The Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport began more than a century ago when the Louisiana Legislature authorized a Shreveport Charity Hospital to assure medical care for Louisiana's destitute. Now, almost 120 years later, this Center is one of the busiest and most profitable university teaching hospitals in the nation.

The Medical Center has three core missions: education, clinical care and research.

LSUHSC in Shreveport combines the School of Medicine, the School of Graduate Studies, the School of Allied Health Professions and the LSUHSC Hospital.

More than 600 students are enrolled in the combined professional schools of the Shreveport campus.

Approximately 250 interns and residents are enrolled in post-graduate physician training programs at the LSUHSC Hospital and affiliated hospitals.

The LSUHSC Hospital also serves as a training facility for nursing students, dietary students and medical records students from other universities in the state.

It is the focal point of a thriving medical and intellectual community in a culturally rich, diverse, and growing area of the nation.

As a tertiary care facility, the hospital admits almost 23,000 patients annually, cares for more than 300,000 outpatients, and provides over $50,000,000 in indigent patient care services for the State of Louisiana.

There are more than 290 full-time and 100 part-time faculty members at the LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport. Also supporting this teaching program are over 300 part-time gratis faculty from throughout the region. The LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport employs approximately 4,300 people.

LSUHSC has an extremely productive research environment spanning both the clinical and basic sciences. LSUHSC was recently the recipient of a $5 million Program Project Grant from the National Institutes of Health.

The Biomedical Research Institute, LSUHSC's newest addition that opened in 1994, is the result of a joint venture between the Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana and LSUHSC.

We only accept applications through ERAS

Currently, you should be a senior student in an LCME-approved medical school, and have passed Step 1 of the USMLE.

If an IMG, must have a valid ECFMG certificate. We prefer that you have steps 1, 2, and 3, or have scored at least an 80 on Step 1 and Step 2. Louisiana requires that all residents must pass Step 3 by the completion of the second year of residency. If not, the resident does not have a temporary permit and is suspended by the program. We give preference to research experience and experience in psychiatry. We also prefer that it is less than 5 years since you last practiced medicine.

For all applicants, we require 3 letters of recommendation from people in the US so that we can call and verify the letters.

We participate in the Match, so you must have a Match number.

The LSU Health Sciences Center only sponsors the J-1 visa

The Department of Psychiatry has a core faculty of eleven full-time physicians and four full-time Ph.D. members whose teaching, clinical and research activities are carried out within a complex of medical facilities. This complex includes LSUHSC Hospital, Overton Brooks Veterans Administration Hospital, the Shreveport Mental Health Center, Charter Brentwood Hospital, Schumpert Hospital and the Northwest Louisiana Regional Alcohol and Drug Abuse Clinic. In addition to this fifteen-member team, approximately seventeen local psychiatrists are gratis faculty, participating in resident and medical student conferences, lectures and clinical supervision. Ancillary professionals, including nurses, social workers, psychologists and occupational therapists also play a part in department activities. Of the entire group, there are those whose concentration is primarily patient care; others who divide their time between clinical medicine and laboratory research. All contribute to the general clinical training programs of the department. The department is headed by Paul Ware, MD. The Psychiatry Graduate and Continuing Medical Education is directed by Anita Kablinger, M.D.

The department has 51 beds on the inpatient service at LSUHSC Hospital.

Our outpatient clinic is very nice and is located in a five-story office building two miles from the hospital. There are offices for residents to see their private outpatients in this facility.

The Overton Brooks Veterans Administration Hospital, located four miles from LSUHSC, maintains 257 beds for inpatients and an outpatient clinic. The psychiatric unit is a twenty-bed facility. There is also a twenty-bed substance abuse unit and an outpatient clinic. The resident may rotate through Overton Brooks Veterans Administration Hospital for medicine and neurology during PGY-I. There are also elective rotations available.

The Shreveport Mental Health Center, a state-operated mental health clinic, is seven miles from LSUHSC, and services nine surrounding parishes in Northwest and North Central Louisiana incorporating approximately a half a million people. This is a two-story, multi-service facility. There are four full-time satellite clinics in the surrounding area. There is a required two-month rotation here during PGY-II for administrative and community psychiatry. The resident may also see children and adolescents here as outpatients during PGY-IV.

Charter Brentwood Hospital is a 174-bed, for-profit psychiatric facility located three miles from LSUHSC. Treatment here includes child, adolescent and adult psychiatry; adolescent and adult chemical dependence; and special care.

Schumpert Hospital is a 500-plus bed, non-profit hospital located three miles from LSUHSC. The psychiatric unit has twenty-eight beds, fifteen of which are dedicated to geriatrics. There are additionally fifteen beds in a specialized area designed to care for the frail elderly. The PGY-IV resident may rotate here for geriatric inpatient psychiatry.

The Northwest Louisiana Regional Alcohol and Drug Abuse Clinic is a state-operated facility located approximately eight miles from LSUHSC. There is an affiliated inpatient chemical dependency unit. The PGY-I or II resident may rotate here for outpatient substance abuse treatment.

Other facilities are available for elective experience.

Physicians who choose to practice psychiatry are selecting a specialty of medicine that is in a phase of growth and expanding influence in the medical community. The specialty requires a broad knowledge, for all ages of patients are encountered. It also requires highly developed interpersonal skills.

The Psychiatry Residency Program at LSUHSC is a fully accredited four-year program designed to provide candidates with a strong foundation of knowledge, clinical skills and ethical standards necessary for the practice of psychiatry.

Our program fills positions at the PGY-I level through the National Resident Matching Program.

We accept only four applicants per year, therefore there is extensive personal supervision as well as flexibility to meet the needs of the individual resident.

The program exposes residents to all areas and all subspecialties of psychiatry by rotation in the complex of medical facilities previously mentioned.

Course work supplements clinical experience. Residents at each level meet for Grand Rounds/Journal Club/Interdisciplinary Case Conference, as well as for scheduled lectures. There is also daily emergency room supervision. Required readings add to the courses.

The resident may use elective time during PGY-IV to develop specific career interests. Electives include research, community mental health, administration, geriatric, and inpatient or outpatient psychiatry in the public or private sector. There is also an opportunity to have elective experience in other cities or countries.

Our salaries are above the national average, and moonlighting opportunities are available.

The Department of Psychiatry adds a generous supplement of $2,000 for books and/or educational travel for each resident during each year of training.

The first year resident is required to spend four months in primary care (either Medicine, Family Practice or Pediatrics), two months in neurology and six months in psychiatry. The psychiatry rotations include inpatient experiences at a private facility, Charter Brentwood Hospital, as well as emergency room rotation (day call). The resident will complete off-service rotations during the first half of the year. There is an intense introduction to inpatient psychiatry the first month of the psychiatry rotation. Courses include a basic course covering Axis 1 disorders, etiology, phenomenology and treatment, plus an introduction to psychotherapy. Additional courses include inpatient forensic psychiatry, psychological testing, history of psychiatry and an introduction to library research. The primary goals of the PGY-I rotations are an understanding of Axis 1 disorders, and an understanding of the interplay between medical and psychiatric illnesses.

The PGY-II year further advances the resident's understanding of inpatient therapy. The resident has rotations on the LSUHSC inpatient unit, and a two-month substance abuse rotation at Shreveport Mental Health Center. The PGY-I and II rotations may be done in either year. In addition, the resident begins seeing outpatients at the LSUHSC Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic. The residents are encouraged to continue to see their own private patients throughout the residency. The lectures for the PGY-II resident include the course on human growth and development and development disorders of childhood. These last the entire year. There are additional courses on personality disorders, advanced interviewing techniques, ethics, forensic psychiatry, and research design. The resident also receives an introduction to psychoanalytic theory.

The PGY-III year is primarily a year of outpatient study at the LSUHSC Outpatient Clinic. The resident may also participate in psychopharmacology drug trials. The core of the PGY-III lecture series is the ongoing outpatient case conference and advanced psychoanalytic theory, which meets the entire year. There are additional lectures on group therapy, family therapy, behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, hypnosis, human sexuality, administrative psychiatry, and consultation-liaison. Faculty continue to work with the resident to facilitate learning.

The PGY-IV resident has a three-month Consultation-Liaison experience. There is a three-month child and adolescent outpatient rotation. There are six months available for elective experience. In the course work, the PGY-IV resident continues to attend outpatient case conferences. Additional courses are designed to refine and review basic knowledge in preparation for the boards. There are courses in advanced psychopharmacology, transition to practice, mental health promotion, religion and psychaitry, review of neurology, short-term psychiatric case, and computers and psychiatry. The resident also has a review of diagnosis, and a course in advanced research methods.

The Department of Psychiatry is constantly seeking to revise and improve the residency program, both educationally for the residents and in modifications of patient care. For instance, the above curriculum may change to fit current needs. We emphasize education. We are dedicated to helping our residents develop professionally and personally. We welcome your interest in our program, and look forward to meeting you as you apply and interview.

Anita Kablinger, M.D.
Residency Training Director

The selection of a residency program requires careful consideration of career and education objectives. The Psychiatric Residency Program at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport is fully accredited with the clear cut mission of training residents to be skilled psychiatrists prepared to meet a full range of mental health needs. We put your education first and the service needs second. We are committed to preparing you to practice psychiatry into the twenty-first century as either a private practitioner, academician, or in a community or state position. We value each resident as a member of our Department. The faculty at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport and current residents are proud of our program in psychiatry. We have created the optimal environment for resident education by providing comprehensive clinical experience and a highly structured didactic program. Our clinical services are staffed by faculty to allow the residents to devote their time and attention to education. LSUHSC Psychiatry residents rotate through our university hospital, the community Mental Health Center, and private hospitals including Schumpert and Charter Brentwood. This gives the resident a variety of educational and clinical experience. We also encourage flexibility in our design. The resident may choose to spend time during the four years involved in research or specialized areas of clinical experience. Electives are available during the PGY-IV year. The departmental faculty have broad interests offering a a true biopsychosocial training environment. Some psychiatric faculty members specialize in biological psychiatry, both treatment and research; and others are interested in psychotherapy, groups, family, and psychoanalytic. This also means that the resident may concentrate on special areas of expertise. At LSUHSC the research environment is an extremely productive one, spanning both the clinical and basic sciences. The Biomedical Research Institute is our newest addition, the result of a joint venture between local business, civic leaders and LSUHSC. The Institute will offer the resident opportunities to excel in neuroimaging, clinical toxicology, electrophysiologic and basic neuroscience research. Our salaries are above the national average, and moonlighting opportunities are available. We also have generous allowances for books and educational travel. We urge qualified candidates to explore LSUHSC's psychiatric residency program.

Paul Ware, MD
Professor and Chairman,
Department of Psychiatry

The Department of Psychiatry at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport is dedicated to both the art and the science of psychiatric medicine. We are strongly committed to the medical model for psychiatry and to its underpinnings in biological psychiatry. We also adhere to the usefulness of the psychotherapeutic and humanistic traditions in psychiatry. Our faculty believe that tomorrow's psychiatrists should be trained in multiple theoretical approaches and practical clinical skills which can be applied to many types of patients. This requires a diverse faculty and numerous training sites with different clinical populations. It requires a regional, national and international view of our field that can be realized through frequent exchanges and residency electives. This concept of psychiatry also requires an awareness of the economic and social forces that are shaping medicine so that excellent care is delivered in a suitable form at a reasonable cost. Residents who wish to become full-time clinicians, researchers, managers of service delivery systems or some combination of the above will find themselves at home in the Department of Psychiatry at LSUHSC-Shreveport.

If you would like to inquire about joining our residency program in Psychiatry, please send an e-mail to Anita Kablinger, M.D.

Or contact:
Anita Kablinger, M.D.
Associate Professor and Residency Training Director
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
LSUHSC
PO BOX 33932
Shreveport LA 71130-3932

Tel: 318-675-6040
Fax: 318-675-6148