Collaborative academic training of psychiatrists and psychologists in VA and medical school settings

The authors review the background and contemporary strengths of Dean's Committee Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in the collaborative academic training of psychiatrists and psychologists.

The authors discuss the problems and prospects of the current health care environment as it impacts the behavioral health treatment of returning veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the educational agenda for psychiatry and psychology. The medical education program in psychiatry and the internship program in psychology at the Syracuse Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the SUNY Upstate Medical University provide an exemplar of academic collaboration in clinical training.

Within this combined educational environment, opportunities and challenges abound for interns and residents to receive advanced training in the state-of-the-art assessment and treatment of disorders related to psychological trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder, sexual trauma, traumatic brain injury, polytrauma, behavioral health in primary care, and telepsychiatry.

There is tremendous mutual benefit from academic collaboration for both institutions as they grapple with their respective treatment and educational missions.