Child and Adolescent Fellowship

Cecilia De Vargas

Program Director's Welcome

The Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship counts with a privileged location at the US/Mexico border embracing a vast, culturally diverse, underserved population of children and families in tremendous need of psychiatric attention and care. We emphasize providing world class mental health care using trauma informed care, cultural and language-relevant approaches.

The program welcomes seven fellows during the two years of training overseen by board certified child and adolescent psychiatrists. Trainees also learn from general psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers, and researchers among others. This program strives for continuous innovation and improvement to achieve clinical and pedagogical excellence. This program also includes a global and rural health track in child and adolescent psychiatry.

Areeba Nasir Zamar, M.D.

Chief Fellow’s Welcome

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso’s Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry provides unique opportunities that promote learning and the ability to serve a culturally diverse and underserved patient population on the U.S.-Mexico border. While the field of child and adolescent psychiatry can have many challenges in terms of addressing limitations of resources, clinical management, and treatment, our teams of clinicians always strive to work hard and provide excellent patient care. Our trainees are fortunate to have excellent training experiences through our diverse rotation sites, along with mentorship from our dedicated clinicians. Our didactic series and clinical experiences provide a well-balanced exposure in evidence-based psychotherapy and psychopharmacology to prepare trainees for management and treatment of patients with innovative ideas, even in complex patient cases.

We are so excited for you to explore Texas Tech Health El Paso Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program. We welcome you to explore this opportunity with us.

Fellows are trained in all areas required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). We follow the core competencies spectrum and the milestones evaluation system to ensure that by the completion of the training, fellows are experts in the science and art of working with children, adolescents and families with mental health needs and are ready to practice independently. A trauma informed care and practice model is implemented throughout the training which focuses on collaborative, safe, compassionate, stigma-free delivery of services to a diverse population.

Rotations include inpatient and outpatient psychiatry at the El Paso Psychiatric Center and the El Paso Child Guidance Center respectively, Consultation Liaison at the El Paso Children’s Hospital, and First Psychotic Episode Program at Emergence Health Network. There are specific rotations with unique populations at the Juvenile Justice Center, Ysleta Independent School District, Aliviane, Ysleta Del Sur Tigua Indian Reservation and the Hospitals of Providence. The new Child Psychiatry Access Network (CPAN), and the Texas Child Health Access through Telemedicine (TCHATT), funded by the state of Texas Senate Bill 11 are outstanding and very much needed rotations recently added to the Fellowship.

The program utilizes a biopsychosocial model with a comprehensive curriculum that includes child development, psychopathology, pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy with emphasis on inclusion of the families, research, and research translation/dissemination projects.

Applications are accepted through the ERAS system here (https://studentsresidents.aamc.org/training-residency-fellowship/applying-fellowships-eras/). Interviews can be face to face or virtual, according to the specific circumstances.

Our fellows are highly encouraged to get involved in scholarly activities. They have published papers in peer-reviewed journals, as well as presented at national and international conferences. The fellows are encouraged and are provided opportunity to participate in several ongoing research projects with faculty mentors.

Wellness and Resilience have taken on a whole new meaning for the TTUHSC-EP Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at a time of great uncertainty and global confusion when the COVID-19 Pandemic has forced the world to a standstill. We welcome the new fellows and invite them to join us to an extraordinary journey of learning while taking good care of ourselves and the children, adolescents and families we serve. Fun outings, mindfulness relaxation, yoga, drumming at the Ysleta del Sur Tigua Indian Reservation and birthday celebrations, are some of the activities that help us keep our spirits high while staying focused on the University’s vision and mission.