Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship
Addiction Psychiatry
We currently offer a one-year ACGME accredited fellowship in Addiction Psychiatry at the PGY-5 level with training sites primarily within the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. Rotations include: Inpatient detoxification (including substance such as Alcohol, Opioids and/or Benzodiazepines); Outpatient SUD clinics (including experience with agonist therapy such as Methadone and Suboxone, as well as Naltrexone); Consultative rotations to Inpatient Medicine and Pain Medicine Clinic; Adolescent rotation at UCLA.
Please prepare and submit the following materials: CV, Personal Statement, USMLE score transcript, medical school transcript, 3 LORs, ECFMG certificate (if applicable). Start Date: July 1, 2019. Note: Addiction fellowships do not use a Match and tend to fill up a year in advance. Contact information: Shabnam Balali, M.D., Program Director: shabnam.balali@va.gov
Overview of the UCLA/VA Greater Los Angeles Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program
The UCLA/VA Greater Los Angeles Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program is a fully ACGME accredited one-year fellowship program for residents entering their PGY-5 year after completion of a General Psychiatry Residency Program. The predominant mission of the program is to provide psychiatric physicians with advanced training in the knowledge, skills, and clinical judgment necessary for the practice of Addiction Psychiatry to allow them to undertake leadership roles in the field. Clinical training occurs in outpatient, intensive outpatient, and residential treatment programs, consultation to inpatient and pain clinic settings, acute detoxification, and methadone clinic settings. Fellows gain expertise using all FDA approved pharmacotherapies for substance use disorders as well as evidence-based group therapy training. Formal didactics include participation in a weekly seminar series involving collaboration with an interdisciplinary team. Off-site rotations at UCLA and adolescent treatment programs are available.
The primary goals of fellowship training include developing clinical excellence in the diagnosis and treatment of individuals with substance use disorders with or without primary psychiatric diagnoses, broadening scientific knowledge in the field of Addiction Psychiatry, and expanding expertise in teaching Addiction Psychiatry. Closely working with a range of interdisciplinary treatment teams is a major aspect of the fellowship. The faculty consists of a diverse group of psychiatrists and psychologists who have many years of clinical and research experience in the field of substance use disorders.
The UCLA/VA Greater Los Angeles Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program is also closely affiliated with UCLA. The information presented here is intended to give you a brief overview of the program. If you have further questions, please feel free to call or email the Program Director, Larissa Mooney M.D. at lmooney@mednet.ucla.edu. I look forward to hearing from you.
Faculty
Larissa Mooney, M.D.
Dr. Larissa Mooney is a board-certified addiction psychiatrist and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA. She is the Director of the UCLA Addiction Psychiatry Clinic and Chief of the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Substance Use Disorders Section, where she teaches psychiatrists in training in the clinical management of addictive and mental health disorders. Dr. Mooney is the President-Elect of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP). She has conducted research at UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs on pharmacological and behavioral treatment interventions for addictive disorders. She is one of two PIs for the Greater Southern California Node of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network.
Joy Hao, M.D.
Dr. Joy Hao is an addiction physician with board certification in both internal medicine and addiction medicine (American Board of Addiction Medicine). She is the Medical Director of the West Los Angeles VA Substance Use Disorders Clinic, as well as Assistant Professor of Clinical Health Sciences at UCLA Department of Family Medicine, Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine (CBAM). She teaches fellows and residents from a variety of disciplines including psychiatry, Family Medicine, and Pain Management/Anesthesiology in the management of substance use disorders, with emphasis on opioid addiction as it intersects with chronic pain. She has conducted research at UCLA CBAM in two large multi-site NIH studies evaluating the efficacy of extended-release gabapentin Enacarbil for the treatment of alcohol use disorder, and effectiveness of combining bupropion and injectable extended-release naltrexone in treatment of methamphetamine use disorder.
Binyamin Amrami, M.D.
Dr. Binyamin Amrami is a graduate of Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, Israel. He started his general psychiatry residency at St. Vincent's Hospital - Manhattan and completed residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He is board-certified in general psychiatry, addiction medicine and is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA. He is the Medical Director of the West Los Angeles VA Domiciliary.
Muhammad N Iqbal, M.D.
Muhammad N Iqbal, M.D. is a graduate of Dow Medical College in Pakistan. He completed his general psychiatry residency from New Jersey and combined addiction psychiatry/NIDA T-32 research fellowship from Columbia University in the city of New York. He is the Associate Program Director of UCLA/VA Greater Los Angeles Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program. He is also the Medical Director, Substance Use Disorder Clinics at Sepulveda VA (SACC VA), Greater Los Angeles. His responsibilities include management of substance use disorders clinic at Sepulveda VA, teaching psychiatry residents and fellows, and faculty presentations. His research interest lies in evaluating role of biomarkers in substance use disorders. He conducted research evaluating the feasibility of rapid induction onto Long Acting Buprenorphine Injection for High Potency Synthetic Opioid Users. He has also authored and coauthored original articles, abstracts, book chapters and poster presentations. His outside passion includes travelling, exercising and watching movies.
Katherine Bailey, Ph.D.
Katherine Bailey, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist at the W. Los Angeles VA and the Deputy Chief of the SUD Section for the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. She provides clinical services and supervision in the outpatient SUD and Pain Clinics with a focus on evidence-based therapies. She earned a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, completed a clinical internship at the WLA VA, and a clinical fellowship in primary care at the San Francisco VA. She is a consultant for the CBT-Chronic Pain evidence based psychotherapy rollout, and is also certified in biofeedback, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindfulness. Research interests include chronic pain, SUD and smoking.
To Apply, send the below directly to the Program Coordinator
- Application including Personal Statement
- Original transcripts for USMLE I, II, and III required
- Curriculum Vitae
- Proof of completion of an ACGME-accredited general psychiatry residency program and Residency Director's Letter
- ECFMG Certificate, if applicable
- Medical School Transcripts and Dean's Letter (Original transcripts)
- 3 (or more) Letters of Recommendation
- Privacy Act Waiver (please see attached)
Program Contact Information
Larissa Mooney, M.D.
Addiction Psychiatry Program Director
Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System
300 UCLA Medical Plaza, Suite 2200, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Phone: (310) 267-5419
Email: lmooney@mednet.ucla.edu
