Addiction Psychiatry

The Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship is an ACGME-accredited training program for individuals who have successfully completed a four-year psychiatry residency program in the United States or Canada. At the current time, the complement for the fellowship is one position.

The majority of addiction psychiatry fellowship programs will be utilizing the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) and National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) to recruit for the fellowship class starting July 1, 2023.

McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship will only accept applications submitted via ERAS and NRMP Match. Applicants may submit their application to the ERAS service starting July 1, 2022. Applicants may apply to the NRMP Match on August 24, ranking lists for programs are due November 16 and Match Day will be November 30.

For more information on the application process, please visit the ERAS website and the NRMP website.

The fellowship in addiction psychiatry offers the opportunity to gain specialized skills in the care of patients whose lives are complicated by the effects of substance use.

The clinical rotations are primarily located in addiction treatment programs and offer experience in the various levels of care and treatment modalities available to address these problems. The emphasis is to understand addiction as a chronic brain disease that can be successfully treated by a comprehensive biopsychosocial approach, including medications that target the underlying brain pathophysiology. Furthermore, it is now more the expectation, rather than the exception, that individuals with psychiatric problems may also have a substance use disorder. This means that expertise in working with co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders is essential for competence as a practicing psychiatrist. The interplay of psychiatric symptoms with the effects of drugs and alcohol is a complex confounder in the treatment of both disorders. Addiction psychiatrists are the best prepared of all clinicians to provide the necessary care.

This fellowship training experience takes place after the completion of training in General Psychiatry so the fellow is often able to function as a junior attending or consultant and gains the experience needed to succeed as an independent practitioner after graduation. The program's faculty members are experienced specialists in the treatment of addictive disorders and provide the fellow with important professional mentoring. The trainee learns about the current behavioral health systems of care and by the end of training is easily employable and can often find leadership positions in this developing field. Finally, completion of the Northwestern fellowship conveys the privilege to gain further medical board certification in addiction psychiatry, professional recognition of the highest degree.