# Combined Psychiatry Residency and PhD Training at Mount Sinai

> **NIH NIH R25** · ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI · 2020 · $213,529

## Abstract

Project Summary
 The present application seeks to renew our funded R25 “Combined Psychiatry Residency and PhD
Training at Mount Sinai”. We aim to allow our current trainees to complete their 7-year program and to show
how maximizing the time for research during psychiatry residency, combined with half-time NIMH-supported
research, can yield sufficient time over 7 years for trainees to complete their PhDs. We also seek support for
three new trainees to enter the program. The motivation for this novel model for PhD training of MDs emerged
from the belief that psychiatry is a fertile medical specialty for translational research and that those with both an
MD and a PhD have the opportunity to bridge the gap between neuroscience and clinical psychiatry. We
recognized that only a small number of MD/PhD graduates (5-6%) choose to specialize in psychiatry across
the country and not all of those choosing psychiatry continue in research careers after residency. This may be
in part because the established method of combined MD/PhD training is inefficient, requiring years of clinical
training between completing the PhD and graduating from clinical training. Graduates experience a decline in
research skills and often need to retrain after residency. Thus few young MD/PhDs apply for K or R01 Awards.
 Mount Sinai continues to be the ideal place for this novel program because of the strength of our
Departments of Psychiatry, Neuroscience and Genetics/Genomics. Indeed, our Department of Psychiatry is
ranked #6 in the country in NIH funding (#1 in funding by funded investigator), the Department of
Neuroscience is ranked #2 and the Department of Genetics is ranked #4 (Blue Ridge Institute for Medical
Research). Our exponential success in research accomplishments and funding is the result of a focused
institutional effort to support translational research. Our initial 5-year R25 grant was funded 4 years ago to
support the training of residents in a 7-year program combining psychiatric residency with PhD training in
neuroscience or genetics. We have successfully recruited one outstanding applicant per year as planned and
have thereby demonstrated that we can harness a combination of GME funds (a resident pay line) to support
clinical training (year 1 and 50% of years 2-7) with the R25 funds to support research time (50% of years 2-7).
We are presently starting year 5 of the grant; thus, inevitably, our trainees are still in the midst of their 7-year
training (See Participants and Preliminary Data). Ours is the only program in the country offering PhD
training within a psychiatry residency and our renewal application aims to permit us to continue this unique
program and to show the success of our trainees as they graduate. Notably, other programs at Mount Sinai
(Neurology, Neurosurgery, Medicine and Pediatrics) are using our program to model their own Residency or
Fellowship/PhD programs as part of the newly created Mount Sinai Physician Scholars Program.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9970532
- **Project number:** 5R25MH101074-08
- **Recipient organization:** ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI
- **Principal Investigator:** ANTONIA S NEW
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $213,529
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2013-07-01 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9970532

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9970532, Combined Psychiatry Residency and PhD Training at Mount Sinai (5R25MH101074-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9970532. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*