Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Jon A. Shaw, M.D.
Professor, Psychiatry and Pediatrics
Chief, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry




Mauricio Arcos-Burgos, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Associate Professor
Director of Research, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry




Lourdes Illa, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
Director of Training, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Director, Child and Adolescent Consultation/Liaison Service
Staff:

Evelyn Benitez, Ph.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chief Child Psychologist

Ashish Bhatt, M.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
                                                                                Chief, Child and Adolescent Inpatient and Crisis
                                                                                Services
                                                     
Mercedes Briones, Psy.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Attending Psychologist for Residential Statewide
                                                                                 Inpatient Psychiatric Program (SIPP)

Daniel Castellanos, M.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics
                                                                                 
Susan Chalfin, Ph.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Clinical Psychologist, Child and Adolescent
                                                                                 Inpatient Unit

Tatyana Farietta-Murray, M.D. . . . . . . . . Instructor, Chief, Child Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic

Leyla Gomez, L.C.S.W. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Psychiatric Social Worker, CAP Outpatient Clinic

Judith McCullough, Ph.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Clinical Psychologist, Child Psychiatry
                                                                                Consultation/Liaison Service

Linda Messer, R.N., M.S.N. . . . . . . . . . . . .Nurse Manager, Mental Health Outpatient                                                                                  Clinics

Ingrid Vasiliu-Feltes, M.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry


For questions, please contact Gloria Rodriguez, Executive Administrative Assistant, at
305-355-7103 or GRodriguez2@med.miami.edu.

The Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Service:

The Acute Inpatient Unit provides comprehensive treatment to children and adolescents under the age of 18 and their families in a multidisciplinary setting. Initial evaluations, daily rounds, and team meetings are performed by the treatment team, which consists of an attending psychiatrist, residents, medical students, a psychologist, a social worker, nurses, occupational/recreational therapists, and teachers. Treatment interventions and plans are focused on the elaboration and improvement of acute problems that can be appropriately managed in an acute inpatient setting.


Consultation/Liaison Service:

The child and adolescent psychiatry/psychology consultation/liaison service provides a consultative and collaborative teaching program for many areas of UMMSM/JMMC and specializes in treating children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral medicine issues such as coping with illness and adherence to medications as well as psychiatric disorders such as mood disorders, anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, psychotic disorders and delirium. The service also makes recommendations and appropriate referrals for follow up outpatient treatment when necessary.


Residential Treatment Program:

The twenty (20) bed Florida Statewide Inpatient Psychiatric Program (SIPP) is a cooperative treatment program between University of Miami Miller School of Medicine/Jackson Memorial Medical Center and the Department of Children and Families. The target population is adolescents between 13 and 17 years of age that have severe emotional and behavioral problems and cannot be educated in a less restrictive setting. The treatment modality is multidimensional and includes family therapy, individual therapy, peer-related group therapies, and pharmacotherapy as indicated. The adolescents are treated via a behavior reward system and a cognitive therapy model for a period of six months or longer, depending on the patient’s progress.


School and Community Consultation Service:

This private, non-profit service operates programs for severely emotionally disturbed children and adolescents in elementary and junior high schools by contract with the Miami-Dade County School Board. Each senior resident spends one-half day/week in both elementary and junior high schools. Individual off-site supervision is provided by the faculty supervisor. Additional consultation services are provided to Kristi House, a center for the evaluation and treatment of sexually abused children in Miami-Dade County.







Developmental Disorders Clinic:

The Developmental Disorders Clinic focuses on the assessment, diagnosis, triage, and treatment of children with autistic spectrum disorders and the full spectrum of neurodevelopmental and meurpsychiatric disorders. Residents are exposed to the full spectrum of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders. The importance of multimodality and multidisciplinary approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of these conditions are addressed.


Psychopharmacology Clinic:

The Psychopharmocology Clinic provides ongoing medication management for children and adolescents who are stable on psychotropic agents and not currently engaged in other therapeutic modalities. The Psyhopharmacology Clinic has a strong psychopharmacology research component and offers patients the opportunity to participate in innovative clinical trials.


Child Trauma Clinic:

The Child Trauma Clinic provides psychological and psychiatric services to children who have been exposed to actual trauma such as sexual abuse, physical assaults, motor vehicular accidents, or children who have experienced the sudden and unexpected death of a loved one. A particular focus of the clinic addresses issues of grief and mourning in children. The residents and psychology interns and practicum students present and discuss clinical cases at a weekly conference.


Children’s Illness Clinic (CHIC):

CHIC is a clinic dedicated to providing psychiatric and psychological services for children and families living with HIV/AIDS. The focus of the clinic is the assessment, diagnosis, triage, and treatment of children and adolescents who are infected with HIV, progressed to AIDS or affected by the illness. The clinic utilizes the “interactive stressor model” that recognizes the array of family and biopsychosocial stressors that impinge on a child with chronic medical illness.


Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Clinic:

The ADHD Program offers comprehensive evaluation, differential diagnosis, and multimodal treatment of children with ADHD or ADD. The multimodal program consists of medication management, group therapy with the children, and parenting skills/behaviors modification groups.






The Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Residency Training Program at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine/Jackson Memorial Medical Center (UMMSM/JMMC) is an ACGME accredited two-year program that offers residents the opportunity to participate in assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with a wide range of psychiatric disorders. The program is one of the largest residency programs at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, accepting five residents per year into the program. The Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry encourages an eclectic training philosophy with a strong emphasis on multidisciplinary and multimodality treatment interventions for children and their families. The diverse ethnic population and multicultural atmosphere makes Miami an exciting and vibrant community, which offers unique collegial and clinical experiences for fellows and residents.

The learning experience in the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Training Program is divided into three essential elements:






Lectures and Seminars:

• Child Psychopathology
• Child Growth and Development
• Child Psychopharmacology
• Psychological Responses to Stress, Trauma and Disaster
• Play Therapy
• Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
• Family Therapy
• Research Methodology
• Child Consultation/Liaison Seminar


Clinical Practicum Experiences:

• Clinical Case Conferences
• Continuous Case Therapy Conferences
• Child Grand Rounds
• Ethics Rounds
• Journal Club
• Supervised Evaluations of Children, Adolescents, and Their Families


Individual supervisory sessions are also considered part of the didactic activities. There are two supervisory sessions per week for psychotherapy cases and one each for consultation/liaison, and at least one per week for residents on the inpatient service.





Outpatient Specialty Clinics:

• Developmental Disorders Clinic
• Child Sexual Abuse Trauma Clinic
• Children’s Illness Clinic (CHIC)
• Psychopharmacology Clinic
• Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Clinic


Inpatient & Consultation Programs:

• The Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Service
• Residential Statewide Inpatient Psychiatric Program (SIPP)
• Consultation/Liaison Service
• School and Community Consultation Service





Residents are expected to complete a “scholarly paper,” which they will present at the end of the second year at the division’s research symposium. This scholarly paper may be clinically or empirically based at the end of the training experience, which should reflect a substantial and thoughtful inquiry.

For more information on the child and adolescent residency programs, please click here.


For questions regarding the training program, contact Sheena Richards, Program Coordinator, at 305-355-7010 or SRichards2@med.miami.edu.