Overview
The ACGME-accredited Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship at Cleveland Clinic offers a unique training opportunity at one of the most renowned medical centers in the world. Cleveland Clinic is recognized in the U.S. and throughout the world for its expertise and care.
The Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry program is one-year in length and offers two positions annually. All positions are offered through the National Residency Match Program (NRMP) as part of the Psychiatry Fellowship Match. All applicants must have successfully completed an ACGME-accredited residency program, an AOA-approved residency program, a program with ACGME International (ACGME-I) Advanced Specialty Accreditation, or a Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC)-accredited or College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC)-accredited residency program located in Canada.
Application Process
We accept applications via the Electronic Residency Applications Service (ERAS) and abide by posted timelines. We encourage applicants to apply early within the window as we offer interviews on a rolling basis after a holistic in-depth review of the application. Interviews typically occur in September and October. For a comprehensive guide to the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship Match process, please visit the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry website.
Important Dates:
- July 3, 2024: Applicants may begin submitting applications to programs at 9 a.m. ET
- July 17, 2024: Fellowship programs may begin reviewing applications at 9 a.m. ET.
- September 1, 2024: Program deadline to submit applications
- September – October: Virtual Interviews.
- November: NRMP Ranking opens.
- November: Meet our Faculty at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.
- December: NRMP Rank Order List Deadline.
- January: Match Day!
Visa Sponsorship: Cleveland Clinic sponsors H1-B and J-1 visas.
Curriculum
Curriculum Overview
We work on a module schedule. A module is made up of a 4-week block, and there are 13 modules throughout the year.
Inpatient Consultation Liaison
Fellows rotate on inpatient consultation liaison psychiatry for 10.5 modules of the year. The majority of that time is spent on Cleveland Clinic Main Campus, where fellows perform advanced-level consultations, are actively involved in teaching, and have the opportunity to run a team as an acting attending. The main campus consultation liaison service consists of three attending-led teams, residents, medical students, and a dedicated licensed clinical social worker to ensure wrap-around services.
The teams see over 3,000 consults per year. In addition to working on Main Campus, fellows will spend one module at one of the Cleveland Clinic regional hospitals, where they will be exposed to consultation liaison psychiatry in a busy tertiary care hospital setting. They will also spend two weeks on a palliative medicine consultation service.
Outpatient Consultation Liaison
Fellows are exposed to both general and specialty consultation-liaison clinics throughout the year. One half-day per week is spent in the CL Fellows' Consultation Clinic (for 12 modules), where fellows see pre-operative referrals for high-utilizing patients or patients with significant psychiatric pathology, second opinion cases, and referrals from specialty clinics. For six modules of the year, fellows spend another half-day rotating through the core immersion specialty clinics, including: movement disorders, transplant, epilepsy, brain health, and psycho-oncology.
Fellows will then refine their expertise by spending the four modules in an elective immersion clinic of their choosing. These elective clinics may include any of the core clinics and/or multiple sclerosis, COVID recovery clinic, cardiology, women’s health, transgender surgery, movement disorders, or geropsychiatry. Additional elective clinics are tailored and aligned with the CL fellow’s interests.
Reasons for consultation on the inpatient CL service include:
- Delirium.
- Crisis Intervention Team/Code Violet.
- Substance Dependence/Withdrawal.
- Depression and Anxiety.
- Capacity Evaluations.
- Catatonia.
- Conversion Disorders.
- Coping with Medical Illness.
- Neuropsychiatric Syndromes.
Consulting services include:
- MICU, SICU, NICU.
- Cardiology.
- Neurology and Neurosurgery.
- Epilepsy Monitoring Unit.
- Colorectal/GI.
- Transplant.
- Oncology.
- Respiratory Institute.
Didactics and Conferences
Weekly conferences include: case conference/journal club, and psychiatry grand rounds. In addition, the CL fellows attend weekly psychosomatic didactics.
The CL fellow also attends the five day Cleveland Clinic Intensive Review of Internal Medicine CME course every June with a complimentary registration.
Research
Fellows will have one month of dedicated research time split into two 2-week blocks during the year. Our fellows have presented their research locally, regionally, and nationally, including poster, oral and workshop presentations at the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry annual meeting, Cleveland Consultation Liaison Society meeting, and the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting.
Call Schedule
There is no obligatory call for our CL fellows. Optional weekend moonlighting is available, consisting of 12 hour shifts on a Cleveland Clinic adult psychiatry inpatient service.
Faculty
Program Leadership and Faculty
Leo Pozuelo, MD, MBA, FACP, FACLP
Chairman
Leo Pozuelo, MD, MBA, FACP, FACLP, is Board Certified in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. He also serves as the Clinical Vice Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at Cleveland Clinic.
Anna P. Shapiro-Krew, MD
Program Director
Anna Shapiro-Krew, M.D. is Board Certified in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.
She also serves as the Director of Epilepsy Psychiatry.
Jack Owens, MD
Associate Program Director
Dr. Owens is board certified in Adult and Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and is a proud alumnus of the Cleveland Clinic Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship. He serves as the Director of the CL Service at Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital, as well as the Psychiatry Director of the ReCOVer Clinic, focusing on the care of patients experiencing long COVID. Dr. Owens is originally from Atlanta, GA, but enjoys living in Cleveland which has much to offer, friendly people, and an excellent quality of life.
Nona Nichols, MD
Associate Program Director
Nona Nichols, M.D. is Board Certified in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. She also serves as the Director of the CL Service at Cleveland Clinic Fairview Hospital.
Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Team
- Brain Health: Kasia Rothenberg, MD, PhD.
- Cardiology: Leo Pozuelo, MD.
- Epilepsy: Anna Shapiro-Krew, MD.
- Movement Disorders: Raghid Charara, MD.
- Psycho-Oncology: Kaleena Chilcote, MD.
- Regional Psychiatry: Jack Owens, MD and Nona Nichols, MD.
- Transgender Clinic: Murat Altinay, MD.
- Transplant: Erin Dean, MD.
- Women’s Health: Adele Viguera, MD.
- Social Work: Karen E. Salerno, MSSA, LISW-S.
- CL Section Coordinator: Aleksandar Jovanovic.
- CL Fellowship Program Manager: Natalie Douglass.
Our Fellows
2024 – 2025 Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
Mohamad El Zein, MD
Medical School: LAU Gilbert and Rose-Marie Chagoury School of Medicine
Residency: Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center
Jacob Wardyn, MD
Medical School: University of Nebraska College of Medicine
Residency: University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio
2023 – 2024 Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
Brian Tong, MD
Medical School: The University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine
Residency: Carle Foundation Hospital
Sukanya Vartak, MD
Medical School: St. George’s University School of Medicine
Residency: Maimonides Medical Center
2022 – 2023 Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
Edward Hamrick, MD
Medical School: West Virginia University School of Medicine
Residency: West Virginia University Hospitals
Molly Howland, MD
Medical School: Case Western Reserve University
Residency: University of Washington School of Medicine
2021 – 2022 Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
Raghid Charara, MD
Medical School: American University of Beirut
Residency: American University of Beirut
Columban Heo, DO
Medical School: Touro University Nevada
Residency: Unity Health - White County Medical Center
Benefits
Benefits
A comprehensive description of trainee benefits can be found at the Cleveland Clinic Graduate Medical Education website.
Time Away
- Vacation: 3 weeks (15 paid working days).
- Paid Personal Days: 5 days to be used for illness, interviews, or boards.
- Maternity: Up to 12 weeks paid leave.
- Parental: Up to 6 weeks paid leave.
- Caregiver: Up to 6 weeks paid leave.
