Tracks
Residency Expansion
The UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences has historically offered residency training opportunities at two primary sites: the main UCLA campus in Westwood and the West Los Angeles VA Hospital. We also have multiple partnerships with community sites, including publicly-funded county clinics. This breadth of training has prepared our residents to provide high quality care in any treatment setting, including acute care settings such as the hospital and emergency room, longitudinal outpatient care settings like psychopharmacology and psychotherapy clinics, as well as community care settings for the underserved and socially vulnerable.
In fall 2023, our department leadership made the decision to expand our residency training capacity from 84 residents (59 in the UCLA-based residency and 25 in the VA-based residency) to a total of 103 residents over the next 4 years. This decision was made in anticipation of the move of the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital (NPH) to its new Mid-Wilshire location in summer 2026. The new hospital will have 119 inpatient acute care psychiatric beds, roughly 60% more than the current hospital, with an additional dedicated care area for psychiatric crisis stabilization services. Department leadership made the active decision to meet the additional staffing needs of the hospital through an expansion of the residency program, highlighting its commitment to training future generations of psychiatrists. In order to minimize redundancy and maximize opportunities for each resident, the department also chose to combine the two separate residencies, which already had many areas of overlap in both their clinical and didactic curricula, into a single program with a unified vision.
Residency Tracks
The move of the Resnick NPH to its new Mid-Wilshire location means that there will now be 3 primary training sites rather than 2. In addition, the increased number of residents will make us, to our knowledge, the single largest psychiatry residency in the country. In considering the impact of these significant changes, we made the decision to not simply add more residents and training sites to the existing structure but rather to use this as an opportunity to rebuild our training program from the ground up.
We have chosen to restructure the residency around four Tracks based out of each training site: the Mid-Wilshire Track, the VA Track, the Westwood Track, and the Research Track. We are hoping that this will have several effects:
- A Personalized Experience for Residents: Each of our primary training sites offers distinct patient populations and experiences. Allowing residents to apply to and rank between the various Tracks will help match residents to the site that they are most interested in, enriching their training and providing additional opportunities for clinical and leadership experiences in specific areas of psychiatry.
- Enhanced Community and Mentorship: We hope that having multiple distinct Tracks, each with a Track Director fully dedicated to mentoring the residents within it, will allow a program of our size to still have a close-knit family feel within each Track, allowing for closer relationships between residents, more tailored support from leadership, and enhanced resilience.
- Giving Residents a Home Base: Finally, having all residents rotate equally at each of our three sites would involve frequent travel between the sites. In contrast, by giving each Track a home base at one of the three training sites, we can reduce the amount of driving and give residents more time to spend caring for their patients, learning about our field, and engaging in self-care.
Overall, we believe that these Tracks will allow residents to have access to all of the advantages and connections afforded by being in a large world-class academic department while also providing the mentorship and support of a much smaller program (in other words, we will be “big enough for opportunity yet small enough for community”).
Learn more about each of our new Tracks below! (Please note that some of the rotations listed are in the planning stages and may be updated as the launch of the new structure approaches. In addition, some of the rotations may not be available until the new Mid-Wilshire hospital opens, which is currently projected for summer 2026. However, the Mid-Wilshire Track will be recruiting residents as of the 2024-2025 recruitment season!)
Mid-Wilshire Track
NRMP ID: “Psychiatry-Mid-Wilshire” 3030400C3
The Mid-Wilshire Track is based out of the Mid-Wilshire hospital which will be the home of our acute care services, including the Resnick NPH and its associated partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs. Accordingly, residents in this track will gain particular expertise in managing severe mental illness, with a focus on conducting detailed diagnostic assessments and developing cutting edge treatment plans for some of the most complex cases in our field. These settings are also particularly well suited for residents who wish to become clinician-educators by providing a highly structured teaching environment. Notably, the Resnick NPH takes all patients regardless of insurance status or socio-economic background, ensuring that residents in this track are well equipped to provide care for the full range of patients in the Los Angeles community.
PGY-1
- NPH Inpatient (2 months)
- VA Inpatient (2 months)
- NPH Crisis Stabilization Unit*
- Harbor Emergency Psychiatry
- Neuromodulation / Vacation (2 weeks each)
- NPH Night Float / Vacation (2 weeks each)
- VA Medicine Wards/Geriatric Medicine (2 weeks each)
- VA Emergency Medicine
- VA Ambulatory Medicine
- VA Neurology Consults / Outpatient Neurology (2 weeks each)
- UCLA Neurology Consults / Epilepsy Service (2 weeks each)
- VA DOM Medicine (2 weeks)
- Internal Medicine Consult Service (2 weeks) *
PGY-2
- NPH Inpatient (3 months)*
- NPH Geriatric
- NPH Child (2 months)
- UCLA C/L
- VA C/L
- VA Inpatient
- NPH Crisis Stabilization Unit*
- Psychiatry Elective
- NPH Night Float / Vacation
- VA Night Float / Vacation
* Indicates a rotation that is either unique to this Track or that residents on this Track spend additional time on.
VA Track
NRMP ID: “Psychiatry-VA 3030400C4
The VA Track is based out of the Greater Los Angeles VA which is one of the largest mental health providers in the Veterans Health Administration and provides complete psychiatric care to our nations’ veterans. This track also offers additional rotations with UCLA affiliated services focusing on care of the underserved, including the UCLA Homeless Healthcare Collaborative, the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, and our community partner sites in the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. Accordingly, residents in this track will gain particular expertise in providing care to underrepresented and vulnerable populations, understanding social determinants of health, working within complex systems of care, and becoming advocates both for our patients and for the community as a whole. These experiences will provide a strong foundation for residents with an interest in health services and social medicine research.
PGY-1
- NPH Inpatient (2 months)
- VA Inpatient (2 months)
- VA Emergency Psychiatry*
- Harbor Emergency Psychiatry
- Neuromodulation / Vacation (2 weeks each)
- NPH Night Float / Vacation (2 weeks each)
- VA Medicine Wards/Geriatric Medicine (2 weeks each)
- VA Emergency Medicine
- VA Ambulatory Medicine
- VA Neurology Consults / Outpatient Neurology (2 weeks each)
- UCLA Neurology Consults / Epilepsy Service (2 weeks each)
- VA DOM Medicine (2 weeks)
- Homeless Healthcare Medicine (2 weeks)*
PGY-2
- NPH Inpatient (2 months)
- NPH Geriatric
- NPH Child
- Harbor Adolescent Emergency*
- UCLA C/L
- VA C/L
- VA Inpatient (3 months)*
- Psychiatry Elective
- NPH Night Float / Vacation
- VA Night Float / Vacation
* Indicates a rotation that is either unique to this Track or that residents on this Track spend additional time on.
Westwood Track
NRMP ID: “Psychiatry-Westwood” 3030400C5
The Westwood Track is based on the main UCLA campus in Westwood which is home to the majority of our department’s outpatient services, including dozens of subspecialty clinics providing both psychopharmacology and psychotherapy services to patients. Accordingly, residents in this track will gain particular expertise in longitudinal management of patients across multiple years. This focus will be further facilitated by piloting a unique (for psychiatry) X+Y curriculum in which residents spend 25% of their PGY-2 year doing outpatient psychiatry, with 1 week per month away from acute care services to follow patients longitudinally in clinic. Residents will also be given protected time each week, even when on acute care services, to see psychotherapy patients and receive psychotherapy supervision from the beginning of PGY-2. Both of these will allow residents to begin gaining experience and expertise in the longitudinal outpatient care of patients starting in PGY-2 (rather than PGY-3 like the other tracks). This long-term immersion in outpatient care will provide residents with many opportunities for gaining expertise in a wide range of therapy modalities while also developing a deeper understanding of the art and science of cultivating a therapeutic relationship.
PGY-1
- NPH Inpatient (2 months)
- VA Inpatient (2 months)
- Emergency Psychiatry (NPH or VA)
- Harbor Emergency Psychiatry
- Neuromodulation / Vacation (2 weeks each)
- NPH Night Float / Vacation (2 weeks each)
- VA Medicine Wards/Geriatric Medicine (2 weeks each)
- VA Emergency Medicine
- VA Ambulatory Medicine
- VA Neurology Consults / Outpatient Neurology (2 weeks each)
- UCLA Neurology Consults / Epilepsy Service (2 weeks each)
- VA DOM Medicine (2 weeks)
- Pediatric Urgent Care (2 weeks)*
PGY-2
- NPH Inpatient (2 months)
- NPH Geriatric
- NPH Child (2 months)
- UCLA C/L
- VA C/L
- VA Inpatient (2 months)
- Psychiatry Elective
- NPH Night Float / Vacation
- VA Night Float / Vacation
- Outpatient Psychiatry* (1 out of every 4 weeks)
- Continuity Clinic*
- General and Subspecialty Clinics*
- Therapy Groups*
- Resident Psychotherapy Clinic*
* Indicates a rotation that is either unique to this Track or that residents on this Track spend additional time on.
Research Track
NRMP ID: “Psychiatry-Research” 3030400C1
The Research Track is intended to catalyze the development of residents with a strong interest in becoming physician scientists in the field of psychiatry. Successful applicants will generally have an established record of outstanding research accomplishments, with most having obtained an MD/PhD degree (though engagement in an equivalent amount of extensive and rigorous research training may be acceptable in some cases). This focus on research is facilitated through funded and flexible protected time during PGY-1 (2 weeks), PGY-2 (2 months or approximately 15% time), and PGY-3/4 (approximately 50-60% time). There are also internal funding opportunities during PGY-3 and PGY-4 through the UCLA-Semel Psychiatry Research Catalyst Award as well as flexible opportunities for fellowships for additional research years. Residents in the Research Track can select mentors from across the entire UCLA campus, representing a broad range of expertise including basic, clinical, translational, health services, and social sciences. Clinical work in the Research Track is evenly divided between our three sites to provide these residents with a broad-based experience in providing patient care, with opportunities to gain additional experiences with patients in one’s area of research as a PGY-3/4. For more detailed information on the Research Track, please visit this page!
PGY-1
- NPH Inpatient (2 months)
- VA Inpatient (2 months)
- Emergency Psychiatry (NPH or VA)
- Harbor Emergency Psychiatry
- Research* / Vacation (2 weeks each)
- NPH Night Float / Vacation (2 weeks each)
- VA Medicine Wards/Geriatric Medicine (2 weeks each)
- VA Emergency Medicine
- VA Ambulatory Medicine
- VA Neurology Consults / Outpatient Neurology (2 weeks each)
- UCLA Neurology Consults / Epilepsy Service (2 weeks each)
- VA DOM Medicine (2 weeks)
- Medicine Elective*
PGY-2
- NPH Inpatient (2 months)
- NPH Geriatric
- NPH Child (2 months)
- UCLA C/L
- VA C/L
- VA Inpatient (2 months)
- Research* (2 months)
- NPH Night Float / Vacation
- VA Night Float / Vacation
* Indicates a rotation that is either unique to this Track or that residents on this Track spend additional time on.
PGY-3 and 4: Residents in the Research Track generally do between 3-4 half-day clinics per week in PGY-3 and 2-3 in PGY-4, providing ~50% protected time for research in PGY-3 and ~60% in PGY-4.
1. How much is the same between the tracks? How much is different?
The majority (roughly 75%) of each resident’s clinical experiences in PGY-1 and 2 will be shared with the other Tracks. For example, all residents will do their core inpatient psychiatry rotations at both UCLA and the VA.
In contrast, the remaining 25% of rotations will be more specifically tailored to the track’s area of focus. For example, all residents will do Emergency Psychiatry, but residents in the Mid-Wilshire Track will do this in the NPH Crisis Stabilization Unit, while residents in the VA Track will do this in the West Los Angeles VA Emergency Department, with residents in the Westwood and Research Tracks doing this at either site.
Of note, residents in all of the Tracks will work together closely on rotations and attend the same weekly didactic curriculum, ensuring that residents across all tracks can learn from each other and form a broader residency community.
2. Does the Track a resident is in determine what clinics they can do in PGY-3 and 4?
The Track that a resident matches into determines their rotation schedules for the first half of residency only. Starting in PGY-3 and onward, all residents have access to all the same clinics, electives, and opportunities regardless of what Track they are matched into.
3. Can someone switch tracks after matching? What if my interests or career plans change?
Because a resident’s placement in each track is determined by the NRMP match algorithm prior to beginning the program, we unfortunately cannot accommodate residents switching between tracks once they have started.
However, because the majority of clinical rotations are the same between each Track, we anticipate that even residents who do not match into their first choice will still have the core training experiences that they are seeking.
We recognize that career interests can and do change, and once the resident enters into the second half of residency they will be able to pick electives and clinical experiences in any area of our field. For example, a resident who matches into the Westwood Track may realize that they do not enjoy outpatient work as much as they thought and instead prefer the fast-paced nature of acute care settings. There will be ample opportunities for this resident to customize their PGY-¾ schedules to meet this interest (such as signing up for the Emergency or Inpatient Chiefship). Through this approach, each resident can have their initial experiences in residency be guided by their interests at the time of the match, with complete freedom and flexibility to pursue additional interests in the second half of residency.
4. Can I be in 2 Tracks at once? What if I have multiple interests (e.g., wanting to both work with veterans and do psychotherapy as core parts of my career)?
While residents cannot be in 2 Tracks at the same time, we hope that the program’s structure is flexible enough to allow residents to pursue any and all interests they may have during residency. Using the example of someone with strong interests in both veteran populations and psychotherapy:
– If this resident matched into the VA Track, they could elect to do any number of psychotherapy-based clinics, take on a higher number of Resident Psychotherapy Clinic patients, engage in advanced training at one of the local psychoanalytic institutes, and/or apply for the Psychotherapy Chiefship as a PGY-3/4 resident.
– If this resident matched into the Westwood Track, they could elect to do any number of VA-based clinics, get involved in research with faculty mentors at the VA, and/or apply for VA Chiefships as a PGY-3/4 resident.
5. If each Track has a specific area of focus, does that mean that residents in the other Tracks will not be as good in those areas?
We fully expect all graduates from our program to demonstrate clinical excellence in all areas of psychiatry, including the specific areas that are the focus of each track. We hope that each Track will provide residents with additional experiences in their area of focus.
6. Why are there 4 different NRMP match numbers? How should I rank them?
In order to maximize fairness and minimize ambiguity, we have decided to have placement into each of the tracks be decided by the NRMP match algorithm rather than allocating residents to each track once they have already matched. This requires the use of separate NRMP match numbers for each of the tracks.
In terms of ranking, we leave that completely up to each applicant to decide! If someone really wants to come here and is open to any of the Tracks, they can rank all 3 Tracks (or 4 including the Research Track) together on their rank list in the order of their preference. Conversely, if someone would primarily want to come here for only 1 of the Tracks, they can rank that one Track and rank the other ones lower (or even not at all). It is entirely up to the applicant.
7. Does ranking multiple Tracks for a single program make me less likely to match at places lower down on my rank list? For example, if I rank all 3 Tracks at the top of my list, does that make my #2 program now my #4?
Based on how the match algorithm works, it will not negatively impact the applicant to rank more than one of these Tracks together (i.e., ranking all 3 Tracks at the top of your list does not make it so that you are less likely to match at your #2 program).
8. How do multiple Tracks work with preference signaling?
According to the AAMC’s Program Signals Overview for Residency Applicants, program signals cannot be sent to specific Tracks. Instead, the signals are received at the institution level, meaning that all program Tracks at an institution for a given specialty will see the same signal information. We interpret this to mean that you can “spend” a single preference signal on our program, and it will work to indicate interest for all of the Tracks we offer!
9. Will the Mid-Wilshire Track operate even before the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital relocates? What if the hospital opening is delayed?
Yes! The Mid-Wilshire Track will be recruiting residents to begin in June 2025, even before the anticipated opening of the new hospital in summer 2026. Residents in the Track prior to the opening of the hospital will have a slightly modified schedule (for example, they may do Emergency Psychiatry in the current hospital rather than the Crisis Stabilization Unit). If the hospital opening is delayed for any reason, there are many rotations and elective opportunities for residents in all Tracks to engage in while we await the opening of the hospital.
10. What are we looking for in applicants? Does this change based on the Track an applicant is applying to?
There is no one thing or set of things that we are looking for! We are proud to have a group of residents with a wide variety of backgrounds, impressive accomplishments, and career interests. As long as someone is dedicated to providing compassionate clinical care and engaging in continual learning and self-improvement, we think they will be a good fit for our residency. We complete a holistic review process for every application we receive. We are planning to use this same process across all of our Tracks, with the same standards for all residents entering our program. For this reason, we encourage all applicants to apply to all 3 Tracks! (Or 4 if you are interested in the Research Track.) These tracks are much more about your interests as an applicant than about our interests from a selection perspective. Of note, we do not use test scores in our holistic review process in any of the Tracks.
11. What is the difference between Program Directors, Track Directors, and Associate Program Directors?
While many programs have both a Program Director and Associate Program Director(s), our unique structure allows us to have Track Directors as well. Each of these people will play a unique role in your residency training should you come here to train.
– Program Director: The Program Director has ultimate responsibility for ensuring the quality of your training and overseeing both residents and faculty in residency. Their focus is largely on maintaining a high standard of excellence in areas shared by all residents, including rotation scheduling, feedback systems, resident well-being, faculty development, and administrative processes.
– Track Directors: In addition to the overall Program Director, each resident will have their own Track Director who will be overseeing a much smaller cohort of residents. This Track Director will serve as the de facto Program Director for the residents within their track, including having direct responsibility for mentorship and feedback, helping to identify career goals, and building the community and culture of each Track.
– Associate Program Directors: Finally, there are also Associate Program Directors who help to oversee aspects of our program that involve residents across all of the Tracks, including Psychotherapy, Community Partnerships, and Curriculum. They will also play a supportive role in resident development across all of the Tracks and are available for mentorship and guidance at any time, particularly in their area of focus. Having APDs who are given direct responsibility for each of these areas will help to ensure a high standard of excellence in these foundational pillars of psychiatry training.
12. How new are these changes? Will there be a lot of instability?
The structure of having multiple Tracks is new for our residency as of the 2024-2025 application cycle, which means that the class beginning in June of 2025 will be the first to experience it. While this particular way of structuring the residency is new, the vast majority of the actual clinical rotations that make up the majority of a resident’s experience are time-tested rotations that have been the building blocks of our residency training program for decades. In addition, all members of the leadership team (the Program Director, Track Directors, and Associate Program Directors) each have years of direct experience in residency education. For these reasons, we are confident that the resident experience will be consistent and stable even in the midst of major structural changes.
13. What will happen to the UCLA and VA psychiatry residency programs as they currently exist?
As part of the restructuring, the former structures of both the UCLA and VA-based programs will continue to exist but will “sunset” over the next 4 years such that their last classes will graduate in June 2028. This arrangement will ensure that all existing residents in both programs will complete their residency as it existed when they matched into it.
Existing residents in both programs are invited to be involved in interviewing and recruiting future classes of residents. However, it’s important to note that there may be some major differences between the programs they experienced and the program that new residents will match into moving forward, so please keep this in mind!
14. What if I have any questions that weren’t addressed on this list?
Any questions about the restructured residency can be sent to the program director Jonathan Heldt at jheldt@mednet.ucla.edu.
In addition, we have some residents and faculty who served on the workgroup that designed the new system and are happy to answer any questions as well! These “program ambassadors” are:
– Jeremy Flores (UCLA Faculty, jeremyflores@mednet.ucla.edu)
– Dennis Dacarett Galeano (UCLA Faculty, ddgaleano@mednet.ucla.edu)
– Meghan Reddy, MD (PGY-2 UCLA Resident, mreddy@mednet.ucla.edu)
– Saba Shevidi (PGY-2 VA Resident, sshevidi@mednet.ucla.edu)
– David Okikawa (PGY-3 UCLA Resident, dokikawa@mednet.ucla.edu)