Founded in 1992, Duke’s Internal Medicine-Psychiatry (Med-Psych) Residency Program, is a combined five-year program.
The program, offered jointly by the Department of Medicine and Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, is approved by both the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Graduates are eligible for board certification in both specialties. The integration of these two nationally recognized residency training programs has evolved over the years into a unique and multifaceted graduate medical education experience. Our residents benefit from full membership in each department as well as from the input and involvement of a large number of combined-trained faculty.
Led by residency director Nicole Helmke, MD, the Med-Psych residency prepares physicians to be excellent, compassionate, inquisitive and well-rounded clinicians who are experts at the behavioral and medical manifestations of illness and knowledgeable about pathophysiology and mechanisms of disease—including biological, behavioral, and social drivers of health.
Why Choose Duke?
Dr. Nicole Helmke, Duke's Internal-Medicine Psychiatry Residency Program Director, and a few of our med-psych residents share highlights and personal reflections about the program, as well as what they love about Durham.
The Program at a Glance
Graduates of our program are leaders in integrated behavioral healthcare delivery models, education and scholarship in pursuit of overall health. Throughout the five-year residency, equal time is devoted to medicine and psychiatry. In each year of training, Med-Psych residents rotate on the combined inpatient Med-Psych service, “Gen Med 12,” caring for patients with complicated co-morbid medical and psychiatric illnesses. There are also opportunities to participate in outpatient integrated care settings throughout the residency.
Med-Psych trainees may participate in tracks offered institutionally (Medical Educator Leadership Track), by Psychiatry (Psychotherapy Track, Clinician-Educator Track), and by Medicine (Advocacy in Clinical Leadership Track).
Med-Psych residents have the opportunity to work closely with Duke faculty who trained in a combined residency program (Medicine-Psychiatry, Neurology-Psychiatry, Family Medicine-Psychiatry or the Triple Board) as well as faculty from the departments of Medicine and Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. These faculty members serve as engaged supervisors, mentors, and leaders in education and clinical services, both within the institution and nationally. Learn about our combined-trained faculty.
Watch a video about the history of the program.
Commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
We train physicians to provide compassionate medical and psychiatric care to diverse patients. Med-Psych physicians operate at the intersection of medicine and psychiatry, where we frequently find evidence of systemic and structural bias and which we intentionally work to address in individual patients and in the systems in which we operate.
We’re committed to addressing various forms of bias that adversely affect our patients and ourselves, including racism, stigma, othering, and other forms of disparity.
“It’s been great taking advantage of the different clinical environments in both the medicine and psychiatry worlds. Duke has a lot to offer—everything from a robust ECT presence to an opportunity to work at the state psychiatric hospital. There are a lot of med-psych faculty, too, and they are all down to earth and have a variety of cool careers.”
—Ryan Slauer, MD, Fifth Year Internal Medicine-Psychiatry Resident