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Training Information

In our broad Addiction Psychiatry fellowship program, you'll learn and grow in diverse settings.

Fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), our program primarily provides a clinical training experience with a diverse patient population diagnosed and treated in multiple settings, including:

  • Inpatient, outpatient and consultation at a university hospital
  • A Veterans Affairs medical center
  • An adolescent treatment center

There are no weekend or overnight calls required.

Program objectives

  • Provide specialized training for psychiatrists in treating drug-use disorders
  • Enhance training resources available to clinicians in the metropolitan area
  • Serve as a resource for clinical addiction research
  • Facilitate transfer of specialized addiction treatment approaches to community agencies

Our fellows provide direct patient care for people in residential care, outpatient addiction treatment, inpatient treatment and inpatient consultation. As part of this training experience, fellows get exposure to using methadone, buprenorphine, long-acting buprenorphine (sublocade) and long-acting naltrexone (vivitrol) to treat opioid use disorders.

In addition, we use multiple treatment modalities, including:

  • Individual and group therapies
  • Motivational interview styles
  • Relapse prevention and harm reduction methods
  • Cognitive behavioral psychotherapy
  • Psychopharmacologic management of detox, craving, relapse prevention
  • Comorbidity diagnosis and treatment strategies

Training sites
To offer the best educational experience, our fellows train at world-class facilities. Here are the training sites for the Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship:

  • The University of Kansas Health System Main Campus – 6 months
    • Buprenorphine (suboxone) Clinic - Addiction Treatment Center
    • Suboxone clinic
    • Addiction research
    • Pain management
  • Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center – 5 months
    • Adult Residential and Dual-Diagnosis Outpatient Clinic
  • Johnson County Mental Health Center-Adolescent Center for Treatment – 1 month

Please visit our affiliate training sites page for more information. 

Didactic Curriculum
  • Animal Models of Drug Dependence
  • Behavioral Models of Drug Dependence
  • Animal Models of Relapse Liability
  • Brain Reward Circuitry
  • Genetic Contributions to Drug Dependence
  • Epidemiology of Addictive Disorders
  • Historical Perspectives of Drug Intoxication and Abuse
  • Use of Various Substances in Cultural and Religious Settings
  • Evolution of Social and Governmental Theory and Controls of Drug Usage
  • Screening, Diagnosis and Assessment
  • Laboratory in Diagnostic Assessments
  • Brief Interventions
  • Detoxification
    • Alcohol, Benzodiazepines, Barbiturates
    • Cocaine
    • Methamphetamine
    • MDMA
    • Heroin, Prescription Opiates
    • Ultra Rapid Opiate Detox
    • Hallucinogens, PCP, GHB, Inhalants
    • Marijuana

  • Complicated Detox Strategies
    • Polydrug and Alcohol Combinations
    • Acute Psychosis and Drug Abuse
    • Overdose Emergency Management

  • Components of Successful Addiction Treatment
  • Choice of Setting, Duration and Intensity of Treatment
  • Ethical Issues in Addiction Treatment
  • Harm Reduction
  • Drug Courts and Role of Law Enforcement
  • Complementary and Alternative Therapies
  • Special Population Approaches: Genderal, Ethnic, Sexual Preference, Age, HIV
  • Addiction in the Primary Care Setting
  • Addiction Treatment in Incarcerated Populations
  • Motivational Approaches
  • Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment
  • Relapse Prevention
  • Network Therapy
  • Individual Psychotherapy
  • Group Therapy
  • Family/Couples Approaches to Treatment Engagement
  • Contingency Management
  • Community Support Groups, Twelve-Step Programs, Faith-Based Approaches
  • Therapeutic Community
  • Substance-Induced Psychiatric Disorders
  • Diagnostic Strategies for Comorbid Psychiatric Disorders
  • Comorbid Affective Disorders
  • Comorbid Anxiety Disorders, PTSD, OCD
  • Comorbid Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective and Other Psychotic Disorders
  • Comorbid ADHD, ADD
  • Comorbid Eating Disorders and Pathological Gambling
  • Comorbid Impulse Disorders
  • Comorbid Personality Disorders: Borderline, Antisocial Personality
  • Psychopharmacology for Addiction and Comorbid Disorders
  • Harm Reduction in Clinical Practice
  • Controlled Drinking, Abstinence Goals and Other Controversies
  • Characteristics of Addicting Drugs
  • Determining Risk of Addiction; Post-Release Monitoring
  • Pharmocokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Principles
  • Pharmacology of Alcohol
  • Pharmacology of Benzodiazepines and Other Sedative-Hypnotics
  • Pharmacology of Opiates
  • Pharmacology of Cocaine, Methamphetamine and Amphetamines, MDMA
  • Pharmacology of GHB, PCP, Ketamine, and NMDA Antagonists
  • Pharmacology of Nicotine and Various Smoking Products
  • Pharmacology of Marijuana
  • Pharmacology of Hallucinogens and Designer Drugs
  • Pharmacology of Inhalants
  • Using Medications for People with Addictive Disorders
  • Evidence-Based Psychopharmacology for Addictions
  • Medications Approved for Alcohol Abuse and Dependence
  • Medication Trials for Off-Label Treatment of Addictive Disorders
  • Opiate Replacement Treatments
  • Office-Based Opiate Treatment
  • Overview of Medical Risks Associated with Drug and Alcohol Abuse
  • Communicable Disease Risk and Monitoring
  • Cardiovascular Complications of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
  • Respiratory Tract Disorders Associated with Drug and Alcohol Abuse
  • Liver and Gastrointestinal Disorders Associated with Drug and Alcohol Abuse
  • Renal and Metabolic Disorders of Addiction
  • Neurologic and Sleep Disorders Associated with Drug and Alcohol Abuse
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Endocrine, Reproductive and Immunologic Disorders
  • Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
  • Perinatal Addiction
  • Neurophysiology of Acute and Chronic Pain
  • Principles of Pain Management: the Warn on Pain
  • Psychological Approaches to Pain Management
  • Non-Opioid Medications, the WHO ladder, Adjuvant Strategy
  • Opioid Medications for Pain Management in Addicted Patients
    • Strategies for Medication Management
    • Legal Constraints and Diversion Issues
  • Use of Body Fluid Monitoring for Chronic Pain Patients
  • Practical Problems in Management of Pain
  • Prescription Opioid Abuse in the Chronic Pain Patient
  • Adolescent Risk and Protective Factors
  • Binge Drinking Among College Students
  • Tobacco Use by Youth
  • Screening for Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug Use in Adolescents
  • Screening Questionnaires for Young Men and Women
  • Office Assessment of the Substance-Using Adolescent
  • Adolescent Treatment and Relapse Prevention
  • Confidentiality and the Family
  • Co-Occurring Disorders in Adolescents
    • Bipolar Disorder
    • ADHD
    • Psychopharmacology for the Adolescent: Risks and Benefits

The evaluation process
Regular verbal feedback is an integral part of the training experience. Formal online evaluations are completed by the responsible supervising attendings, nurses and social workers at the conclusion of each rotation or on a quarterly basis.

Residents meet with the program director twice each year to review their progress, assess their caseload and discuss any concerns.

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

University of Kansas Medical Center
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Mailstop 4015
3901 Rainbow Boulevard
Kansas City, KS 66160
Phone: 913-588-6400
Fax: 913-588-6414