Dear Applicants,

Welcome to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) Harvard Psychiatry Residency Training Program.

We know that this is a difficult time to be applying to residency. Because you do not get to visit the various programs, it is harder to get a good sense of the experience of residents and the "feel" of the residency experience. BIDMC is a terrific place: warm, inclusive, respectful, and academically and clinically comprehensive. We hope to help you learn as much as possible about who we are and what we offer. 

At the BIDMC Harvard Psychiatry Residency Training Program, you will inherit a century of tradition and experience in residency education at three former programs (Beth Israel Hospital, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, and Harvard Longwood Psychiatry) in a cutting-edge, personalized clinical educational experience.

Psychiatry is at the frontier of many of the major breakthrough domains in medicine:

• Expanding clinical armamentarium of evidence-based treatments in psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, and neuro-stimulation therapies
• Exponential growth in our understanding of neuroscience and the neurological basis of psychiatric disorders
• Population health
• Value-based care
• Personalized medicine
• Digital medicine
• Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Prevention

Our faculty and residents are working at all of these frontiers. Moreover, we are devoted educators and know how to make the most of psychiatry training for our residents.

• Our residency is based at institutions where Psychiatry’s leaders have trained for more than a century.
• Our program provides individualized research and academic mentorship and career planning and dedicated time for scholarly pursuits.
• Our program offers both comprehensive and individualized training for all residents.
• Our program offers incomparable research opportunities.

Our breadth of clinical opportunities is unique. We offer core rotations or electives at the broad range of settings where patients receive care in today’s systems of care:

• A world-class Harvard academic medical center
• The premier academic community mental health center in the nation
• Community health centers
• Homeless outreach programs
• Community hospitals
• The nation’s leading children’s hospital
• A world-class elder care network

Perhaps most importantly, we have always strived to create a learning environment that is warm, supportive, and generative. As a result, our residents and faculty love it here. We welcome all of our residents to bring their own particular strengths and interests, to join our BIDMC family in their own ways, and, with our help, to attain their individual goals. 

Welcome party for the class of 2022
at the home of Dr. Bill Greenberg

Throughout my career, I have had a deep personal commitment to the education of future leaders in our field. I directed the Beth Israel Program from 1987-1994 and was the founding director of the Harvard Longwood Program from 1994 to 2011 — two wonderful programs. I understand our obligation to provide a deep and rich clinical and educational environment that meets the needs of every resident, and I am thrilled that we are doing so in our residency.

I look forward to meeting you, learning about your background and interests, and thinking with you about how we can help you shape a training experience that will be deeply enriching and that will help you to define and attain your goals.

Best wishes and, once again, welcome to BIDMC Psychiatry.

William Greenberg, MD
Psychiatrist-in-Chief
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center