Psychiatry Residency Training Program
Naval Medical Center Portsmouth offers outstanding residency training in psychiatry with a > 95% first time psychiatry board pass rate. Our department offers a wide range of psychiatric care, including inpatient, consultation/liaison, intensive outpatient, residential rehab for substance use, and a robust outpatient department that includes both individual and group therapies in addition to specialized treatment programs for service members with traumatic brain injury. Our training program focuses on ensuring trainees are skilled in multiple treatment modalities including psychopharmacology, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and a robust skillset in psychotherapy.
Because of our close proximity to a wide range of operational communities, including the largest naval station in the world, our residents work in close collaboration with Commands across the Eastern Seaboard and the Atlantic Ocean. We routinely work with the leadership and mental health teams assigned to carriers, Fleet Surgical Teams, submarines, and the special warfare communities. Our residency program also has relationships with civilian hospitals in the local area to ensure trainees have exposure to treating more severe mental illness than typically seen in a military setting. In addition to your medical training, we maintain a strong focus on preparing our residents as operational leaders and naval officers.
Our program director, CDR Shibley, is a distinguished fellow of both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and is a prior recipient of the American Psychiatric Association Leadership Fellowship and the Laughlin Fellowship and has robust operational experience. LCDR(s) Savannah Woodward, an Associate Program Director, is a 2x faculty award winner, a champion for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and is an astute scholar who successfully leads our residents in quality improvement projects, research and publications on both the local and national level. LCDR Carrie Dillon, a prior aviator and recent chief resident at NMCP, joined the residency program as an additional Associate Program Director in 2023. Our leaders are highly devoted to ensuring your residency is a time of professional and personal development. We strive to ensure an individualized approach to supporting residents’ interests across a wide scope of psychiatry experiences- from collaborative care to community mental health, to research and quality improvement, to operational psychiatry, and much more!
Please explore the additional information offered on the PGY class links, and we strongly encourage you to rotate here with us and experience NMCP psychiatry firsthand! If you are interested in setting up a rotation with us, please email: usn.hampton-roads.navhospporsva.list.nmcp-medstudentcoordinator@health.mil. If you plan to interview, please include an updated CV, personal statement, unofficial medical school transcripts, and a headshot.
For further questions, please contact CDR Heather Shibley: heather.l.shibley.mil@health.mil.
Why Virginia?
-Close to both the beach and mountains, with options for urban, suburban, and rural living all within driving distance to NMCP
-Great cost of living and very family friendly (excellent schools and family activities)
-Access to 22 National Parks, 37 State Parks, 600 miles of trails
-Over 230 wineries, 206 craft breweries, 70 distilleries and counting
-Year-round music festivals, some of America’s largest: folk, bluegrass, country, rock, jazz
-Hundreds of historical sites and destinations: 8 presidential estates, Williamsburg, Richmond, Jamestown, Charlottesville, historic battlefields, museums, memorials