The University of Connecticut Health Center and Affiliated Institutions

The University of Connecticut Department of Psychiatry, Correctional Managed Health Care, and affiliated community clinics, are part of an integrated program in psychiatric education. This consortium incorporates the strengths of various clinical settings and assembles a diverse and enthusiastic faculty working together to provide a residency training program that utilizes the best from a vast pool of resources. The consortium is flexible, creative, forward looking, and supportive of education.

The University of Connecticut Health Center is the primary site for the residency program and utilizes the entire spectrum of clinical services in psychiatry as well as liaisons with other medical programs. The other major sites are the Department of Corrections Facilities, Charter Oak Community Clinic, Hartford Behavioral Health, The Department of Children and Families associated clinics, and various other community clinic sites.  There are many advantages to training in a structure such as this. The diversity of the academic resources (private and public), the richness of our clinical populations, and a dynamic faculty representing various scientific orientations, offers a wealth of educational opportunities. This model supports an environment that places the vitality and quality of education apart from all other competing interests. Excellence in training, in turn, rewards each contributing clinical site by stimulating the development of outstanding clinical services, invigorating faculty and staff helping with the teaching of medical students, participating in research, aiding in the links to the community, and providing future clinical and academic collaborations.

The University of Connecticut Health Center, John Dempsey Hospital, the Department of Psychiatry, and the University of Connecticut Neuropsychiatric Institute

The Department of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut Health Center is based in a modern health-sciences complex with all other departments of the Health Center's School of Medicine and John Dempsey Hospital. Basic biological and behavioral science, clinical science, teaching, and patient care take place on campus. The main building is one continuous curvilinear structure that represents continuity among teaching, research, and clinical services and parallels the integration of these three spheres that is the core of the Department of Psychiatry mission. Since the 1975 opening of the Health Center in Farmington, the Department of Psychiatry has gained a national reputation for its educational and research programs. The full range of psychiatric services includes a general adult inpatient service as well as an inpatient service specializing in psychiatry/medicine and geropsychiatry; a comprehensive outpatient department; an ambulatory consultation/liaison service; a hospital and behavioral medicine service with integration into primary care and specialty care clinics, a partial hospital program for the treatment of patients with chronic illness and addictions, and emergency/crisis services.  Residents also have the opportunity to participate in three established Research Centers: the Alcohol Research Center (ARC), the Neuropsychopharmacology Treatment Research and Training Center (NTRTC), and the Center for the Study of High Utilizers of Health Care (CSHUHC)

Hartford Hospital

With 819 beds, Hartford Hospital is the largest general hospital in the State of Connecticut. It serves as a major affiliated training site for medical students as well as house officers in psychiatry, medicine, and a reputation for the excellence of its patient care and teaching programs. Hartford Hospital one of two sites where our residents rotate on the internal medicine service.

CREC/Polaris Center

CREC/Polaris is a new, $10 million facility located in East Hartford. This organization is supported by the 25 school districts surrounding Hartford and services about 6000 children. There are a number of programs supported by CREC (Capitol Region Education Consortium). Polaris is a site for third and fourth year selective rotations.

Charter Oak Health Center

This is a free-standing, non-profit, federally qualified health clinic, serving the needs of the poor and underserved in downtown Hartford. A diverse patient population and integration of psychiatry with other behavioral health providers and primary care provides a rich learning environment. This is a site for third and fourth year rotations.

Macdougall-Walker Correctional Institute

One of the largest high security prisons in Connecticut, This facility serves as a site for third and fourth year rotations in "outpatient" psychiatry. Focus is on subacute care (as opposed to inpatient level care), and provides a unique opportunity for learning.

Hartford Behavioral Health

Another non-profit community clinic in downtown Hartford, this serves as a site for third and fourth year rotations. This is a free-standing, non-profit, federally qualified health clinic, serving the needs of the poor and underserved in downtown Hartford. A diverse patient population and integration of psychiatry with other behavioral health providers provides a rich learning environment. This is a site for third and fourth year rotations.