Our residency training program is interested in residents who want to excel, whether in a clinical career, research career, or a combination of both. All of our residents receive intensive clinical training. No matter what your interest, you will be able to find someone here to work with in order to learn.
Washington University School of Medicine is well known for its excellence in training physicians. The school is consistently ranked among the top medical schools in the U.S. This strong educational environment is complemented by the outstanding clinical care provided by our physicians at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
We believe that comprehensive clinical skills are essential to all psychiatric residents. A major goal of our clinical training is to teach residents how to learn so that they can practice state-of-the-art psychiatry throughout their entire careers.
This goal is achieved by residents working closely with our world renowned faculty as well as experienced clinicians working in the St. Louis community. We strongly believe that this combination of superb clinical training and exposure to investigative expertise is the most effective way to prepare psychiatry residents for the future.
Developing confident clinical decision makers
Throughout our exemplary educational process, an underlying culture of autonomy —supplemented by access to faculty mentors — serves as the steady foundation. Starting in the first year, each resident manages his or her own team of healthcare professionals, with the support of an attending clinician.
Trainees develop comprehensive clinical skills, including psychotherapy, through exposure to a wide range of patients. These diverse clinical opportunities include highly acute, complex clinical cases.
Learn more about our clinical training experience »
Flexible curriculum for individualized training
Our department has tremendous depth in clinical, educational, and research programs. This depth lets us offer residents individual attention in their specific areas of interest, which may evolve in unpredictable ways during their training.
Instead of having specific tracks for select residents, we help every resident follow the path he or she finds most interesting without limiting the number of residents in predefined tracks.
Access to expert faculty
Our residents are educated by researchers and clinicians who are leaders in their specialties. Faculty are excited to share their knowledge during weekly conferences and seminars and one-on-one as mentors.
In our collegial and supportive culture, you will develop meaningful relationships with national leaders in psychiatry. Our faculty are actively engaged with residency education, eager to help develop the next generation of leaders.
Expansive research opportunities
For residents interested in exploring the possibility of an academic career, we are able to provide outstanding research mentors from an internationally recognized faculty. One of the keys to a successful academic career is a knowledgeable faculty mentor.
There are over 150 faculty throughout the university who conduct research relevant to psychiatric disorders. Washington University School of Medicine has consistently been ranked as a top 10 research university with strong funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Our psychiatry faculty alone routinely have over 300 publications each year with a total of 413 publications in 2023, 410 of which are indexed in PubMed.
Residents also benefit from access to interdisciplinary research collaborations across Washington University in St. Louis with areas such as public health, social work, psychological and brain sciences, and business.
Learn more about our research training »
St. Louis
St. Louis is a dynamic city with plenty of opportunities for entertainment and cultural enrichment. Our residents enjoy the affordability of the city and the easy accessibility of its offerings via car or public transit. As employees of Barnes-Jewish Hospital, all residents receive discounts on Metro Transit Monthly passes that enable them to ride the MetroLink and MetroBus system.
Explore St. Louis today and learn more about why our residents are happy to call this historic city home.
Policies, stipends, and benefits
All policies and procedures pertaining to house staff, including stipends and benefits, are maintained by the Graduate Medical Education (GME) Consortium of Washington University School of Medicine, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, and St. Louis Children’s Hospital.