UCSF FRESNO FELLOWSHIP IN PSYCHOSOMATIC MEDICINE (CONSULTATION-LIAISON PSYCHIATRY)

Welcome to the UCSF Fresno Psychosomatic Medicine (Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry) Fellowship Program.  This program was accredited as a one-year fellowship by the ACGME in 2009. Our program is based at the Community Regional Medical Center (CRMC), a 500-bed major teaching hospital affiliated with UCSF.  CRMC is also a regional trauma and burn center providing care to a culturally diverse patient population of all ages.

The program has a very strong didactic component that includes the following courses, as well as weekly Grand Rounds.

 

  1. Psychosomatic Medicine: State of the Art and How We Got Here
  2. Practicum in Techniques of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
  3. Psychopharmacology in Psychosomatic Medicine
  4. Legal and Ethical Issues in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
  5. Perspectives in Psychiatry
  6. Research in Psychosomatic Medicine


The fellow will be a member of the psychiatric consultation-liaison team that includes psychiatric residents, internal medicine residents, a social worker, UCSF medical students, and senior medical students doing elective rotations.  Approximately 1,000 psychiatric consultations are performed each year. The fellow will also do liaison work with the Burn Unit and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology High Risk Pregnancy Service. The fellow will have the opportunity to teach psychiatry residents, internal medicine elective residents and UCSF medical students rotating to the Psychiatric Consultation-Liaison Service. 

The fellow will also have an opportunity to do longitudinal follow-up of selected patients and learn and practice psychotherapeutic techniques including brief therapies, relaxation training and hypnotherapy through the University Psychiatry Associates Outpatient Clinic which is on the grounds of CRMC.  Research is encouraged, and there is a vast consultation database consisting of more than 5,000 records that can be mined for psychosomatic research.  Some funding is available for national and state conferences, as well as for travel to meetings for presentation of original work.

The program is directed by Hoyle Leigh, MD, author of the Handbook of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (Springer, 2007), and Beena Nair, MD is the associate director.  One highly qualified fellow will be accepted each year.

Fresno is a medium-sized city and a cultural and financial center of California's Central Valley.  Some of the cultural offerings include a symphony orchestra, two repertory theatres, two art museums, and diverse cuisine including all Asian, European, Basque, Armenian, and Persian.  San Francisco and Los Angeles are approximately three hours away by car and the Monterey Peninsula is approximately two hours away.  Recreational opportunities in the area are rich and varied, and include three nearby national parks— Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon.