Psychiatry Residency

We believe that a psychiatry residency should be a rigorous but humane environment in which one can develop into a highly skilled psychiatrist. We will help you master the clinical skills and knowledge base necessary to practice successfully. We emphasize collegiality, communication and responsibility so that you can develop an identity as a professional and as a leader. We strive to be mindful of your need to balance professional and personal responsibilities and goals.

The mission of the University of Wisconsin Psychiatry Residency is:

1. to help residents learn to compassionately and effectively prevent, diagnose, and treat mental illness and their sequelae, and
2. to facilitate residents’ contributions to the field of medicine and to society through scholarship, education, and service.

Welcome from the Residency Training Director

Psychiatric illnesses are common medical disorders, and responsible for tremendous costs, disability, and death. They are also treatable.

We are committed to helping our residents to become outstanding psychiatrists and to preparing them to be exceptional clinicians, educators, researchers, advocates, and leaders. In the Department of Psychiatry, you will be part of a community committed to compassionate and evidence-based clinical care, education and training, and cutting-edge neuroscience research which will further our understanding of mental illness. We are committed to providing excellent care, and training our residents, in a variety of settings to patients across a wide spectrum of racial, ethnic, geographic, financial, and experiential backgrounds. We also strive to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness through advocacy, and to provide support and access to care for people with mental illness.

Our residents are a part of multidisciplinary clinical care teams in a variety of hospital, outpatient, and community settings. Residents learn acute care skills on hospital services, integrate psychotherapy and psychopharmacology in our longitudinal outpatient clinic, and as part of community programs. Residents also have the option to join focused tracks to develop additional skills. Clinical Educator Track residents are mentored in educational principles, develop curricula, and teaching. In the Rural Public Health Track, residents learn to provide mental health care in wide range of clinical settings in rural areas across the state of Wisconsin. Residents may also pursue research, with mentoring from the world-class researchers in the Department of Psychiatry and at the University of Wisconsin more broadly.

As a residency program, we are committed to recruitment and retention of residents from wide-ranging backgrounds and training. We are also committed to training our residents to care for all people in Wisconsin and in the United States.  Our Department and the UW School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) along with UW Health have a continued commitment to supporting Social Impact and Belonging – for everyone, patients and families, staff.  UW Health wants Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs to reflect the communities served and we strive to be a leader in this care. UW Health has worked closely with residents, fellows, faculty and staff to develop best practices and trainings to ensure that work, study, research and health care environments are welcoming and supportive to everyone.

Training in psychiatry is rewarding, but also challenging, and at times can be stressful. In stress can be growth – support and community are critical to make this productive. We work to foster a sense of community and collegiality that are foundational to thriving during training. A variety of wellness programs have also been developed to provide additional support. Residents in each class are part of professional development groups, participate in wellness activities (including our Eudaemonia curriculum), and mentoring programs. Additional supports are available when challenging situations arise: our Collegial Support Program, Employee Assistance Program, and other individualized approaches.

Please explore our website and feel free to contact me to learn more about what our Psychiatry Residency in Madison can offer.

Best,
Michael

Update August 2026

I will be leaving the Program Director (PD) role in April 2027 to focus on my Vice Chair of Education role. The department has started a national search to recruit the next Program Director. We are excited to maintain our excellence in psychiatry training while also incorporating feedback from residents, faculty, and staff about ways to improve our training program.

While change may be necessary and exciting, we also recognize it can be stressful. We are including residents in this change process (e.g. on committees to make change recommendations and on search committees). We also want potential residents to know that we do not anticipate changes in PGY1 rotations for the 2027-28 academic year.

Sincerely,
Michael