Fellowship Training

A fellowship position is offered by the Mood Disorders Clinic of the Dalhousie Department of Psychiatry. This position consists of closely linked clinical, research and teaching components, and can be tailored to meet the individual needs of the fellow.

On the clinical side, we offer supervision in specialist treatment of severe and treatment resistant depression and bipolar disorder. The clinical care integrates concurrent and sequential specialist psychopharmacology and psychological interventions. Both clinical and research aspects emphasize focus on families of people with mood disorders.

The research opportunities offered by this fellowship include:

• Specialized clinical management of bipolar disorder and depression
• Family and high-risk studies of bipolar disorder
• Treatment response and phenotypic spectra of bipolar disorder
•  Molecular-genetic and mapping studies in bipolar disorder
• Statistical-genetic analysis of genetics of complex traits
• Clinical and population-based registry of bipolar disorder and major depression
• Genetics of suicidal behaviour in mood disorders
• Brain imaging studies related to mood disorders

The faculty include leading experts in the following areas:

• Genetic factors in the risk and outcome of bipolar disorder, personalized treatment of bipolar disorder (Alda)
• Effects of metabolic factors or medications on brain health/structure in bipolar disorders, brain development (Hajek)
• Psychological interventions for mood disorders and co-morbid anxiety disorders (Pavlova)
• Early identification of risk, early intervention, personalized treatment of depression (Uher)
• Depressive disorders with family history of bipolar disorder and/or suicide (O’Donovan)

To Apply
For application instructions please contact Petra Corkum, postgraduate education coordinator, at Psych.Postgrad@dal.ca

The program is actively involved in teaching and researching in Intensive Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy for patients with somatic symptom disorders.

The fellow would learn psychodiagnostic and treatment procedures for a broad spectrum of patients with these disorders including chronic pain, functional neurological and functional gasterointestinal disorders.

To Apply
Please contact Dr. Allan Abbass M.D., Director of Center for Emotions and Health, (allan.abbass@dal.ca) to express interest.

For application instructions please contact Petra Corkum, postgraduate education coordinator, at Psych.Postgrad@dal.ca

A fellowship position in Psychodynamics and Group Psychotherapy is offered by the Mental Health Day Treatment Program in the Dalhousie Department of Psychiatry. This position consists of clinical, research and teaching components, and can be tailored to meet the specific needs of the fellow.

The program provides many opportunities for the study and development of group programming including, but not limited to:

• Exploring and integrating theories underlying psychodynamic group psychotherapy
• Developing clinical skills including group leadership and facilitation
• Attaining experience in leading process and skills based groups
• Integrating medication and psychotherapy
• Understanding systems theory
• Understanding and advancing group program design
• Situating and integrating group programs within mental health programming
• Developing team leadership skills
• Teaching group psychotherapy – curriculum design and delivery
• Developing skills in group program administration
• Becoming proficient in psychotherapy research by:
  • reviewing the evidence base supporting the psychotherapies and new areas of research.
  • understanding the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders and their impact.
  • improving upon and developing better research skills including developing research methodology (qualitative and quantitative), data entry and management skills, statistical analysis to interpret research findings, and writing.
  • developing the ability to communicate research findings via posters, presentations, and conferences.

To Apply
Please contact Dr. Jacqueline Kinley (jackie.kinley@nshealth.ca) to express interest. For application instructions please contact Petra Corkum, postgraduate education coordinator, at Psych.Postgrad@dal.ca

A fellowship position is offered by the Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program (NSEPP) of the Dalhousie Department of Psychiatry. This position consists of clinical, research and teaching components, and can be tailored to meet the specific needs of the fellow.

NSEPP sees more than 90 new assessments per year and has an active case load of over 250 patients. The depth and breadth of active NSEPP research allows for a wide variety of research topics, including projects focusing on the biology of psychosis such as imaging and genetics, treatment (pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic), outcomes, education and health services investigations.

As NSEPP provides psychoeducational programs for patients and families, outreach education to various community organization, and supervision of medical trainees, the fellow would have ample opportunities for teaching at various levels.

To Apply
Please contact Dr. Jason Morrison, Director, Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program at jason.morrison@nshealth.ca to express interest. For application instructions please contact Petra Corkum, postgraduate education coordinator, at Psych.Postgrad@dal.ca 

A one-year fellowship position is offered by the Sleep Disorders Program at Dalhousie Department of Psychiatry. This position consists of clinical, research and teaching components and will be tailored to meet the specific needs of the fellow. The fellowship curriculum content will meet the competency training requirements for the RCPSC Area of Focused Competence in Sleep Disorder Medicine.

The Sleep Disorders Program is a multidisciplinary collaboration which includes psychiatrists, respirologists and polysomnographic technologists. The clinical program provides tertiary care to patients in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and operates a 4-bed sleep laboratory. There are over 650 new assessments and over 1000 sleep studies performed annually, including polysomnographies, MSLT, MWT and portable sleep studies. Strong emphasis is placed on bio-psycho-social approach to clinical management and cognitive-behavioral therapy of insomnia.

The fellow will participate in teaching and supervision of medical trainees at various levels.

To apply:

Please contact Dr. Malgorzata Rajda at malgorzata.rajda@nshealth.ca to express interest. For application instructions please contact Petra Corkum, postgraduate education coordinator, at Psych.Postgrad@dal.ca

Required documentation for current Dalhousie University trainees:

Please submit the following documents directly to the Department of Psychiatry:

• The Application for PGME Trainee [PDF - 233KB]
  
• Official medical school transcript.
• Letter of good standing from the Postgraduate Director
• Letter of intent
• Objectives and curriculum
• Two confidential recent reference letters sent directly by your referees to the fellowship director.

Required documentation for candidates without previous training at Dalhousie University:

Please submit the following documents directly to the Department of Psychiatry (it is not acceptable to reuse documents that previously supported a CaRMS entrance application):

• The Application for PGME Trainee [PDF - 233KB]
• Letter of good standing from the Postgraduate Dean verifying the candidate’s postgraduate training dates.
• Official medical school transcript confirming MD convocation.
• Three recent reference letters sent directly by your referees to the relevant program or fellowship director.
• A Curriculum Vitae (List appointments or positions, including residencies, since graduation. List chronologically, giving dates, names of hospitals and specialty, etc. Also list publications, etc)
• Letter of Intent
• Objectives and curriculum
  
• Immigration Status: If you are residing in Canada with immigration documents you must supply evidence of your work permit or permanent resident status. Changes to status from permanent resident to Canadian citizen must be evidenced by documentation.
• Language: Dalhousie University requires all applicants to be eligible to register for a license in all provinces in which the program requires training. Both the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia and College of Physicians and Surgeons of Prince Edward Island have specific regulations regarding English language proficiency for physicians with MDs from outside of Canada. Details can be found on the here.