Throughout residency, I was a participant in the research concentration program and the integrated child and adult residency program. My clinical interests are in diagnosing and treating adolescents and young adults, particularly those who are in acute crisis. My research interests are in studying health care utilization patterns in order to identify ways to improve health care delivery to psychiatric patients.
During my intern year, I used my protected research time to identify research mentors who would work with me for the rest of residency and fellowship. I was lucky to identify several potential research mentors, one of whom helped me design a project to start during my second-year research block. During my second year research block, I got the project off the ground, working closely with my mentor. The project was a collaboration with the electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) service at McLean to assess outcomes of ECT in transitional age youth. In addition, I became involved in a few other projects.
By the time I was a third year resident, I had completed enough of my primary project to submit abstracts to national meetings. With the support of the RCP, I presented our work at the National Institutes of Mental Health Services Meeting and attended the New Investigator’s Workshop to learn about grant writing, project development, and mentorship. I also presented our work at the American Psychiatric Association and attended the Research Colloquium for Junior Investigators.
Without protected research time during residency I would not have been able to complete research projects, submit abstracts and manuscripts, or attend these academic meetings.
