Director's Welcome

Welcome to the University of Illinois Chicago's Psychiatry Residency Program!

Joseph J. Cooper MD,FANPA
Director, Psychiatry Residency Training Program 

The Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois Chicago is committed to providing unsurpassed training opportunities for our students, residents and professionals seeking continuing medical education.

Through a combination of innovative learning opportunities, diverse clinical experience, invested mentors, cutting-edge research opportunities and a commitment to develop future leaders in the field, the department has earned the reputation as one of the premier programs in the country.

Enter our site by choosing from the menu at the left and learn more about our psychiatry residency, research opportunities and fellowship training programs!

This is a particularly exciting time in our department and in the field of psychiatry as a whole. With the advances in neuroscience, the field is evolving rapidly. Our department is well positioned on the forefront of this change given the nationally recognized clinical research program. We are ranked 24th in the nation and 1st in Illinois for NIMH funding. Combined with outstanding clinical services and diverse patient populations, our residents have a front-row seat in this defining period. At UIC, we aim to provide a solid foundation onto which continued acquisition of knowledge can be built. Today learning does not stop at the end of residency but continues throughout the careers of our trainees.

Our approach to understanding human behavior and psychopathology relies on a core theoretical base derived from our understanding of biological, psychological, and sociological forces interacting in a dynamic fashion to shape individual behavior. In our efforts to address the clinical implications of these forces, we rely on biological, psychoanalytical, cognitive-behavioral, socio-anthropological, and systems theory principles. These principles are the building blocks for constructing diagnostic formulations, developing treatment strategies, and making disposition plans for our diverse clinical population. Our eclecticism is a strength and is made possible by an internationally renowned faculty numbering over 200 members with diverse clinical and research interests. All our faculty members are dedicated to the mission of teaching residents and medical students of the UIC College of Medicine.

It is our philosophy that any psychiatry curriculum needs to be designed around a set of core psychiatric principles, philosophies, basic skills, and attitudes to provide a solid basis in evidence-based psychiatry. The curriculum of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois meets this standard and is divided over the four years of training.

We look forward to hearing from you and ultimately meeting you.