Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program

The Saint Elizabeths Hospital Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program is a one-year ACGME-accredited program designed to train and foster the development of forensic psychiatrists with interests across the entire range of forensic scholarship.

About Our Program

The Saint Elizabeths Hospital Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program is a one-year ACGME-accredited program designed to train and foster the development of forensic psychiatrists with interests across the entire range of forensic scholarship. During their time in the program, fellows:

  • Obtain an understanding of criminal and civil law, legal systems, and reasoning
  • Attain an appreciation for the interplay of legal issues in psychiatry, including civil commitment, criminal competencies, and criminal responsibility; disability; correctional health; malpractice; and the regulation of medicine
  • Expand their understanding of topics unique to forensic assessment, from answering ultimate questions to applying nomothetic research to individual cases
  • Improve their skills in forensic interviewing and assessment, in courtroom testimony and informal communications with the Court or referral source
  • Gain experience in correctional psychiatry, treatment, risk assessment, formulary restrictions, prison culture, and sentencing issues
  • Develop administrative and consultative skills necessary for conducting institutional consultations in a public sector setting
  • Learn behavioral strategies that support clinicians and units in the management of challenging forensic patients
  • Further their abilities in lecturing, teaching, consulting, report-writing skills

The experiential component includes rotations within the DC Department of Behavioral Health, including Saint Elizabeths Hospital itself, the Assessment Center (Child/Families), local court clinics, Unity Health Care/District of Columbia Correctional Facility, and exposure to experts in military and private forensic practice. Fellows gain experience conducting forensic inpatient assessment and treatment, monitoring long-term insanity acquitted patients, conducting child and adolescent forensic evaluations, and performing inpatient and outpatient competency evaluations and civil commitment evaluations. Fellows testify in court and gain experience in numerous pre- and post-adjudication interactions with the judicial system. Private cases include malpractice litigation in addition to civil and criminal forensic assessment.

The faculty includes both forensic and child/adolescent forensic psychiatrists who are committed to education and scholarship and the career development of their fellows. Specific faculty interests include ethics, the regulation of psychiatry, the insanity defense, outpatient commitment, violence risk, sovereign citizens, and physician health.