Psychosomatic Medicine Psychiatry Fellowship

Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry is also known as Psychosomatic Medicine. Psychosomatic Medicine psychiatrists are psychiatrists who have special training and experience in evaluating and treating patients who are referred from other physicians. They are very comfortable helping patients who have complex or severe medical or surgical problems that may exacerbate or be exacerbated by emotional problems. This Division provides consultation to the medical and surgical inpatient services at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the Prentice Women’s Hospital.

In addition to providing evaluation and recommendations for patients with depression, anxiety and delirium, our faculty comprises individuals with special expertise working with patients in the areas of Women’s Health, Psycho-Oncology, Substance Abuse, Organ Transplantation, Physical Rehabilitation and Forensic Psychiatry.  Our goals are to provide comprehensive biopsychosocial diagnosis and treatment recommendations, to work closely with the primary medical/surgical teams to maximize patient function, to assist all members of the medical/surgical teams to work effectively with cognitively and/or psychologically impaired patients, and to assist patients transition to appropriate outpatient care.

Overview of Program:
The one-year Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Psychosomatic Medicine Fellowship Program is for individuals who would like advanced education in Psychosomatic Medicine and Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

The goal of this program is to train fellows to become knowledgeable, astute and compassionate physicians with unique expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of complex psychiatric disorders in complex medically ill patients by:

• Developing advanced skills in providing consultation in medical and surgical settings
• Communicating and collaborating effectively with physicians from a broad range of primary care and specialty settings, and with allied health staff
• Better understanding the relationship between biopsychosocialspiritual factors and medical illness
• Appreciating the range, context and rationale for each individual patient’s response to illness
• Leading an integrated psychosocial health-care team in the medical settings.

Psychosomatic Medicine fellows provide psychiatric services to all other Northwestern University departments, including internal medicine, general surgical services, intensive care units, rehabilitation medicine, transplant surgery, and neurology.

The Curriculum:
The educational objectives of the program are to develop clinical expertise and, through teaching and liaison efforts, to increase the mental health skills and knowledge of non-psychiatric physicians and medical center staff.

Clinical training includes extensive experience in medically oriented psychiatric consultation  to gain skills and experience necessary to treat and evaluate complex psychological problems. Rotations include inpatient medical and surgical consultation in the general hospital, Prentice Women’s Hospital and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.  Outpatient consultation settings include oncology and behavioral neurology.

Fellows are encouraged to participate in the rich academic and clinical environment of Northwestern University. Weekly program-specific didactic experiences include:

• Psychosomatics Case Conference
• Neuroscience Seminar
• Bedside rounding
• Access to numerous departmental conferences and rounds

Faculty:
Lisa J. Rosenthal, MD, Fellowship Director
Mehmet Dokucu, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor 
Virgilio Arenas, MD, Assistant Professor
Nehama Dresner, MD, Assistant Professor, CL
John Franklin, MD, Associate Professor
Robert Hanlon, PhD, Associate Professor 
Dorothy Valin, RN, PhD, APN