Our understanding of neuroscience is advancing with extraordinary rapidity on multiple levels, from genes and molecules through brain networks, psychological models, and novel assessments of neuropsychiatric phenomenology. These insights have great potential to produce new understanding of psychiatric illness and transformative new treatments. However, the gulf between our understanding and the complexities of psychiatric symptomatology remains profound. There is much work to be done.
This makes psychiatry an enormously exciting place for physician-scientists to build impactful careers. Psychiatry residency training encompasses sufficient flexible/elective time that it is often possible to get secure a significant amount of research done in parallel with clinical training. Many leading psychiatry residencies have dedicated research tracks designed to provide protected time and support physician-scientist career development.
These programs are quite heterogeneous; the models for protected time, mentorship, and integration of research and clinical training vary. Many programs are supported, in whole or in part, by training grants from the National Institutes of Health (typically T32 of R25 grants). The links below provide more information about physician-scientist training in psychiatry in general and about the details of specific programs.
Learn more about physician-scientist training in psychiatry.