The Medical Student Training Program in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai began in 2005 and provides a highly personalized and robust approach to mentorship, clinical experience, and research opportunities for medical students at all levels of training interested in working with children. We expose students to rotations in different areas of child and adolescent psychiatry and encourage independent research projects that have been funded through various sources, including AACAP Pilot Research awards. Faculty and child psychiatry fellows serve as mentors and are paired with students. Students and mentors meet individually on a regular basis and monthly dinner meetings are also held with the entire group to process clinical experiences, share ideas, and listen to invited guest speakers present on a variety of topics of interest to students.
Program Director | Alex Kolevzon, MD | # of students: 10-15 |
Program Dates | September 1-August 30 | # of faculty: 5 |
5 mentors
2 students per mentor
1-5 hours of mentorship monthly
Inpatient
Outpatient
Consultation and Liaison
Therapeutic Nursery
Addiction Day Treatment Program
Autism
ADHD
Substance Abuse
Consultation and Liaison
Early Childhood
OCD
Tics/Tourette’s
Trauma
The Beatrix Hamburg Medical Student Training Fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry is designed to keep pace with the increasing breakthroughs over the past years that have revealed growing evidence of the neurobiological underpinnings of a wide range of childhood mental disorders. Our students are exposed to the full spectrum of clinical and research aspects of the field of child and adolescent psychiatry. The program provides intensive clinical exposure and pairs students with research mentors.Research electives have resulted in numerous poster presentations and papers published in peer-reviewed journals. As an outgrowth of the MSP at Mount Sinai, one senior triple board resident and two medical students developed the StoryTime program with faculty support. StoryTime was created as an attempt to improve care for hospitalized children with limited family support. StoryTime occurs during the evening visiting hour, a stressful time of day when many patients become angry and sad because they do not receive visits from family members.Reading to children who are distressed serves a therapeutic purpose and also provides a fun and soothing activity before bedtime.The stories serve as a platform for patients to discuss issues that affect them in a way they would otherwise be hesitant to reveal directly.StoryTime also pairs medical students with residents and fellows, allowing the students to benefit from the resident’s experience and fostering the resident’s teaching and mentorship skills.