Graduate School for Psychedelic Medicine

[mackenzie801]

Hello,

I am wondering if you can offer me any advice on the following:

I am a 29-year old woman who currently resides in Montana. I want to pursue a career in psychedelic psychiatry. As far as I know, the main program for this right now is The NYU Langone Psychedelic Medicine Research Training Program.

I have been preparing to apply to medical school for several years (intent on becoming a psychiatrist). I am planning to apply in the spring of 2023. The more I've been thinking about it, though, the more I wonder if I should apply to combined MD PhD programs, given my interest in the application of psychedelics for the treatment of mental health disorders and the field's relative youth/clinical acceptance history.

If this is truly the work I want to do, would I be better off going the MD route or the combined MD & PhD route, in your opinion?

Any advice you'd be willing to provide would be much appreciated.

Warmly,
Mackenzie

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[splik]

Interestingly, a lot of the psychedelic research is happening through the VA. You may also want to have a look at Hopkins, Harvard/MGH, UCSF, OHSU, UCLA, UT-Austin, and Mt Sinai where there is also active research in this area. In terms of whether to do an MD-PhD, that would depend on whether you were competitive for these highly competitive programs, whether it would meet your goals, and whether you wanted an academic career. Presently, psychedelics in psychiatry is really only in research settings and it will probably be many years before we are ready for prime time. So if you are looking at a career like this then it is probably going to be in a research setting for now. However you don't necessarily need to do a PhD and could do a research fellowship etc

There are also some clinical certification programs now e.g. MAPS (Certification - MAPS Public Benefit Corporation) and CIIS (Psychedelic Therapy Training Certificate)

 

[mackenzie801]

Interestingly, a lot of the psychedelic research is happening through the VA. You may also want to have a look at Hopkins, Harvard/MGH, UCSF, OHSU, UCLA, UT-Austin, and Mt Sinai where there is also active research in this area. In terms of whether to do an MD-PhD, that would depend on whether you were competitive for these highly competitive programs, whether it would meet your goals, and whether you wanted an academic career. Presently, psychedelics in psychiatry is really only in research settings and it will probably be many years before we are ready for prime time. So if you are looking at a career like this then it is probably going to be in a research setting for now. However you don't necessarily need to do a PhD and could do a research fellowship etc

There are also some clinical certification programs now e.g. MAPS (Certification - MAPS Public Benefit Corporation) and CIIS (Psychedelic Therapy Training Certificate)

Thank you for your reply!

 

[painballer27]

I am planning to apply in the spring of 2023. The more I've been thinking about it, though, the more I wonder if I should apply to combined MD PhD programs, given my interest in the application of psychedelics for the treatment of mental health disorders and the field's relative youth/clinical acceptance history.

If this is truly the work I want to do, would I be better off going the MD route or the combined MD & PhD route, in your opinion?

Hi Mackenzie, and welcome to the psychiatry forums!

I am a current medical student. Not a psychiatry resident or attending. Just stating that right off the bat so no one else feels like they need to.

It depends on your personal goals and what you want to do. If you want to be a researcher first and foremost, then it may be worth it to do the MD/PhD. If you want to practice clinical medicine and do some of these treatments, do not feel like you need to do a PhD just because this area is in its infancy. You can also be involved in research without the PhD.

Is it really worth it to you to do 2 years of med school, then 4 (+/-) years of research for the PhD, then finish the last two years of med school THEN do a 4 year psych residency +/- a fellowship. That is a long road and I personally would never do it but it may be worth it to some who really want to make research their career. You're 29 now so you'd be ~41 when you finished and started practicing. Think long and hard about what your goals are before you commit to this. Hell, I'd think long and hard before you commit to just doing the MD.

Warmly,

RM