Breadcrumb

Messages from the Training Director

Greetings from the Training Director

Roberto Castaños, MD

The UC Riverside Psychiatry Residency Training Program was founded in 2014 with the mission of providing innovative healthcare today and training the physicians of tomorrow. Some of our other clinical partners include Riverside University Health System, Patton State Hospital, Pacific Grove Hospital, Clinicas de Salud del Pueblo, Veterans Affairs in Long Beach & Loma Linda, Kaiser Riverside and more. Our main university clinical operation, UCR Health is located downtown Riverside and our trainees treat patients using state of the art medications, psychotherapy and participate in neuropsychological assessment of patients at this site. We also have clinical operations based in Orange County and the Coachella Valley.

As the only university-based academic program in Riverside County, and with our active and vibrant research endeavors, our residents collaborate with faculty in the Department of Psychology, Division of Biomedical Sciences, Center for Healthy Communities and more. Residents are encouraged to spend time in scholarly pursuits, including clinical and research opportunities, rather than spending time encumbered by service commitments. This year alone, residents have collaborated with faculty members to publish articles/chapters on The Pharmacologic Treatment of Stuttering and its Neuropharmacologic Basis, New Medications for Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Psychopharmacology of Prescribing to Diverse Children and more.

In addition, our department is working on a 4th volume Case Series textbook with our faculty member and expert world-renowned psychopharmacologist, Dr. Stephen Stahl, MD, PhD that will highlight cases treated by our UCR residents and faculty. This text is modeled after Dr. Stahl’s Essential Psychopharmacology Case Studies series and is aimed at exemplifying the complexity of psychopharmacology, including teaching points and the multitude of adjustments required in the pursuit of a good outcome for our patients. In the spirit of teamwork, most of our residents are partnering with a faculty member and medical student to collaborate on each chapter.

Our program features dedicated faculty mentors, opportunities to earn financial assistance through work opportunities, and financial support to present at national and international conferences. Residents have an opportunity to work closely with our chair, who in addition to treating patients works closely supervising residents in clinic.

We believe we have developed a unique psychiatry residency training program that emphasizes innovative clinical care in a variety of settings. Given that our patient population in the Inland Empire is culturally diverse, we encourage cultural humility and acceptance of our patients and each other. Some of our residents serve on our Diversity Advisory Committee which works on ways to improve equity and inclusion within our program including implementing holistic review of our residency applicants. We have a diverse group of faculty that acknowledges diversity in its broadest sense. Of our incoming interns, 50% were considered financially disadvantaged in high school or before, 62.5% speak more than 1 language and many are from groups underrepresented in medicine. To help foster inclusion and reduce barriers to higher education access, we support pathway and outreach programs all the way from middle school through high school, college and medical school to mentor promising candidates to provide care to our patient population. With such diversity in training with supervision from internationally renowned faculty in a variety of treatment settings, our graduates are well prepared to serve our community. To further support our trainees, we provide loan repayment to our graduates that stay with us and provide care to our underserved community, and many are able to join our faculty upon completion of residency and/or fellowship training. We hold to the simple operating principle that education and quality of life are first and foremost, and perhaps because of this, a large number of our graduating medical students have chosen to enter our field of psychiatry thereby helping reduce the healthcare shortage of mental health providers in the Inland Southern California area.

As someone who was raised in Riverside county, this is not only my home, but a great place to live, learn and work. Feel free to contact me at roberto.castanos@medsch.ucr.edu to learn more about all that our Psychiatry Residency Training Program has to offer!

Roberto Castaños, M.D.