Message from the Program Director

Welcome to the Psychiatry Residency Training Program at Willis-Knighton Health System and Brentwood Hospital.  Our mission is to train talented and diverse physicians to provide the highest standard of care to our patients with confidence and compassion. We are committed to providing residents with excellent educational experiences and patient care opportunities. 

We have created a comprehensive educational program and incorporate research to be an integral part of training.  Psychiatry residents will be doing research and publishing their scientific work annually, with mentorship from key clinical faculty.  Residents will also participate in a variety of clinical and educational experiences, including case conferences, journal clubs, weekly didactics, quality improvement projects, and scholarly activities. 

Willis-Knighton Health System and Brentwood Hospital offer unique and complementary patient care experiences.  While this residency program is new, both facilities have a long history of working with residents and medical students and are committed to education.  Brentwood Hospital is a standalone psychiatric hospital, with 14 specialized units including Geriatrics, Addiction, Trauma, Military, Autism, Children, Adolescents, and more.  Residents rotating through Brentwood will have the opportunity to work more in depth with these unique groups of patients, and work with physicians who specialize in these specific areas.  Administrative committees at Brentwood Hospital are more specialized to issues unique to the field of psychiatry. Willis-Knighton is a large health system encompassing four hospitals and numerous outpatient clinics.  Here, residents will have the opportunity to see how psychiatry fits in to the larger hospital system and will have Emergency Room and Consultation-Liaison experiences, in addition to inpatient psychiatry, general medicine, and neurology rotations.  Willis-Knighton Health System has highly committed institutional leadership and abundant resources invested in the office of Graduate Medical Education.

Thank you for your interest in this program.  We feel this program can help you to develop the necessary knowledge and skills to become an excellent psychiatrist.  We look forward to welcoming you to the Willis-Knighton Health System family.

Katherine Smith, MD
Program Director