I welcome your interest in the child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship program at the UK College of Medicine. Our department is known for its strong commitment to the mental health of children and adolescents in Kentucky and to education in child and adolescent psychiatry. We have been training child and adolescent psychiatry fellows for over fifty years and offer a diverse array of clinical experiences and faculty with whom to work during your training. A sample of clinical sites at which you will likely work during your child and adolescent training include the following: 

1. University inpatient behavioral health unit (for patients 5-18 years of age)

2. Consultation-Liaison service to Kentucky Children's Hospital

3. Residential facility for long-term individual and group therapy experiences

4. UK Center on Trauma and Children (center devoted to clinical care, education and research for children who have been abused or neglected)

5. Comprehensive Assessment and Training Services Project (CATS) (collaborative program between social services and psychiatry to provide comprehensive assessments to children in out-of-home care for the courts)

6. Community mental health centers, including metal health clinics imbedded in schools

7. Juvenile Justice centers

8. Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics clinics

9. Ongoing individual as well as group resident clinics for psychopharmacology and psychotherapy, including the opportunity for extensive training in Functional Family Therapy

These are just some of the many opportunities available to you as a child and adolescent psychiatry fellow here at the University of Kentucky! Because we have both child and adolescent fellows and triple board residents, we have a peer group with whom to learn and share experiences. We also have outstanding research opportunities in child psychiatry with many opportunities for residents to become involved including a newly- approved clinical scholars track which provides additional protected research time and mentorship for the last 18 months of the fellowship.

We offer a full morning per week of child and adolescent psychiatry didactics taught by our faculty and many opportunities for experiential visits to schools and other facilities that provide services to children. Residents are actively involved in all aspects of our program and participate in journal clubs, case conferences, and small group seminars. There are ample opportunities to teach medical students in inpatient, clinic, and large and small classroom settings.

Our department takes great pride in the collegial spirit between faculty and residents and we encourage our residents and fellows to become active within our department and UK HealthCare. Our graduates practice across the U.S. in every type of setting imaginable and consistently vouch for how well we prepared them for their careers.

I believe you will obtain excellent child and adolescent psychiatry training at the University of Kentucky and hope you will not hesitate to contact us if you have questions. Lexington is a wonderful city in which to live and is a great place to be single or to raise a family. The cultural, educational, and recreational opportunities are outstanding and there is more to do than anyone has time to take advantage of! I hope you will strongly consider our program and invite you to take a closer look!

Sandra Batsel-Thomas, MD

Professor and Vice Chair of Education
Program Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry