UMass Chan Medical School Fellowship in Forensic Psychiatry

The Law and Psychiatry Program of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UMass Chan Medical School, offers a comprehensive ACGME-accredited Fellowship in Forensic Psychiatry.

The program aims to train fellows to:

1. Become familiar with sources of the law, basic legal research techniques, and the interpretation of relevant statutes, case law, and legal standards;
2. Become knowledgeable about legal issues affecting psychiatric practice;
3. Provide appropriate consultation to the legal system, including effective reports and testimony;
4. Understand the role boundaries and ethical foundations of forensic practice;
5. Become familiar with forensic research and develop skills to critically review relevant professional literature;
6. Be effective practitioners, scholars, and teachers in the field of forensic psychiatry;
7. Learn to provide psychiatric care for persons involved in the criminal justice system in a culturally competent manner with an emphasis on understanding levels of care and the least restrictive setting appropriate to individual treatment needs;
8. Gain expertise in conducting forensic evaluations and formulating the treatment needs of forensic patients using an evidence-based approach, through an understanding of relevant literature;
9. Consider careers including forensic work within the public sector.