Cook Children's partners with John Peter Smith Hospital for child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship

Innovative Care | February 8, 2023 | Cook Children's

A new program designed to train psychiatrists specializing in child and adolescent psychiatry will begin at John Peter Smith (JPS) Hospital in Fort Worth this July. The program, recognized by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, has been a goal of the JPS Department of Psychiatry since 2009. However, it wasn't until the 2019 Texas State Legislature formed the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium that adequate funding was available to begin planning the program.

To provide the comprehensive training necessary to achieve accreditation, JPS initiated a partnership with The Jane and John Justin Institute for Mind Health at Cook Children's to offer essential experience in multiple areas of pediatric neurosciences. The Justin Institute will provide training experiences in child neurology, neurosciences research, child psychiatry and developmental pediatrics.

"We recognize that access to quality mental health care is essential for our community and it is central to our vision at the Justin Institute," said M. Scott Perry, M.D., head of Neurosciences at the Justin Institute.

Additionally, the Rees-Jones Behavioral Health Center at Cook Children's will provide inpatient child psychiatry rotations, while the Cook Children's Pulmonology team will offer rotations in sleep medicine.

"We know that the national shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists has a significant, negative impact on the mental health of kids and teens in our community," said Kristen Pyrc, M.D., medical director of outpatient Psychiatry at Cook Children's. "We're excited to partner with JPS in training the next generation of child and adolescent psychiatrists and see it as a step toward addressing the child and adolescent mental health crisis." JPS will offer two positions yearly, as part of a two-year training program.

"Without the dedication and support of our Cook Children's partners, our child and adolescent psychiatry fellows would not have the well-rounded training and experience that we need to better serve our children and families in the community," noted the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program Director at JPS, Gunit Kahlon, M.D., MHA.

The program will enroll its first fellowship class starting July 2023.

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