phase involving all areas of academic life: top-of-the-line clinical care, cutting edge research, and expansion of the medical school.

It is a great time to come to MCG. At our psychiatry residency program we strive to train the new generation of clinicians; in contrast to previous eras, when psychiatry was either subsumed to medicine or spinning out into psychoanalytic orbit, the psychiatrist of the 21st century will need competency in several areas:

1. Excellent clinical skills: psychiatric care starts with careful listening to your patients, and being able to put together a coherent formulation in terms of disease, behaviors, dimensions, and life stories. That clinical understanding will inform treatment options and modalities. At MCG you will be exposed to a great variety of patients and services, and will receive constant clinical supervision. Our institution is a national leader in Patient and Family Centered Care.

2. Research literacy: the amount of new knowledge in psychiatry and neurosciences is growing exponentially and the new generations of clinicians will have to able to critically read and implement new diagnostic tools, medications, and interventions. At MCG we provide the analytical tools you will need to become a life-long learner.

3. Teaching skills: a great deal of clinical care is done by educating our patients and their families about mental health and mental disorders. During your residency at MCG you will have access to the latest in Patient and Family Centered Care, and will also be responsible to teaching medical students in clinical clerkships.

With those three main components in mind, we form solid clinicians with all the skills needed to perform in the current medical environment. We look forward to working with you. Feel free to contact us if you have further questions.

Come join our program!

Erick Messias, MD, MPH, PhD

Associate Professor and Associate Program Director