The residency program in clinical pharmacology and toxicology is a two-year supervised training program open to qualified residents who have completed four years or more in psychiatry or other in disciplines, including emergency medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, and anesthesia. The objective of this program is to provide research training in clinical pharmacology to residents interested in clinical pharmacology, and toxicology.
This program is accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and leads to a certificate in clinical pharmacology and toxicology by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada upon completion of the second year and after successfully sitting the Royal College examination. This residency program is based at the Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit of the MUHC and is carried out in collaboration with a number of university hospitals and centers, namely the MGH, RVH, JGH, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, as well as the Department of Pharmacy, the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Department of Emergency Medicine (Medical Toxicology).
The mandatory content of the first year consists of 6 periods in the clinical psychopharmacology unit concentrating on psychopharmacological consultations, followed by 3-4 periods in clinical neuropsychopharmacology and neuropsychiatry, anesthesia, or pediatrics-pharmacokinetics; this is followed by 3-4 periods in medical toxicology, geriatrics (neurology) and internal medicine, focusing on clinical pharmacology in areas that are important to psychiatry (dementia, Parkinson's disease, HTA). Residents entering from emergency medicine or other disciplines who wish to focus on medical toxicology can instead chose to complete 6 periods in medical toxicology and only 3-4 periods in clinical psychopharmacology.
The elective content of the second year is flexible and tailored to the specific interests of the trainee. The following rotations are available: clinical pharmacology research in psychiatry; clinical exploratory pharmacology research in psychiatry; pre-clinical psychopharmacology research; statistics and epidemiology; and pharmaceutical sciences. Other research electives may be arranged based on the particular interests and research goals of the resident.
Clinical pharmacology and toxicology academic half-day and psychopharmacology seminars, in addition to regular teaching rounds, are provided.