The University of Texas Medical Branch (Greater Galveston and Houston region) is seeking a Fellow in Forensic Psychiatry for the 2024-2025 (start date 7/1/24) or 2025-2026 (start date 7/1/25) academic year. This ACGME-accredited one-year fellowship is an exciting chance to gain subspecialty training in psychiatry and law. The position is open to candidates who will have completed general psychiatry residency by the start of fellowship, and we especially encourage current PGY3s and PGY4s to apply. The fellowship will be a comprehensive training program that incorporates academic, correctional, community, administrative, and governmental settings. UTMB offers a diverse range of clinical forensic experiences, a robust research program, and strong collaborations with the University of Houston Law Center, NASA, and the Texas prison system. Fellows will have unique opportunities to become versed in aerospace psychiatry, legal scholarship, and research in forensic and correctional psychiatry.

• Fellows will rotate approximately two days per week on the UTMB Forensic Service, where they will provide forensic evaluation and consultation to local courts and attorneys. Fellows should expect to complete approximately 20-25 competence to stand trial evaluations and 10-15 non-competency evaluations (insanity, sentencing mitigation, fitness for duty, asylum, guardianship, testamentary capacity, personal injury, malpractice, etc.) over the course of the year, testifying as needed.
• Fellows will rotate one day per week in the Texas prison system, where they will join medical leadership to evaluating, developing, and improving mental health policy and programming in the prison system. Notably, although fellows will provide some direct patient care in the correctional setting, this is not the focus of the rotation.
• Fellows will rotate one day per week in Harris County Jail, where they will provide jail-based competency restoration treatment.
• Fellows will rotate full-time for one month at NASA Johnson Space Center (the site of mission control and astronaut training), where they will join NASA’s prestigious Aerospace Medicine Clerkship. They will tour NASA facilities, receive training about the science, medicine, and mental health considerations involved in human spaceflight, and be mentored by NASA aerospace forensic psychiatrists. Fellows will participate in fitness for duty assessments for NASA and the FAA. Additional experiences in aerospace and aviation are available as well.
• Fellows will have didactic sessions totaling approximately one day per week, including lectures, case seminars, and Landmark Cases. Fellows will prepare for and testify at a mock trial. They will attend the Forensic Board Review Course at the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Annual Meeting (Vancouver, Oct 2024 or Boston, Oct 2025) and may attend one other conference.
• Additional experiences and mentorship are available for child and adolescent psychiatrists.

Interested candidates should contact Rocksheng Zhong, Fellowship Training Director: rozhong@utmb.edu, 409-266-5253.