Award Detail

2023 WINNERS

Information has not yet been updated for the 2023 award. Check back July, 2023, for updated information. Submissions accepted August 3 - September 14, 2023.

Program directors and institutions of residents submitting nominations must be members in good standing with AADPRT (i.e., current institution and individual membership dues must be paid). 

International Medical Graduates (IMGs) are a substantial portion of the psychiatric workforce and occupy a significant percentage of residency positions in psychiatry. While IMGs often have extensive medical experience in their home countries, many are new to the U.S. graduate and post-graduate medical education systems, the U.S. medical culture, and to the diverse cultural groups represented in the U.S. As a result, they are faced with the intersecting challenges of professional, personal, and family acculturation. Over the years, many IMGs have made major contributions to research, administration, and clinical service, and now serve in the highest levels of organized and academic psychiatry. This fellowship program is designed to promote the professional growth of exceptional IMG psychiatry residents/fellows with leadership potential, particularly those interested in resident education.

Fellowships will be awarded to five outstanding applicants. Winners will be invited to attend the AADPRT Annual Meeting at AADPRT's expense. Each awardee will be connected to a faculty mentor of their choice at the AADPRT Annual Meeting who, over the course of the coming year and perhaps beyond, will help them seek solutions to professional and acculturation needs. Furthermore, to enhance the experience, each awardee will be required to work with their mentor to lead a scholarly project (such as a poster presentation or workshop at an annual meeting of one of the major psychiatric organizations, or the submission of an article in a peer-reviewed journal) over the year. Mentors will be psychiatrists who have made valuable contributions to the field as educators, researchers, clinicians and administrators, and who have met many of the challenges the IMG fellows may encounter.

As of fall 2023

The IMG Fellowship will require a proposal for an IMG educational, clinical, or research initiative. The selection process will evaluate the proposed project based on gap analysis, innovation, feasibility, and outcome measures. Awardees will be limited to PGY 1-3s, CAP1 fellows and those PGY 4s committed to a fellowship during which time the project can be completed. Awardees will be assigned an AADPRT mentor with whom they will work throughout the year on the project and be encouraged to submit their work as a poster or workshop at the subsequent Annual Meeting.

Objectives

The objectives of the fellowship include enhancing the trainees':

• Familiarity with national psychiatric residency training issues
• Understanding of U.S. and medical cultures
• Integration of professional networks
• Consolidation of professional identity and career development plans
• Leadership skills and ability to serve as a role model for other IMGs
• Teaching abilities
• Productivity in research and publication
• Contribution towards advocacy of psychiatry as a field
• Promotion of IMG initiatives and studies, especially pertaining to education

Nomination Guidelines

Eligibility

The candidate must:

• Be in an approved PGY 1 or above general psychiatry residency program or in a psychiatry subspecialty fellowship.
• Be a resident or fellow at the time of nomination and award presentation (March of following year).

• May submit only one (1) nomination per eligible year (e.g. institutions may not submit a general residency nomination and a subspecialty nomination, or multiple subspecialty nominations).

Exclusions

• Institutions whose nominees have received AADPRT/IMG Fellowships are ineligible to nominate candidates for the next two (2) nomination cycles (e.g. if submitted in fall of 2022 (won in 2023), the institution may not submit another IMG application until fall of 2025).

Nomination Process

Nomination must include:

1. Completed online form (View Sample Submission Form). The online nomination system is open to Training Director Members only.

2. Nominating letter from training director. The letter should include an assessment of the resident’s strengths, educational achievement, and leadership qualities as well as information regarding resources for mentoring in your program and how this fellowship program can benefit the applicant. The letter should include approval to attend the AADPRT Annual Meeting.

Nomination Letter Sample

3. Candidate’s Statement of Interest of no more than two pages outlining their academic and leadership achievements, career aspirations, and how the fellowship program will promote their professional growth. The applicant must also submit a list of three preferred senior AADPRT members who might serve as their mentor. The applicant should seek out mentor suggestions from their training director. Every effort will be made to make final selections based on these preferences. 

4. Applicant's Curriculum Vitae 

Program directors and institutions of residents submitting nominations must be members in good standing with AADPRT (i.e., current institution and individual membership dues must be paid).

Selection Process