Undergraduate Medical Education Programs:

Fundamentals of Medicine I: Human Behavior Course (First Year Students)

This year-long interdisciplinary course comprises Human Values L, Human Behavior, Epidemiology/Biostatistics, and the Clinical Preceptorship. These courses form the foundation for core primary care clinical skills. Each of the four components has a course director and explicit requirements for completion. There are also interdisciplinary elements that include explicit instruction in fundamental clinical and communication skills linked (and precede) the Clinical Preceptorship. The Human Behavior course spans from August to February of the academic year. The course covers human development across the lifespan, biopsychosocial formulation, behavior change, and motivational interviewing. There will be a mix of lectures, discussion, skills sessions, clinical sessions, and small group experiences. Smoking Cessation Clinical Skills Lab Exercise and Communication Skills Field Experience with a geriatric population provide an opportunity for students to develop their interview skills. 

Course Director: Nida Virani Qureshi, MD                                                                                                                          Course Co-Director: Nicole Cotton, MD                                                                                                                    Prerequisite: Admission to MSM

Fundamentals of Medicine II: Psychopathology Course (Second Year Students)

This course covers the epidemiology, etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of major psychiatric disorders. There is an emphasis on the interface of psychiatric medicine and physical medicine. Students are introduced to psychiatric and psychological assessment techniques of the most common psychiatric disorders, emergencies, crisis intervention, and psychopharmacology. A major goal of the course is to provide the students, the knowledge necessary for the successful completion of the third-year clinical clerkship.
Course Director: Quentin T. Smith, MD                                                                                                                                          Course Co-Director: Nida Virani Qureshi, MD                                                                                                                      Prerequisite: Satisfactory completion of Fundamentals of Medicine I, Human Behavior

Third Year Clerkship

This is a six-week rotation during the third year. Emphasis is on the clinical applications of principles of psychiatry, and aberrant behavior learned in the first two years. Students are exposed to a variety of inpatient and outpatient services. Students are assigned rotations at Ridgeview Institution, a psychiatric service facility in Atlanta; Grady Memorial Hospital Outpatient Mental Health Services; Georgia Regional Hospital, a public psychiatric facility in metropolitan Atlanta, the Atlanta V. A. Medical Center, New Horizons, a psychiatric service facility in Columbus, Ga. These facilities offer exposure to a broad spectrum of psychiatric disorders in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Clinical responsibilities include performing admission histories and psychiatric examinations, developing a comprehensive psychiatric differential diagnosis, creating a biopsychosocial case formulation, and actively participating in the psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacologic treatment and management of patients. At each site, students work alongside faculty and residents who provide clinical pearls through daily bedside teaching. Students attend and participate in rounds and ward teaching conferences. Students also participate in group therapy to gain further insight into the psychiatric problems of patients and families. A lecture series addresses clinical aspects of the diagnosis and treatment of major psychiatric disorders. Some selected topics were interviewing skills, emergency psychiatry, behavioral medicine, psychopharmacology, suicide, substance abuse, anxiety, cognitive and personality disorders, forensic issues, and child and adolescent psychiatry.
Course Director:  Nicole Cotton, MD   
Associate Clerkship Director Quentin T. Smith, MD 
Prerequisite: Promotion to the third year

Psychiatry Electives (Fourth Year Students)

  1. Academic Psychiatry
    The goal of this rotation is to provide culturally tailored consultative care to the women veteran population and expose learners to an inter-professional, integrated practice setting. The clinical experience working at the Grady Adult Outpatient Clinic (AOP). The clinical day will be determined at the start of the rotation. Students participate in teaching sessions with faculty and residents and can join ongoing quality improvement activities. 
    Course Director: Glenda Wrenn                                                           
    Prerequisite: Successful completion of Third-Year Psychiatry Clerkship.

  2. Addiction Psychiatry
    This is a four-week elective offered to MD4 students who are strongly interested in the "Addictive Disorders" and mental illness. The elective consists of training at inpatient and outpatient addiction treatment in the Atlanta area. This includes halfway houses and residential programs at various hospitals. Students also will gain a rich outpatient experience at multiple clinical sites, including Grady outpatient and MAOT (Medication-Assisted Opioid Treatment) clinic and other local substance Abuse prevention and treatment facilities. The importance of a team approach will be stressed in multiple settings. Coordination of care will be an integral part of this learning experience. Coordination of care may involve individuals who have HIV or hepatitis and who are pregnant. The student will learn to manage substance disorders and their interaction with co-morbid and co-existing mental and physical disorders. On-site didactic will supplement and enhance the clinical experience. The student will have the opportunity to explore and utilize pharmacological and non-pharmacological management of substance disorders.
    Course Director: Farzana Bharmal, MD 
    Course Co-Director: Aalok Chandora, MD
    Prerequisite: Successful completion of Third-Year Psychiatry Clerkship. 

  3. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

    The Child and Adolescent Psychiatry elective will provide a concentrated opportunity for exposure to children and adolescents with a variety of psychiatric disorders. Under the guidance of a child and adolescent psychiatrist, students will broaden their knowledge and skills in developmental theory, diagnostic assessment, behavioral, psychological, and medication treatment of children and adolescents. This elective provides experience in a variety of therapeutic modalities essential to the management of children and adolescents, including parent guidance. Each student will function as a full member of the treatment and diagnostic team under faculty supervision. Each student, with the guidance of a faculty mentor, will identify an area of interest for focused reading and a selected project during the elective.

     

    Course Director: Quentin T. Smith, MD
    Prerequisite: Successful completion of Third-Year Psychiatry Clerkship.

  4. Community Psychiatry

    This is a four-week elective offered to MD4 students. Medical students receive limited exposure to the community mental health system and its patients. These patients do often need primary medical care and interact frequently with primary care physicians. This elective will provide the student with experience in working with these patients from the psychiatric perspective and within the available resources. This elective will also provide advanced knowledge and educational exposure to a variety of mental illnesses that are not available to most medical students. 
    Course Director: Aalok Chandora, MD 
    Course Co-Director: Deirdre Cosby, MD
    Prerequisite: Successful completion of Third-Year Clerkship.

  5. Decriminalizing Mental Illness – Understanding The Physician’s Role                                                                      This course aims to provide the learner with an overview of forensic psychiatry, key topics that lay at the interface of psychiatry and the law, and related aspects of medical practice and advocacy. Medical students with an interest in public sector work will likely encounter a significant number of patients with involvement in the criminal justice system or who are from communities that have been disproportionately impacted by mass incarceration. This experience will allow medical students to better appreciate their patients’ experiences and structural traumas, as well as develop an understanding of the roles of physicians in the criminal justice system process as treaters vs. forensic evaluators.
    Course Director: Sarah Vinson, MD 
    Maximum Enrollment: 1 student
    Availability: November - April
    Duration of Course: 4 weeks
    Preferences: Successful completion of 3rd-Year Psychiatry Clerkship with a grade of A or B. Applying to primary care or psychiatry residency programs. Space is limited. We encourage students to apply early.

  6. The Marginalized, Society and Psychiatry: Lessons Rooted in Georgia’s History                                                       This is a four-week-long, seminar-style medical humanities course. It is geared toward medical 
    students with an interest in healthcare systems; the intersection of societal narratives and care; 
    and the experiences of marginalized populations in the medical system.                                                                      Course Director: Mab Segrest, MD                                                                                                                                          Course Director: Sarah Vinson, MD                                                                                                                                            Maximum Enrollment: 7 students.
    Availability: August and February
    Number of contact hours per week: 5