Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship

I wish to welcome you to our website for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at Montefiore Einstein. I cannot think of a more exciting time to enter a career in child and adolescent psychiatry! We are in an era in which advances in neuroscience, epigenetics and neuropsychopharmacology are broadening our horizons of inquiry as we hone our skills in thinking developmentally and creatively to help children and families.

Throughout our two-year training program, fellows rotate through cutting-edge collaborative services within psychiatry and pediatrics and work with school- and college-based mental health services. Experiences in a longitudinal outpatient child psychiatry clinic, a state-hospital inpatient psychiatry unit and a developmental disabilities clinic represent only some of the outstanding rotations offered to our fellows. So enjoy the site and visit virtually with our excellent trainees and faculty. Again, I warmly welcome you.

Sincerely,
Melissa Rooney, MD
Program Director

Program Leadership:
Program Director: Melissa Rooney, MD
Associate Program Director: Samira Rabbanifar, MD

The mission of the Montefiore Einstein Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship is to provide academic and training excellence in child and adolescent psychiatry and to support innovative research and an unwavering commitment to enhancing the access and delivery of high-quality child and adolescent psychiatry services to children, adolescents and families in the greater New York City Metropolitan area. We achieve this goal through the highest standards of training and curriculum, state-of-the-art facilities and robust rotation opportunities throughout every year of the fellowship.

Faculty
Our fellows have the exceptional opportunity to train under the guidance of a distinguished group of child and adolescent psychiatrists. Renowned as leaders in research, psychopharmacology, child psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, our faculty members epitomize excellence in both academic knowledge and clinical proficiency. Their extensive experience is matched only by their unwavering dedication to imparting knowledge and supervising fellows, reflecting their enduring commitment to advancing this specialized field.

Supervision
Our approach to psychiatry supervision is deeply rooted in tradition and aimed at nurturing and honing the trainee’s skills in psychotherapy and clinical practice. Our fellows undergo diverse supervisory experiences, ensuring comprehensive exposure to various modalities supported by seasoned expertise.

Within our program, trainees benefit from unparalleled accessibility to our faculty, fostering an environment of continuous support and close collaboration. This close-knit relationship leads to highly effective mentorship and collaboration.

Fellows receive supervision from multiple sources, including outpatient psychotherapy and psychopharmacology supervisors and an administrative supervisor. They also engage in group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) supervision. Additionally, they receive guidance from service attendings on the consultation-liaison (CL) service, emergency child psychiatry and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). This comprehensive supervision framework is integral to the first-year learning experience, complementing the program’s clinical and academic aspects.

Evaluation
Integral to our training program is providing timely and precise feedback, offering residents a personalized roadmap for comprehensive skills development in clinical practice. Supervisors diligently conduct written evaluations after each rotation and at six-month intervals, with verbal feedback given more frequently. Our Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Training Committee convenes biannually (twice per year) to comprehensively review the progress of all trainees. Twice a year, our training directors provide trainees with detailed feedback from this review and comprehensive written evaluations.

Complementing the evaluation process, each fellow undergoes a minimum of three clinical skills verification exams, receiving valuable feedback from their examiners. Moreover, in adherence to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) standards, an annual written exam is administered. This exam facilitates professional growth and ensures our training stays abreast of the latest clinical and didactic guidance.

Continuing to foster a robust feedback culture, our fellows actively provide insights to supervisors and course instructors while assessing their clinical rotations. Regular monthly meetings with the program directors serve as a platform for fellows to offer feedback and share ideas for program enhancements and improvements.

Our annual retreat combines a wellness-focused activity with an invaluable opportunity for program reflection. During this retreat, fellows contribute their thoughts and experiences through a comprehensive retreat report meticulously reviewed by our training directors.

Montefiore Einstein
Montefiore Einstein is renowned for its excellence in patient care, education and groundbreaking research. Operating across the Northern and Eastern Bronx, a county of 1.2 million people, Montefiore Einstein ranks within the top percentile of U.S. hospitals. It notably invests in the latest medical innovations and pioneering technologies.

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Montefiore Einstein is distinguished by its top-tier recognition in U.S. News & World Report. Catering to individuals across the age spectrum (children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly), the department offers unparalleled psychiatric diagnosis and treatment services of exceptional quality and sophistication.

At Montefiore Einstein’s Child and Adolescent Outpatient Psychiatry Division, our commitment extends to delivering state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment services to Bronx-based children, adolescents and families. This includes a specialized clinic offering comprehensive testing, diagnostics and multimodal therapies.

Our institution also spearheads a clinical and research-oriented suicide intervention program focused on adolescents, serving as a key training site for residents and fellows specializing in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). The clinic also has a subspeciality Eating Disorder Program embedded within it.

With a robust consultation-liaison (CL) service, Montefiore Einstein answers requests from all hospital departments, including the esteemed Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Einstein (CHAM). Our CL service collaborates with various pediatric teams in treating patients with a wide range of diagnoses, including eating disorders and neuropsychiatric conditions.

Our 24-hour, fully staffed psychiatric observation suite delivers emergency psychiatric services, offering crisis intervention and consultations for adults and children in the nearby medical and pediatric emergency departments. This suite presents invaluable training opportunities in emergency diagnosis and management for children and adolescents.

New York City Children’s Center – Bronx Campus
New York City Children’s Center (NYCCC) is a state-run facility that specializes in managing intricate and challenging cases involving children and adolescents between the ages of 5 and 21 in the New York Metropolitan Area. Renowned for its expertise in handling more complex, severe and demanding mental health conditions, NYCCC offers tailored treatments grounded in evidence-based methodologies. The focus remains steadfast on achieving lasting outcomes that nurture resilience and strength in individuals navigating mental health challenges.

Committed to excellence, NYCCC emphasizes culturally relevant, high-quality services that actively engage families as indispensable allies in the treatment process. Services are geared toward addressing the multifaceted needs of the family unit and intentionally prioritize treating youth facing heightened complexities.

The Fellowship Program immerses participants in NYCCC’s inpatient treatment units for six months, providing exposure to intricate case management within multidisciplinary teams. This intensive experience enables fellows to sharpen clinical evaluation skills, deepen their understanding of pharmacological interventions, and refine their expertise in psychotherapy, family therapy and group therapy within a supportive educational environment.

The Rose F. Kennedy University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities
The Rose F. Kennedy Center is a hub for scientists and clinicians exploring diverse facets of intellectual disability and human development, including genetic, prenatal, biochemical, neurological, psychological and environmental aspects. Under the Rose F. Kennedy Center’s umbrella, the Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (RFK CERC) manages approximately 40,000 annual visits, catering to 7,500 children. As the primary diagnostic and treatment program for disabled children in the Bronx, the Kennedy Center doubles as a conduit for translating research discoveries into clinical practice and training initiatives.

Collaboratively, the clinical and preclinical departments of Montefiore Einstein, along with select graduate schools of Yeshiva University and the fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry, actively engage in the center’s multidisciplinary research and training programs.

During their second year, fellows undergo rotations here, gaining exposure to the intersection of child and adolescent psychiatry and developmental pediatrics. Fellows collaborate with psychologists, speech and language pathologists and developmental pediatricians to evaluate, assess and treat children with or at risk for developmental disabilities.

First-Year Program: Clinical Experience 
The first year of our fellowship program launches with a robust focus on training in diagnostic evaluations, long-term psychotherapy and psychopharmacological management within our child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient clinic. Under the direct supervision of senior faculty, fellows engage in assessment and multi-modal treatments for patients and families, honing their skills with comprehensive guidance and mentorship.

Throughout the first year, fellows concentrate on providing treatment to children, adolescents, and families across various domains:

• Childhood development
• Consultation-liaison psychiatry
• Emergency psychiatry
• Diverse psychotherapeutic modalities, including psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, interpersonal, play, supportive, family, group and dialectical behavior therapies

The initial year of the fellowship program emphasizes training across several key areas:

• Outpatient Continuity Clinic
• Consultation-liaison service
• Psychiatric emergency service
• Mood and Anxiety Program (MAP)

Regular service meetings and rounds within the clinic and with the MAP team facilitate seamless communication in outpatient services and foster interdisciplinary collaboration. First-year fellows also mentor PGY-2 adult psychiatry residents during their rotations in child psychiatry. This interaction enables fellows to build strong connections with their junior colleagues and cultivate their clinical teaching abilities.

One first-year fellow assumes the role of chief fellow, serving as a vital liaison to the faculty by overseeing the activities of child psychiatry fellows and adult psychiatry residents as they rotate through child and adolescent psychiatry.

Outpatient Clinic 
In their initial year, fellows dedicate most of their time to the outpatient division, where they actively engage in supervised intake evaluations. Here, fellows assess children, adolescents and families and deliver a range of treatment modalities, including individual psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, group therapy and family therapy.

A pivotal aspect of our outpatient training model is that fellows continue to manage their own set of patients throughout the entire two-year fellowship. This commitment provides invaluable experience in long-term patient care while contributing significantly to our Bronx community. Senior faculty members, equipped with diverse therapeutic experiences and expertise, closely supervise these cases, ensuring comprehensive oversight and guidance for the fellows.

Each fellow is allocated personal office space, which they maintain throughout the two-year fellowship. This allows them to set up their workspace according to personal preferences.

Consultation-Liaison Service 
During three single-month rotations, first-year fellows engage in the consultation-liaison (CL) service, partnering with the Department of Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Einstein (CHAM). This structured rotation provides unique opportunities for fellows to foster close collaboration with pediatric staff while conducting assessments and delivering short-term interventions for children and adolescents across diverse diagnoses, including eating disorders, neuropsychiatric diagnoses and somatic symptom disorders.

Throughout this rotation, on-site supervision and teaching activities ensure a direct link between clinical experiences and educational teachings. The attending staff supervises consultations, and cases are presented during the weekly CL Rounds, creating a comprehensive and focused learning environment.

Psychiatric Observation Suite 
During a three-month period, first-year fellows join the child and adolescent psychiatric emergency team at Montefiore Einstein one day a week, specializing in evaluating and treating children, adolescents and families in crisis. This rotation within the Psychiatric Observation Suite offers immersive exposure to crisis evaluation and intervention with acutely ill psychiatric child and adolescent patients. Fellows receive dedicated on-site supervision from a child and adolescent psychiatry faculty member.

This rotation offers first-year fellows hands-on experience in patient evaluation, safety assessment, and treatment, as well as expedited transitions back to the community or referrals for additional inpatient services. Operating within the emergency department setting, this experience, coupled with on-site supervision and exposure to a challenging patient population, significantly contributes to the professional growth of first-year fellows. It provides comprehensive education on the systems of care involved in child and adolescent psychiatry.

Didactics: First-Year Curriculum 
The core curriculum of the first year is designed to meet the training goals of competence in:

• The clinical assessment of children, adolescents and their families
• Basic psychopharmacology of children and adolescents
• Multiple treatment modalities, including individual, group and family psychotherapy
• Pediatric consultation-liaison (CL) and emergency psychiatry

First-year fellows attend classes throughout the week, meet weekly with assigned outpatient supervisors and receive direct supervision during their service rotations. The curriculum for the first year is comprised of introductory classes in:

• Child psychopathology
• Adolescent psychopathology
• Psychopharmacology
• Family therapy
• Working with parents
• Psychotherapy with children and adolescents

We also include courses that cover areas such as child abuse, adoption, genetics, ethics, neuroscience, play therapy and cultural influences on child psychiatry. In addition to the core curriculum, a monthly case conference at the outpatient clinic allows fellows to present particularly challenging outpatient cases to senior faculty.

Second-Year Program: Clinical Experience 
During the second year of training, fellows consolidate their experience and further define their interests while broadening and deepening their ability to treat child and adolescent patients. This curriculum includes core didactics in child development, advanced psychopharmacology, journal club and an advanced seminar under intense faculty supervision, culminating in a senior presentation.

Supervision continues in the second year with outpatient supervisors, service attendings on each rotation and on-site supervision by faculty at each consultative site. In addition to continued mentorship, the supervisory faculty can regularly help the second-year fellow transition from their trainee status to their new role as a child and adolescent psychiatrist administrative supervisor.

Second-year fellows rotate through the following sites:

• New York City Children’s Center-Bronx Campus
  • Three months on a child inpatient unit
  • Three months on an adolescent inpatient unit
• The Kennedy Center, an interdisciplinary service program for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities
• School-based mental health programs at a middle school in the Bronx
• College-aged mental health programs at the Counseling Center at Fordham University

These consultation blocks aim to expand the fellow’s experience into the consultative role of the child psychiatrist and expose fellows to additional clinical opportunities or innovative research.

Recognizing the significance of continuity of care, fellows maintain a portion of their outpatient caseload from their first-year clinic into their second year. During their second year, they dedicate two days per week to working within the outpatient department, ensuring an ongoing and consistent care experience for these patients.

Additionally, there is an opportunity for elective research in the second year based on fellow interests and requests.

Second-Year Training Facilities & Rotations

Child & Adolescent Inpatient Rotation 
At the New York City Children’s Center (NYCCC) – Bronx Campus, our second-year fellows gain invaluable experience in child and adolescent inpatient psychiatry. Overseen by seasoned faculty, fellows are immersed in an inpatient setting focused on individualized care for hospitalized children. This rotation exposes fellows to cutting-edge psychopharmacological treatments and a milieu conducive to learning.

Weekly case conferences offer a platform to deliberate challenging cases while fellows lead therapy groups within the units. This hands-on involvement in caring for the patient population of the Bronx enriches the training experience significantly. The rotation emphasizes training in continuity of care and fosters an understanding of larger healthcare systems, providing an unparalleled learning opportunity.

School-Based Mental Health 
Fellows rotate at a middle school in the Bronx, where a school-based team provides mental health treatment. They participate in classroom evaluations, treatment plan meetings and service implementation on-site at the middle school.

Developmental Disorders Rotations 
The Kennedy Center is the cornerstone of neuroscience and research of developmental disorders for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Trainees rotating here work at an onsite psychopharmacology clinic treating children with autism or other developmental disabilities under the supervision of senior faculty. They also observe multidisciplinary evaluations and consult with various interdisciplinary treatment team members, including psychologists, speech and language pathologists and developmental pediatricians in evaluating, assessing and treating children with or at risk for developmental disabilities.

Fordham College Mental Health Service 
Our program is one of a few fellowships of its kind, providing an on-site college mental health experience. Second-year fellows join a team of highly trained college mental health psychologists and psychiatrists once a week for six months to offer short-term care for Fordham college students with a wide range of mental health needs. These visits present a distinctive opportunity for fellows to engage with transitional-aged youth. Experienced college mental health professionals supervise fellows on-site.

Didactics: Second-Year Curriculum 
In the second year, the curriculum focuses on essential didactics covering child development, advanced psychopharmacology, journal club discussions and an advanced seminar culminating in a senior project presentation.

The curriculum complements the clinical experiences of the year, spanning inpatient child and adolescent psychiatry, school consultation, forensic child psychiatry, and ongoing outpatient child and adolescent psychiatry.

Fellows also engage in research opportunities with a principal component being the preparation of a senior project mentored by a faculty member. The directors of training conduct a dedicated class to aid fellows in project planning. As a culmination of the second year, fellows present their projects at a luncheon honoring their achievements and sharing insights and findings with the entire faculty and fellowship.

Available Library Resources
The D. Samuel Gottesman Library at Montefiore Einstein has a substantial collection of in-house journals and texts, and 24-hour access to online journals and periodicals is available to the Montefiore Einstein community through its website library.einsteinmed.edu. The full-service, on-site Montefiore Einstein Medical Library offers 24-hour access to online periodicals and journals. 

1st Year Fellows
Anna Belikova, D.O. is a graduate of Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific. She completed her general psychiatry residency at Maimonides.

Arianne Foster, M.D. graduated from Cooper Medical School. She completed her psychiatry residency at Montefiore Medical Center.

Martin Leczycki, M.D. graduated from SUNY Upstate Medical University. He did his general psychiatry residency at Tower Health-Reading Hospital.

Kiyoshu Nakamura, M.D. is a graduate of Louisiana State University School of Medicine, while serving in the Army National Guard and Air National Guard. He did his general psychiatry residency at LSU Health Science Center at New Orleans.

2nd Year Fellows
Ely Fish, M.D. is a graduate of the Sackler School of Medicine. Dr. Fish completed his psychiatry residency at Westchester Medical Center

Atara Kanarfogel, M.D. is a graduate of the Sackler School of Medicine. Dr. Kanarfogel completed her psychiatry residency at Montefiore Medical Center.

Austin Katona, M.D. is a graduate of Drexel University College of Medicine.. Dr Katona completed his psychiatry residency at Montefiore Medical Center.

Erica Lee, M.D. is a graduate of the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Dr. Lee completed her psychiatry residency at Cambridge Health Alliance.

Thank you for your interest in the Montefiore Einstein Fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

The Montefiore Einstein Fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry participates in the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP). All applications must be submitted through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). Residents will be selected based on their preparedness, ability, aptitude, academic credentials, communication skills and personal qualities.

We interview for four first-year Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) positions. The following lists the materials used for the evaluation of all resident candidates:

• Completed application via ERAS
• Updated curriculum vitae
• Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE), formerly known as the Dean’s Letter, from medical school (with translation if not in English)
• Copy of transcript from medical school (with translation if not in English)
• Copy of medical school diploma
• Copy of license or licenses
• Notarized copy of Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) Certificate (if applicable–minimum passing score required)
• Notarized copy of Fifth Pathway certificate (if applicable)
• Passing grades on Steps 1, 2 and 3 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE)  before the interview
• Three letters of professional reference, including a letter from the previous training director
• Passage of three computer system validations (CSVs) before ranking is highly encouraged
• Personal statement
• Interview with program directors

Trainees are eligible for acceptance into the program after completing a PGY-3, PGY-4, postgraduate chief resident year in adult psychiatry or a one-year fellowship in consultation-liaison (CL), addiction or geriatric psychiatry. As per the ACGME, residency education in child and adolescent psychiatry as part of the general psychiatry curriculum may not count toward residency education in CAP.

However, certain clinical experiences with children, adolescents and families taken during CAP training may be counted toward a fourth year in general psychiatry and the child and adolescent psychiatry program requirements. For these experiences to be given credit for both child and adolescent psychiatry and general psychiatry, the experiences must be limited to child and adolescent psychiatry patients and be limited to the following experiences: one month full-time equivalency (FTE) of child neurology; one month FTE of pediatric consultation-liaison; one month FTE of addiction psychiatry; forensic psychiatry experience; community psychiatry experience; and no more than 20% outpatient experience as described in Section IV.A.5.a.5.c.iv of the Program Requirements for Psychiatry as formulated by the ACGME.

For more information, please contact:
Bertha Leandry
bleandry@montefiore.org
718-920-7967

Montefiore Einstein Office of Residency Training
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
3331 Bainbridge Avenue
Bronx, New York 10467

CAP 1 fellows (Montefiore Medical Center—MMC line)
PGY-4 $83,323
PGY-5 $86,569
Chief resident additional: $4000

CAP 2 fellows (Office of Mental Health—OMH line)
PGY-5 Unlicensed: $107,307 / PGY-5 Licensed: $114,467
PGY-6 Unlicensed: $115,937 / PGY-6 Licensed: $123,090

• 20 vacation days per year
• 12 sick days per year
• 5 conference days per year
• 8 hospital holidays
• Up to $2,000 of funding towards conference attendance is available if presenting your work.
• $1,250 Education Resource Allowance is available for first year fellows. This can be used toward purchasing textbooks, software, iPhones, iPads, e-readers, payment of professional society membership dues, etc.
• Subsidized housing in Montefiore Einstein apartment buildings may be available (Note that demand currently exceeds supply, so housing cannot be guaranteed.)
• Comprehensive medical and dental coverage, with a variety of program choices
• Meal stipend: $2000 per academic year for those on Montefiore line
• Housing allowance:$3000 per academic year for those on Montefiore line
• Fatigue mitigation: $500 per acadmic year when a fellow is too fatigued to drive home at end of a shift (for those on Montefiore line)
• Child care: $2500 per academic year for eligible residents with a child/children under the age of 13 (for those on Montefiore line)