Combined Neurology/Psychiatry Program

The UMass Chan Neuropsychiatry Program 2024-2025 Left to Right:  Gil Menashe, D.O, David Freeman, M.D., Taylor Young M.D, Mina Botros, M.D., Sheldon Benjamin, M.D., Pooja Modi, M.D., Katarina Hughes, M.D., Beth DeGrush, M.D., Maryam Omran,M.D.,  Alex Lichtenberg, M.D.

Codirectors: Elizabeth DeGrush, DO and Kate Daniello, MD	Associate Training Director: Sheldon Benjamin, MD

The combined program in Psychiatry and Neurology is a six-year program leading to board eligibility in both Neurology and Psychiatry. The PGY-1 year of internal medicine fulfills the requirements for Neurology residency and includes 8 blocks of medicine (including ER and ICU), 2 blocks of neurology, and 2 blocks of psychiatry. The PGY-II and PGY-III years are spent primarily in psychiatry. The PGY-IV and PGY-V years are spent primarily in neurology. The PGY-VI year is a combined psychiatry/neurology year in which the resident functions in a similar capacity to the neuropsychiatry fellow. This program accommodates one resident per year. Combined Neuropsychiatry trainees have the unique opportunity to follow patients in the neuropsychiatry clinic under the supervision of Dr. DeGrush, Dr. Benjamin and Dr. Eisenstock from the PGY-II through PGY-VI years. One of the codirectors (Dr. DeGrush) and the Associate Neuropsychiatry Training Director (Dr. Benjamin) are dual boarded in Neurology and Psychiatry. Dr. Daniello is boarded in Neurology and is the Program Director for the General Neurology Program at UMASS as well.

Combined program applicants must be interviewed by both programs, typically over two days. Applicants should take into account the stresses inherent in a longer training program when considering combined training. Program administration is shared between the two programs. Detailed information about each of the above programs is available at the UMass Psychiatry and UMass Neurology Programs. Neuropsychiatry applicants are strongly encouraged to join the American Neuropsychiatric Association.  Membership includes subscription to the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, which is strongly recommended reading.

A WORD ABOUT ACCREDITATION STATUS: Some applicants have asked how combined programs are accredited. Most combined programs do not have their own review committee in the ACGME (Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education) like the major specialties do. Instead, the ACGME provides that fully accredited specialty programs (e.g. psychiatry and neurology) may create combined programs as long as the relevant certifying boards approve the curriculum. The certifying board for combined neuropsychiatry programs is the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) which oversees and approves their curricula. Graduates of approved programs are eligible to sit for board certification examinations in both neurology and psychiatry.