Thank you for your interest in the Psychiatry Residency at Dell Medical School! Getting to know the program on a deeper level will demonstrate why so many people find our program so enriching and exciting.
I personally rejoined Dell Med’s Department of Psychiatry in June 2024 and could not be happier about my decision to do so. I completed both my general residency and consultation-liaison psychiatry fellowship at Dell Medical School before moving back to my hometown of El Paso, Texas. After serving as program director there, I realized what an incredible a job it is to have. With my new-found love for program directorship, I decided to move back to Austin to lead the general psychiatry residency program and work clinically with an amazing group of psychiatrists.
We started as a community psychiatry program in the 1950s at Austin State Hospital and transitioned to Ascension Health in the 1990s. We became a department within Dell Med in its inaugural year and the department has continued to grow immensely ever since. Ongoing changes continue to evolve the program into one of immense opportunities.
Our rapid expansion has allowed us to leverage the resources at The University of Texas at Austin, and consequently, we have a significant number of faculty involved in both basic science as well as direct clinical research. It has been incredibly exciting to revise curriculum and resident experiences to take advantage of this.
Our residency here at Dell Med is situated in the middle of one of the largest, fastest-growing cities in the country. Learning and living here makes for an experience that is uniquely ours.
We hope to see you!
Pamela Lopez, M.D.
Program Director
Chief Residents’ Welcome
Adithy Nagarajan, M.D., and Christopher Demetriades, M.D.
Greetings from the Psychiatry Residency at Dell Medical School! We appreciate your interest in our program and are excited to introduce you to the opportunities we can offer.
As a dynamic academic institution, we provide a diverse range of training environments and serve many different patient populations. Our aim is to cultivate knowledgeable, forward-thinking graduates who pursue diverse career paths, from fellowships to academic and private practices. We embrace innovation, constantly challenging ourselves to rethink conventional approaches and promote system-change to better serve our communities.
Over the past few years, resident feedback has driven significant positive changes within our program. We prioritize resident well-being with initiatives like biannual retreats, fun competitions to prepare for psychiatry resident in-training exams, and importantly, a supportive call schedule that respects work-life balance.
We foster a culture of academic excellence and research, actively supporting residents to present their work at esteemed national conferences. Our program emphasizes bringing together residents from a wide range of backgrounds, as seen in our recruitment efforts across the country.
However, our greatest strength lies in the tight-knit community that forms among our residents during the four-year journey. Beyond professional development, we take full advantage of Austin’s vibrant offerings. Nestled in the Texas Hill Country, Austin provides abundant outdoor spaces, culinary delights, and a rich cultural scene, including renowned music festivals like Austin City Limits and SXSW.
We believe our program offers a unique blend of academic rigor, supportive environment and vibrant lifestyle. We eagerly anticipate the opportunity to connect with you and showcase all that our residency has to offer.
From the Residents
I was drawn to Dell Medical School psychiatry for many reasons. There is a wide variety of patients seen by Ascension Seton Shoal Creek and the Ascension Seton system as a whole; it doesn’t represent just one pocket of the population, which I felt would be good training for whatever my future job may hold. I also felt a welcoming sense of camaraderie among the residents; they support each other, help the team whenever necessary and are genuinely friends outside of work! And of course, who wouldn’t want to be in Austin and experience all that “keeps Austin weird?!” Best. City. Ever.
The schedule of an off-service internal medicine resident looks something like this:
- All teams, 5:45–7 a.m.: Arrive at Dell Seton Medical Center and read up on the overnight nursing events and morning labs on your patients (typically between three to six patients, depending on the team and the day).
- 7–7:15 a.m.: Meet in the doctor’s lounge for sign-out from the overnight cross-cover residents to hear about any acute issues that needed a physician’s attention over the last night.
- 7:15–8:30 a.m.: Pre-round on your patients.
- 8:30–9 a.m.: Quickly run the list with your upper-level resident, addressing any immediate issues and discussing plans.
- 9 a.m.–noon: Round with the attending physician.
- Noon–1 p.m.: Conference with a doctor from one of the many internal medicine subspecialties (and the free food never hurts).
- 1–4 p.m.: Complete floor work, meet with the multidisciplinary team to discuss discharge and social barriers, and admit any new patients your team receives.
- Non-call teams, 4–5 p.m.: Sign out your patients to the overnight cross-cover team so they’re prepared to answer any questions that arise.
- 5 p.m.: Your pager stops beeping! Head home!
- Call team (occurs every six days), 4–7 p.m.: Admit new patients: This can take a couple of extra hours to finish, depending on the timing of the admits.
- 8–9 p.m.: Sign out to the overnight cross-over team. Head home and sleep like a rock!
I was attracted to the program by its early exposure to psychotherapy, the opportunity to work at a psychiatric hospital and the variety of attendings. I really liked that the program placed value on training us in psychotherapy and encourages residents to use it in their practice. Working at Ascension Seton Shoal Creek, we get to see a higher volume of patients and a wider range of pathology. And of course, living in Austin has perks, too! It really makes a difference in resident life to live in a city with lots of fun things to do away from work.
What I like about the program: So far, I have enjoyed working with upper-levels, attendings and med students. Learning from everyone’s experiences and different approaches to psychiatric care has been very beneficial. I also feel I am at a program that values resident wellness and gives a lot of support to the residents. I have enjoyed working in the variety of clinic settings provided, i.e., Medical Park Tower, the Austin Outpatient Clinic of VA Central Texas and the Texas Child Study Center.
An average day as a PGY-2 is primarily in a clinic setting, seeing an average of six patients a day. The majority of the days are spent at Medical Park Tower. The schedule includes one full day of lectures, conferences and meetings, which is nice because we don’t travel a lot to different locations and can focus on academia. Call as a PGY-2 is all home call Monday through Sunday, 5 p.m.-8 a.m., receiving zero to three pages throughout the week for a total of six to seven weeks throughout the year.
I was interested in our program for a few reasons, but the biggest that stood out to me was that there was a broad amount of training diversity that was comparable with other large psychiatric residencies in the country, but with a smaller, more close-knit feel. The fact that we have a dedicated inpatient psychiatric hospital that serves as a safety-net hospital and acute substance detoxification facility, two medical hospitals, electroconvulsive therapy, child and adolescent inpatient and outpatient clinics, geriatric clinic, etc., was impressive. I felt like I would be able to get a comprehensive, well-rounded training education here, and the program being in Austin didn’t hurt, either.
My typical day on inpatient psychiatry at Shoal Creek starts when I get to the hospital at about 7-7:15 a.m. and check in with my intern and medical students, then check in with the nursing and social work staff. Morning report with the interns and medical students is at 8:30 a.m., and then we have hospital huddle at 9 a.m. We meet with our attending at 9:15 a.m. and then do multidisciplinary rounds, see follow-ups and write orders or do discharges. We see new patients during the morning if possible, but we often use the afternoon to see and assess new patients, accept new patients for admissions and work on discharge planning, obtaining collateral or teaching the students and interns. I have clinic in the afternoon twice a week, and we are usually done by 5 p.m.