VA Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program

The UCSF Department of Psychiatry offers an ACGME-accredited two-year fellowship in Addiction Psychiatry. The fellowship is headquartered at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, with additional activities at Kaiser Permanente (KP), San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH), and Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute (LPPI).

The Addiction Psychiatry Residency has four domains of special expertise:

Clinical Program Design and Evaluation: We have developed a sophisticated phase-model that guides treatment delivery in our serveral sub-specialty clinics. We emphasize evidence-based treatments including psychosocial therapies, behavioral therapies, and psychopharmacology.
Treatment of Complex Populations: The fellowship offers specialized treatment considerations for patients with co-occurring disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, and HIV or other infections. We have rotations in adolescent and family treatment, pain management, methadone/buprenorphine maintenance and specialized interventions such as anger management and Seeking-Safety.
Clinical Integration of Research Findings: All fellows complete a research or scholarly literature-review project, leading to professional talks and an article suitable for publication.
Leadership Development: We actively mentor leadership skills. All fellows will give didactic presentations, lead team meetings, and, when appropriate, participate in mentored leadership activities at California Society of Addiction Medicine conferences.

Requirements

The applicant must have completed an ACGME-accredited general adult residency in Psychiatry. Fellows must have a valid, completely unrestricted, California medical license by the starting date.

How to Apply

The full application consists of (a) a personal letter of interest, (b) a current CV, and (c) three recent professional references, including one from the general psychiatry training director. However, we welcome exploratory visits from prospective applicants prior to submission of this material. All finalists are invited for a day-long process of interviews and clinic visits. Fellows begin August 1 and may negotiate a September start date in most circumstances.

Deadline

The 2012 dealine for applications is October 15, 2012.

Curriculum

Clinical Rotations & Experiences:

San Francisco VA Medical Center: Substance Abuse Day Hospital (SADH), Drug & Alcohol Treatment (DAT) Clinic, Substance Use PTSD Team (SUPT), Opioid Replacement Team (ORT). Anger Management groups, Seeking Safety Groups, Cognitive Behavioral Therapies, Smoking Cessation protocols, Pharmacological management.
Kaiser Permanente: Adolescent & Family Program, Pain Clinic, Complex Patient Clinic, Women's Care.
Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute: Research mentorship

Salary, Policies and Benefits

Salary is set annually by UCSF. Effective July 1, 2012, PGY-5/6 salary is $74,850 plus a housing stipend.

Potential applicants should review the UCSF-GME website for policies, regulations, and services. In particular, you should download and carefully review the details in the Housestaff Information Booklet.

Core Psychiatry Faculty

Steven L. Batki, MD
Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program Director
Professor, UCSF Department of Psychiatry
Chief, Substance Abuse Programs, San Francisco VA Medical Center
Director, Addiction Research Program

Ellen Herbst, MD
Chief, Substance Abuse Day Hospital (SADH)
San Francisco VA Medical Center

David Kan, MD
Chief, Opinoid Replacement Treatment (ORT) Team
San Francisco VA Medical Center

Sally Vrana, MD
Chief, Drug & Alcohol Treatment (DAT) Clinic
San Francisco VA Medical Center

David Pating, MD
Chief, Chemical Dependency Treatment Program
Kaiser Permanente, San Francisco

Murtuza Ghadiali, MD
Kaiser Staff Physician, Internal Medicine
Kaiser Permanente, San Francisco

Rotations

Didactics

The core Substance Abuse Seminar is for PGY-2 Psychiatry Residents and first-year Addiction Psychiatry/Medicine fellows as well as psychology interns, fellows, and externs. This basic Substance Abuse Seminar meets on Mondays. In addition, we have a 1½ hour Wednesday afternoon Faculty-Fellows Seminar that is designed as an advanced forum. All fellows receive weekly individual supervision from rotation faculty and separately from the Program Director. Special funds are available for registration and travel to substance abuse symposia, clinical research conferences, and public policy consensus conferences.

Research

Fellows who are clinically-oriented must complete a scholarly project in lieu of direct research activiity. This will involve defining a critical clinical question, a review of the relevant medical literature, giving one or more academic presentations at local and national meetings, submitting scholarly posters, and publication whenever possible. Research-oriented fellows will be linked to established projects with a meaningful role in ongoing research that has already been planned and has passed our institutional review boards. VA Central Office provides a competitive option for a 3rd year of funding in order to allow selected fellows another year to complete ongoing research.

Research activities take place at each of our training sites. Particularly helpful is the fact that UCSF has two major NIDA treatment research centers active in our partner hospitals. In addition, the VA has an active program in neuroimaging studies. Steven Batki, MD, Director of Substance Abuse Research at the VA, has a special interest in psychopharmacology and treatment of comorbid disorders with medication/s.

NIDA Treatment Research Center (TRC): Joseph Guydish, PhD, directs the TRC. This center maintains adminstration and a statistical core at Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute (UCSF) and carries out studies at the VA, LPPI, and SFGH. During the last five-year cycle, the Center has been particularly active in smoking cessation studies.
NIDA Clinical Trials Network (CTN) Node: This center is directed by James Sorensen, PhD. The administrative core is at SFGH, but studies are carred out at SFGH, VA, and partner clinics in Oakland, Sacramento, Oregon, and Arizona. Current studies emphasize opioid dependence treatments.
Neuroimaging and Cognitive Function: The San Francisco VA has a major neuroimaging center (CT, MRI, MR spectroscopy, and SPECT). Dieter Meyerhoff, MD (photo), and Tim Durazzo, PhD, direct a series of studies correlating neuroimaging and cognitive function in alcoholic patients. Our most recent work strongly supports additive negative effects of smoking in conjuction with drinking.

Contact

	Steven L. Batki, MD Professor, UCSF Department of Psychiatry Chief, Substance Abuse Programs Director, Addiction Research Program San Francisco VA Medical Center (116-E) 4150 Clement Street San Francisco, CA 94121 (415) 221-4810 ext. 3671 Steven.Batki@ucsf.edu
	Nancy Robbins Psychiatry Fellowship Coordinator (Addiction Psychiatry; Addiction Medicine; Psychosomatic Medicine) San Francisco VA Medical Center (116-E) 4150 Clement Street San Francisco, CA 94121 (415) 750-2126 Nancy.Robbins@va.gov