Welcome Message from Richard Pleak, MD
Director of Education & Training

Welcome to our website. I am delighted that you are interested in our Program. The goal of our Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Residency Program is to graduate superb child and adolescent psychiatrists who are fully prepared to take their place as professional colleagues in the national shortage field of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and who will continue their own professional development following completion of their education and training. Our program provides a comprehensive exposure to the major theoretical, methodological and treatment approaches in the field through our renowned didactic series and our unparalleled clinical opportunities.

Our objectives are that fellows will learn to conduct and coordinate comprehensive psychiatric evaluations and treatments of children, adolescents and families as medical specialists who are proficient in a wide range of diagnostic assessments and therapeutic interventions, including expressive, supportive, individual, family, group, milieu, analytic, behavioral, cognitive and pharmacologic therapies. There is a special focus on the child and adolescent psychiatrist's role as member, manager and leader of multidisciplinary treatment teams, which involves close collaboration with psychologists, social workers, nurses, rehab therapists, teachers and other child specialists. This team approach is most notable in the evaluation and treatment of psychiatrically ill children/adolescent and their families. The integral relationship between pediatrics and psychiatry at the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York (CCMC) and its wealth of clinical resources permits in-depth consultation and liaison experiences, as well as rotations in child neurology and developmental and behavioral pediatrics.

The didactic components of our program enrich the fellow's basic fund of knowledge and provide a strong theoretical basis for the clinical practice of child and adolescent psychiatry. Fellows become critical readers of clinical and investigative child and adolescent psychiatric literature to better evaluate and re-evaluate evidence-based practice. They are also encouraged to develop their burgeoning roles as educators of other health professionals and trainees and to initiate and pursue research as well as their clinical interests.

Upon completion of their education and training, child and adolescent psychiatrists who were fellows here are able to fully function both independently and as consultants to pediatricians, schools, the court system, community agencies and interdisciplinary teams. Given our program's strong emphasis on clinical care, didactics and research, and the leadership role of the fellow in the treatment of children, adolescents and families, many of our graduates have obtained full-time academic positions, while others have established successful private practices and many others serve in local and national psychiatric organizations. Our graduates are found in locations throughout the nation and internationally, including California, Arizona, Montana, Utah, Texas, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, the Dominican Republic, France, Israel and Canada.