Chiefs Letter

Dear Prospective Resident, 

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the UT Southwestern Psychiatry Residency Program! We are thrilled to share some of the ways our program offers well-rounded training in a supportive, diverse, and engaging community to help you grow into the psychiatrist you aspire to be. 

Our program is best known for diverse clinical opportunities, world-class research, and early access to high-quality psychotherapy training. Working within various care systems (including public safety net, private, veterans' and children's hospitals, and public, private, forensic, homeless, and community-based clinics), we are exposed to patients from a wide array of backgrounds with a broad range of psychiatric and medical conditions. We gain familiarity with a full breadth of medications, psychotherapy modalities, and cutting-edge interventional treatments, preparing us for independent clinical practice and desirable fellowship positions.  

While we offer a robust core curriculum, we also pride ourselves on flexibility to customize our training. Across our practice settings, residents may choose from over 60 electives in their third and fourth postgraduate years. Additionally, we offer multiple areas of concentration (educator; global and cultural psychiatry; interventional psychiatry; mental health, policy, and law; psychotherapy; transitional age youth; and women’s mental health), allowing for mentorship and unique clinical and scholarly experiences in a particular area of interest. Mentorship from residents and faculty is highly valued and thoroughly incorporated within the curriculum and through various community initiatives. We are committed to helping you develop the foundational skills to become a great psychiatrist, as well as the opportunities to gain unique skills that will set you apart as you start your career. 

The journey to becoming a psychiatrist is both a rewarding privilege and a challenging responsibility. As such, our program is committed to a culture of support. Our program motto is “never worry alone,” and the leadership, attendings, and residents exemplify it through personal and intentional connection. As one of the largest psychiatry residencies in the USA, our coalition of diverse and talented faculty and residents connect with and support one another between and across classes and ranks, as evidenced by regular feedback meetings with leadership built into didactics time and our very active Psychiatry Residents Organization (PRO). 

Additionally, we are committed to a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Our patients come from many walks of life, as do our residents. We seek and celebrate opportunities to learn from one another and grow in understanding of how issues of diversity (including, but not limited to, culture, race, gender identity, sexuality, socioeconomic status, and religion) shape our patients and our psychiatric practice. 

We are proud to be UT Southwestern psychiatry residents. We hope to have the opportunity to meet you, share much more about what makes our program so special, and learn about you during the application process. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to hear more about our program or personal experiences. We wish you all the best as you prepare to become a psychiatrist!

Isabel A. Clark, M.D., M.S.
Vinay Kotamarti, M.D.
Chengxi (Vincent) Li, M.D.