Institution: William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute

Location: Columbia, South Carolina

Duration: 4 or 8 weeks

Course Offered: Throughout academic year, but advance consent and consultation with the faculty are recommended and may be required for participation in certain projects.

Number of Students: 1 - 2 per project

Students Report To: William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute, Cottage C, 8:30 a.m., (803) 898-2270

The educational goal of this research elective is to provide a structured, supervised and focused research experience in one of several areas of child and adolescent psychiatry. The student will choose, with guidance from the selected faculty member, a time-limited research task. A broad range of new and on-going investigative projects is available and are suitable for qualified students, who should be self-starters and industrious. The student will be expected to engage in directed reading, library research, and discussions which will ensure an adequate understanding of clinical research principles. Concurrently, the student may be engaged in data collection, analysis, or writing of results for publication. The degree of supervision will be tailored to suit the needs of the individual student and research task.

The Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry is particularly active in academic research, and several experienced investigators are willing to serve as mentors. Areas of active research include: infant psychiatry, autism, mental health services, psychiatric epidemiology, measurement of treatment outcome, predictors of morbidity, adolescent substance abuse, computer methods in clinical medicine, grant writing skills, and preventive psychiatry. The student with a solid background in research may help in the development of a project which incorporates his or her particular interests. Productive participation in research will be acknowledged by shared authorship in resulting publications.