Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship | NYU Langone Health

Skip to Main Content
Psychiatry Fellowships Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship

Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship

The Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship, led by Nunzio Pomara, MD, is a one-year training program within NYU Langone’s Department of Psychiatry. Our fellowship, accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), provides our graduates with proficiency in the clinical care of older adults and skills as team leaders and educators. Our training also fosters interests in evidence-based medicine and research.

As a fellow, you learn to care for a wide variety of older adults across inpatient, ambulatory, consultative, and collaborative care settings. You also gain expertise in multiple treatment modalities including medications, different types of psychotherapies, and electroconvulsive therapy. We maintain a strong focus on scholarly development, and our fellows consistently publish and present at national venues.

We collaborate with NYU Langone’s Department of Neurology and the Psychoanalytic Association of New York to offer a well-rounded curriculum and a rich network of mentors. We are also work closely with the ACGME-accredited Geriatric Medicine Fellowship, offered by the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care.

Our mission is to prepare fellows for board certification in geriatric psychiatry and produce clinical and academic leaders in the field. We strive to provide you with a clinically robust and academically rich experience in a collegial environment.

Inpatient Clinical Training for Fellows

We offer an inpatient clinical training rotation in geriatric psychiatry and electroconvulsive therapy at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue.

Bellevue Geriatric Psychiatry Unit and Electroconvulsive Therapy Service

On this rotation, you assess and manage an array of acute psychiatric problems, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depressive disorders, personality disorders, and cognitive disorders in medically ill older adults. Patients often have co-occurring substance use or neurological illnesses. As a fellow, you become familiar with neuropsychological testing and therapeutic programming to address patients’ memory and coping skills. The Electroconvulsive Therapy Service treats inpatients, many of whom are older adults. You receive on-site technical instruction and perform supervised treatments.

Ambulatory Experiences for Fellows

Our fellowship program offers several ambulatory rotations.

Center for Cognitive Neurology

During a year-long rotation at the Center for Cognitive Neurology, you learn to conduct a comprehensive evaluation, establish a dementia diagnosis, and discuss this diagnosis with patients and families. You gain expertise in diagnosing and treating neuropsychiatric disturbances associated with dementia, stroke, and acquired brain injuries with pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy. The center works with the Pearl I. Barlow Center for Memory Evaluation and Treatment to provide training in the fundamentals of large-scale research projects.

Bellevue Geriatrics Clinic

At the Bellevue geriatrics clinic, you perform supervised psychiatric consultations on patients and follow some individuals longitudinally over the course of the year. You also work alongside experienced geriatricians and fellows in geriatric medicine and learn the fundamentals of collaborative care.

NYU Langone’s Behavioral Health Program

During NYU Langone’s Behavioral Health Program rotation, you assess and treat patients with late-life psychiatric illnesses, many of whom benefit from ongoing psychotherapy. You also serve as a geriatric issues consultant for psychiatric residents. This rotation enables you to learn about billing, coding, documentation, and risk management. You also meet with a faculty member from the Psychoanalytic Association of New York for consultation on psychodynamic formulation and treatment of patients.

Program for Hoarding Disorders

In this community-based rotation, you use psychiatric interviewing techniques and objective rating scales to perform supervised assessments of older adults engaging in hoarding behaviors. You are trained to conceptualize these patients using a biopsychosocial approach, as well as to gauge motivation and formulate suitable therapeutic strategies.

Consultation–Liaison Experience for Fellows

Our rotations also include a consultation–liaison experience.

Tisch Hospital Consultation–Liaison Service

During this rotation, you perform supervised consultations of medically ill geriatric patients with a range of psychiatric and neuropsychiatric conditions, including co-occurring substance abuse and delirium, as well as those in need of need of capacity evaluations. Interventions include biological and psychosocial evaluations, psychopharmacologic treatments, individual psychosocial treatments, and involvement with family as a necessary extension of treating hospitalized patients.

Long-term Care Experience for Fellows

Long-term care is also an integral part of our fellowship program.

NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler

During this rotation at NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler, you conduct supervised consultations for nursing home residents with a wide variety of neuropsychiatric presentations. You learn the basics of quality improvement and regulatory issues in the long-term setting by participating in patient safety projects. You also train in the essential elements of behavior and psychotropic medication stewardship.

Didactic Training for Fellows

Our faculty offer a didactic curriculum that includes lectures, conferences, and grand rounds addressing an array of topics in geriatric psychiatry.

A weekly Geriatric Psychiatry–Medicine Interdisciplinary Conference focuses on Bellevue geriatrics clinic patients, addressing complex issues such as medical and psychiatric diseases, social problems, and nursing care challenges. The emphasis is on diverse factors influencing patient care and compliance. You attend this conference with faculty and fellows in geriatric medicine, as well as medical students and residents doing geriatric elective rotations.

In addition, Psychiatry Grand Rounds include weekly formal presentations of topics in psychiatry and healthcare and our Consultation–Liaison Didactic Series consists of weekly presentations and case discussions focused on the interface between psychiatric and medical illnesses. A weekly interactive Bellevue Psychiatry Clinical Conference focuses on clinical management of patients who have complex clinical, legal, ethical, and systems problems.

With faculty support, you are required to develop at least one scholarly project during your fellowship year. You are paired with faculty members with shared interests. Past projects have led to peer-reviewed publications, oral and poster presentations at national meetings, and quality improvement projects.

Fellowship Eligibility Requirements

Applicants to our fellowship need to complete an ACGME-accredited psychiatry residency, with excellent evaluations. All interested individuals are welcome to apply. Students from underrepresented backgrounds, including but not limited to those who identify as Black or African American, Latinx, Native American, Native Pacific Islander, or Native Alaskan, are encouraged to apply. We consider such factors as leadership potential, writing ability, research experience, emotional maturity, and career goals. One fellowship position is available each year.

Fellowship Application Process

Application materials for the upcoming training year may be submitted beginning April 15. We require a core application and two to three letters of reference.

Core Application

Please submit the following materials for your core application:

  • a completed application form
  • your CV
  • a personal statement about why you wish to train in this fellowship (one to two pages)
  • a letter from your medical school dean

International applicants must also submit the following items:

  • a valid Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) certificate
  • proof of visa status or U.S. citizenship

Completed core application materials should be emailed as one PDF document to Tanisha Young-Nuzzi, senior program coordinator, at tanisha.young-nuzzi@nyulangone.org. The subject line of this email should be: Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship Application [APPLICANT LAST NAME, APPLICANT FIRST NAME].

Letters of Reference

Please arrange for a minimum of two, but not more than three, letters of reference from faculty who are familiar with the nature and quality of your work. One of those individuals must be the director of your general psychiatry residency program. Letters of reference should be submitted directly by their authors to Tanisha Young-Nuzzi, preferably as an emailed PDF document.

No application is considered until all required materials have been received, including the training director’s letter of reference.

Interviews

A screening committee begins reviewing applications as soon as they arrive to identify candidates to interview. Interviews usually occur throughout the summer and typically take a full day that includes meetings with faculty representatives of several different rotations and a chance to meet the current fellow.

Offers

We make a phone offer to the selected candidate and issue an official letter of offer upon acceptance of the position.

An offer of employment is not final until you are successfully credentialed by NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Office of Graduate Medical Education. Read more about terms of employment and our graduate medical education policies and services.

Contact Us

For more information about this fellowship, please contact Nunzio Pomara, MD, at nunzio.pomara@nyulangone.org. Contact Tanisha Young-Nuzzi for more information about the application process at tanisha.young-nuzzi@nyulangone.org.

If you would like to request an alumni verification for our Psychiatry Residency and Fellowship Programs, contact us at psycheduverifications@nyulangone.org. Alumni verifications are typically processed 7 to 10 business days from receipt of payment. Please send a check or money order, payable to NYU Grossman School of Medicine, for the $100 alumni verification fee to the following address:

NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Department of Psychiatry
One Park Avenue 
Room 8-241 
New York, NY 10016
Attn: Residency/Fellowship Verification