Brad first approached me during his third year. He expressed his interest in neuropsychiatry. He had attended our clinical neuroscience (CNS) course and loved it. In his words, he "even did outside reading on some of the subjects."

CNS is a two-term 83-hr M2 course that reflects our department’s philosophy that all behavior represents brain function. In CNS, we do not dichotomize psychiatry and neurology. Besides lectures, the course has several interactive patient-based large-classroom seminars, discussed elsewhere.

Once Brad communicated his interest in psychiatry, we met and planned his fourth year. We decided that of his two psychiatry electives, one would be extramural and one intramural. His extramural choice was the University of Michigan (UM) because 1) he is from Michigan and wanted to be near his family, and 2) Dr. Taylor, one of Brad’s teachers in the CNS course, is simultaneously a UM visiting professor.

We had two goals for our elective: 1) He should have the best neuropsychiatric experience we could offer, and 2) the elective should complement his prior clerkship rotation at Elgin and his elective at UM, which were inpatient-centered. Therefore, I assigned him to geriatric and women’s neuropsychiatry clinics, a behavioral neurology clinic, the Kiley Developmental Center, and our ECT service. I also wanted Brad to study in depth, and give a presentation on, one topic. He chose neuropsychiatry of borderline patients. He met with me twice weekly to review the literature, and his presentation was topnotch. I enjoyed crafting this elective, and I am pleased that Brad gained substantial neuropsychiatry knowledge and skill.