The Research Track
The Research Track is one of three available Tracks. 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. Research Track leadership can help to identify and introduce junior residents to prospective research projects and faculty mentors.
Benefits of the program include protected time from clinical duties to focus on research-related activities and internal funding opportunities during the PGY-3 and PGY-4 years through the UCLA-Semel Psychiatry Research Catalyst Award. The program curriculum also provides regular opportunities to meet leading researchers and clinicians in psychiatry and learn about their areas of interest during regular lunchtime forums. The lunch forum also involves journal club discussions led by residents on cutting-edge topics in psychiatry and oral presentations given by residents on their research projects.
Beyond the residency training period, the program is committed to supporting residents as they pursue their research career interests. Mentorship and guidance continue after residency and there are a wide variety of post-residency research opportunities. The UCLA and the VA system offer research fellowships, a child psychiatry fellowship research track, and numerous post-doctoral positions.
We have a particular commitment to recruiting and developing applicants underrepresented in research residencies and academic research faculty nationwide as part of the overall mission to address systemic injustice and inequity (for more information, visit our page on Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion).
Even if you are not formally in the Research Track, you can still participate in research! Categorical/General Track residents who are interested in pursuing research activities during residency can apply as PGY-2s for up to 33% of protected time for their projects during PGY-3 and 4. In rare cases, if further research time is desired, categorical residents may also inquire about internally transferring into the research track with the research track program director.
Residents in the Research Track will receive protected time to engage in research during PGY-2, 3, and 4. In PGY-2, two clinical blocks (approximately 8 weeks) are set aside for research. Scheduling is flexible and will be done in coordination with the Residency Education Office to maximize the benefit for each resident (such as placing this time at the end of PGY-2 to facilitate the transition to more intensive research in PGY-3 and 4).
During PGY-3 and 4, Research Track residents are granted protected time for research while meeting ACGME clinical requirements and attending didactics. On average, PGY-3’s are granted 50% and PGY-4’s are granted 60% of longitudinal time over the year for research. This protected time can be flexibly divided between PGY-3 and 4 depending on individual needs.
Applicants to the Research Track should have an established record of outstanding research accomplishments. It is anticipated that most will have obtained an M.D./Ph.D. degree. Engagement in an equivalent amount of extensive and rigorous research training may be acceptable in some cases.
To apply, medical students must check the box for program NRMP 3030400C1 on their application. In addition, they must include a letter of recommendation from a former and/or current research mentor as part of their application and complete the Research secondary application question.
Applications will be reviewed and invitations to interview for the Research Track will be sent by email. Notified applicants will attend an additional day of interviews at UCLA to meet with potential research mentors and members of the committee. This is normally coordinated with Residency Education to occur on the day before or after interviews for the General/Categorical Track. However, a separate day for interviews with potential mentors may be arranged if needed.
The Director and Residency Education Staff will be responsible for coordinating the interviews.
- Funded, flexible, protected time during PGY-2 (approx. 15%) and PGY-3/4 (approx. 50-60%) for research
- Internal funding opportunities during the PGY-3 and PGY-4 years through the UCLA-Semel Psychiatry Research Catalyst Award
- Flexible opportunities for fellowships for additional research years
- Yearly Research Training Retreat at UCLA
- Invitation to yearly VA-sponsored regional research conference
- Flexibility for a customized training path
- Outstanding faculty and training environment
- A collaborative and supportive research community
- Program responsive to feedback and committed to continuous improvement
- Social/networking events
- Post-residency research fellowships and post-doctoral positions
- Career mentorship and guidance
Class of 2024
Dr. Amber Baysinger completed her PhD at Yale University working with Dr. Jane Taylor, where she used translational models to investigate pharmacologic and behavioral interventions for altering memory reconsolidation to reduce drug-seeking behavior. She subsequently obtained her MD at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, where she received a distinction in research for a qualitative study examining the use of opioid prescriptions as incentives to motivate health-related behaviors in patients. Amber also worked with an interdisciplinary team to establish and evaluate a scalable model for hospital-based buprenorphine inductions to treat opioid use disorder in medically hospitalized patients.
Dr. Dov Lerman-Sinkoff received his MD and PhD from Washington University in St. Louis. He worked with Dr. Deanna Barch to study how cognitive control behavioral performance varies across the spectrum of healthy persons and persons with psychotic disorders using multimodal neuroimaging analysis techniques applied to structural, functional, and resting state MRI data. Dov is particularly interested in psychiatric nosology, cognitive neuroscience, and cognitive psychology and how advances in these fields can help guide development of improved treatment options for persons with mental illness.
Dr. Michael Leuchter received his MD from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, where he worked with Dr. Marco Iacoboni and the faculty of the UCLA Neuromodulation to examine novel applications of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), specifically in the treatment of tinnitus and phobias. He has expanded his work with the group as a resident, now optimizing TMS for use in the treatment of mood disorders (particularly in geriatric populations) while continuing to explore more novel applications of TMS and other neuromodulation modalities. He is broadly interested in the intersection of neuromodulation, geriatric psychiatry, and mood disorders.
Class of 2025
Dr. Anthony Jang received his MD from Harvard Medical School. Through the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology (HST) program, he worked with Dr. Jan Drugowitsch to study how cognitive functions such as attention and decision-making can be modeled using tools from artificial intelligence. Prior to medical school, Anthony conducted research at the NIH studying neural signatures of memory formation by analyzing neuronal population activity recorded from neurosurgical patients. During residency and beyond, Anthony is hoping to apply the computational tools he learned from basic neuroscience to more clinically relevant questions. He is broadly interested in the fields of computational psychiatry, neuromodulation, and digital psychiatry.
Dr. Debha Amatya completed his MD/PhD training at the University of California, San Diego. His doctoral research with Dr. Fred Gage centered around novel approaches for the analysis of genomics data in neuropsychiatric disorders, like autism. This included studying the relationship between the electrical dynamics of patient-derived neurons and transcriptomic data during early neurodevelopment. A separate project involved the creation of machine learning tools to vectorize and classify whole genome sequencing data from a large collection of samples from patients with autism and controls. Before medical school, Debha received his bioengineering degree at Stanford University and has since broadly pursued projects that apply quantitative tools to solve problems in neuroscience and psychiatry. During residency, he is interested in studying how large, diverse data streams can be efficiently utilized to improve the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders.
Class of 2027
Dr. Kaleab Tessema received his MD and PhD from UCLA. His thesis work with Dr. Harley Kornblum focused on examining molecular mechanisms underlying 1) neurodevelopmental risk factors for psychiatric conditions (ASD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder) and 2) progression and recurrence of high-grade glioma. Prior to medical school, Kaleab studied biomedical engineering at Yale University and pursued research projects related to stem cell genetics, HIV reactivation dynamics, artificial muscle generation, and neutrophil transmigration. Moving forward, he is interested in studying childhood trauma/stress or variables driving heterogeneity in clinical response to psychiatric interventions.
Dr. Lauren Textor received her MD and PhD from UCLA. During her PhD in anthropology, she worked with Dr. Philippe Bourgois and Dr. Helena Hansen to examine health systems and federal policies implemented in response to the U.S. overdose epidemic, documenting long-term impacts of these policies for individuals who use opioids. Observation of clinical encounters, mundane bureaucratic processes such as prescription monitoring and pharmacy oversight revealed the encroachment of drug law enforcement into clinical care and abandonment of vulnerable patients. She examines how political economic competition between different models of addiction shapes individuals’ embodiment of addiction and of treatment. She is interested in pursuing anthropological research at the intersection of community organizing and health policy.
