NYU Langone’s Department of Psychiatry residents who are committed to a career in research and hold an MD/PhD or have extensive prior research experience are encouraged to participate in the Research Career Accelerated Track, designed to maximize time for research beginning in postgraduate year 1 (PGY-1). A financial supplement is available on this track.

Track Application Process

Applicants apply to the Research Career Accelerated Track match slot through the National Resident Matching Program, also called The Match. One to two slots are available per year for a highly qualified applicant or applicants who have demonstrated a commitment to basic or clinical and translational research. Applicants are invited through the Electronic Residency Application Service to fill out a supplemental application, as well as attend two days of interviewing: one for the general Psychiatry Residency and one for the research track. During the research track interview day, applicants are invited to give a short seminar on their previous research and meet with several potential research mentors based on mutual areas of interest.

Applications are due by the date specified in the invitation email and should be sent as described in the application instructions to Isabel Garcia, administrative coordinator at Isabel.Garcia2@NYULangone.org or Tanya C. Sippy, MD, PhD, track co-director at Tanya.Sippy@NYULangone.org.

Track Schedule

This track is designed for the resident psychiatric researcher who wishes to sustain as much research momentum building from his or her MD or MD/PhD experiences as possible within the framework of completing all Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requirements for training. Thus, the PGY-1 resident on the research track focuses on the adjustment to clinical training and the attainment of basic clinical skills, with a minimum of six weeks dedicated to establishing mentors, labs, resources, and a project for PGY-2. In the second year, the resident has 12 to 16 weeks fully protected for research, and in PGY-3 and PGY-4, the resident has 40 percent and up to 90 percent protected research time, respectively, while assuring ACGME training requirements are met.

Track Requirements

Participants have regular meetings with their mentor and the track leadership to set and assure success with required milestones consistent with their personalized research and career development plan, as well as receive additional training in research. With mentorship, residents also submit an annual progress report and plan. These efforts are aimed at preparing the resident for a career in research as an independent investigator in their chosen area of interest. Trainees are highly encouraged to submit National Institutes of Health Career Development Awards and other young investigator grants by the first half of their PGY-4 year, or within one year of finishing residency.

Track Funding and Stipend Support

Participants in the Research Career Accelerated Track receive a $20,000 stipend as a salary supplement beginning with PGY-1. Additional supplements over the course of training for laboratory and personnel support—subject to submission of written budgetary requests and justification for review by the Research Training and Oversight Committee—may be possible pending funding availability.

Research Career Accelerated Track Residents

Our current track residents include the following researchers.

Fourth-Year Resident

Simon Khuvis, MD, PhD

Third-Year Resident

Thomas Hainmueller, MD, PhD

Second-Year Resident

Hope Kronman, MD, PhD

First-Year Residents

Brian Hurwitz, MD, PhD

Nathan Nakatsuka, MD, PhD

Research Career Accelerated Track Recent Alumni

Our research track alumni include the following physician–scientists.

2023

Kelvin Quiñones-Laracuente, MD, PhD

Kelvin Quiñones-Laracuente completed his MD and PhD degrees at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine in the laboratory of Gregory J. Quirk, PhD. For his graduate work, Kelvin focused on the dynamic circuitry needed to retrieve aversive memories as time progresses. Kelvin is interested in understanding the underpinnings of prosocial behaviors, such as maternal behaviors, collaboration, communication, and theory of mind and pursued this line of research in the laboratory of Robert C. Froemke, PhD. He is the recipient of the National Institute of Mental Health Outstanding Resident Award Program.

2021

Joseph Marlin, MD, PhD

Joseph Marlin received his BS in chemistry and BA in neuroscience at University of California, Berkeley, and completed his MD and PhD at NYU School of Medicine. His doctoral studies in the laboratory of Adam Carter, PhD, detailed the synaptic connections of the prefrontal cortex and thalamus. Joe is interested in understanding the neuronal circuits underlying goal-directed behavior and their dysfunction in mental illness. He is currently interrogating the biomolecular and electrophysiologic signatures of synaptic plasticity in the basal ganglia in the laboratory of Richard Tsien, PhD.

2019

Kelley O’Donnell, MD, PhD

Kelley O’Donnell earned her MD and a PhD in neuroscience in the Medical Scientist Training Program at University of California, Los Angeles, where her research on axon degeneration was funded in part by a training grant in neural repair. She completed her psychiatry residency on the research track at NYU School of Medicine and was involved for four years in clinical studies investigating the therapeutic benefits of psychedelic substances for a variety of indications. Since residency, she has continued that clinical research at the NYU Langone’s Department of Psychiatry, where she is now a research assistant professor and a faculty scholar in the Psychedelic Medicine Research Training Program.

2018

Tanya C. Sippy, MD, PhD

Tanya C. Sippy received her BS in neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles, and her MD/PhD degree at Columbia University. After a short postdoctoral fellowship at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, she returned to New York City for her residency in psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine. She is the recipient of several grants and prizes including the National Institute of Mental Health Outstanding Resident Award Program, and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists. She is now an assistant professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience and Physiology at NYU Langone and serves as associate director of the Psychiatry Residency Research Tracks and of the Psychedelic Medicine Research Training Program. Her research focuses on basic and translational aspects of sensorimotor transformation, as well as the neural mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of psychedelic drugs.