This past year The American's Fellowship Program expanded in three dimensions. First, the number of applicants increased by one-third. Second, the number of Fellows increased from fifteen to twenty, double the number two years ago. Finally, and most important, the program now includes graduate psychologists. Of the eighty-three applicants, eleven held Ph.D.s, two held Sci.D.s, two were D.O.s, and the remainder were M.D.s. Since all psychiatric residents are listed by the American Psychiatric Association, they can easily be informed about the fellowship, as can their department chairs and residency training directors. It is not as easy, however, to contact psychology postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty, for whom there is no national listing. They were reached by word of mouth, letters to department chairs and other influential psychologists, and ads in newsletters such as those of the American Psychological Association and its Division 39. In the coming year, notices will be placed in various psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalytic news groups and BBSs on the Internet. The Fellowship Program now has its own home page on the World Wide Web (http://apsa.org/fellows/), which will contain details of the application procedure. Fliers will also be available at various psychology and psychiatry meetings.
Only twenty-six physicians applied for the fellowships five years ago. Seventy applied this past year. Even in departments where there is little or no psychoanalytic presence, the existence of a former Fellow or even of a past applicant is the best source of new applicants. As knowledge of the program spreads among both physicians and psychologists, it is anticipated that the number of applicants in both disciplines will increase.
This year, as in the past, the applicants were of superb quality. As one member of the Fellowship Subcommittee said, “When you turn green with envy, you know you've got a winner, and I've been green for weeks.” The subcommittee is seeking the future leaders in American psychiatry and psychology, and they seem to be finding their way to us. Approximately equal numbers of men and women both applied for and won fellowships. Their average age was thirty-three. Many more applicants than in previous years were foreign-born (twenty-four), and nineteen were international medical graduates. There were five from Russia, two each from Argentina, Canada, India, and Italy, and one each from Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Germany, Israel, Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa, and Spain. The applicants came from twenty-one states (including Hawaii), many from departments with no psychoanalytic presence. Many of the psychiatrists had more than
one advanced degree: two had earned M.P.H.s, two held J.D.s, and three had Ph.D.s—in anthropology, molecular biology, and pathology. One resident was finishing a Ph.D. in philosophy.
Several of the applicants had worked in other medical specialties: two pediatricians, an endocrinologist, a family practitioner, and a dermatologist. Five of the applicants were in the armed forces. There was one African-American, one Japanese-American, and one who identified himself as gay.
The applicants came from a variety of backgrounds and had worked in different fields. One was the child of Holocaust survivors; one had been a Catholic monk; and one was a Mormon. One was a West Point graduate; another was a founder of the Russian Psychoanalytic Association. One applicant had been a high school dropout and was a single mother; another was in exile because of human rights activities in his South American homeland. Several were computer software designers who had owned their own businesses. Several were former professional musicians, and one had won many prizes as a composer. There were writers, journalists, fabric designers, museum curators, marathon runners, karate black belts, actors, and former Mead Johnson and Lilly fellows. Some had lists of publications that ran for several pages.
The task of choosing twenty Fellows was extraordinarily difficult. Each application was read and scored by two subcommittee members and two outside readers. The top thirty-five applications were then each read and scored by all thirteen subcommittee members, and the selection was finally made.
Mentorship continues to be the heart of the Fellowship Program. (See story on page 2.) All the applicants are assigned mentors. This year, for the first time, mentors were assigned when applications were received, and the mentoring process was begun months before applicants learned whether they had received a fellowship. This contact with mentors is intended to help unsuccessful applicants deal with their disappointment. Society presidents were given the names of applicants in their geographic area and encouraged to invite them to attend scientific meetings. There will be a workshop for mentors at the December meeting, as well as a reception for applicants and their mentors.
All applicants receive subscriptions to JAPA and TAP. The Fellows receive subscriptions to the International Journal of Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Quarterly as well. Yale University Press, Jason Aronson, International Universities Press, and The Analytic Press are sending Fellows books from their current lists. The Brill Library has issued each of the Fellows a “library card” to its electronic library. As in the past, Fellows will have all their expenses paid at both meetings of The American. There they will present material at Glen Gabbard's and Paula Bernstein's Seminars for Trainees and at other workshops. They will attend the regular sessions of the program as well as events arranged especially for them.
Because The American's spring scientific meeting was canceled this year, the 1994–1995 Fellows attended the meetings of the IPA and IPSO in San Francisco. There they were joined by many former Fellows, presented clinical material, and were made extraordinarily welcome by both groups, as well as by the local candidates organization. Many, if not most, of the former Fellows are active in the Former Fellows Organization, which is planning a panel for the American Psychiatric Association meeting in May. The organization is currently conducting a survey of all former Fellows and in 1996 will conduct a survey of all applicants involved in the mentoring process.
Special thanks for the enormous amount of work involved in running the Fellowship Program go to Carolyn Gatto at the Central Office, who came in early and worked late every day; to the Fellowship Subcommittee members (Fred Busch, Bertram Cohler, Paul Dewald, Scott Dowling, Charles Fisher, Diane Martinez, Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer, Warren Procci, Harvey Schwartz, Melvin Singer, Jerome Winer, Arnold Wilson, and George Wohlreich); to the outside readers; and to the more than two hundred members of The American who over the years have worked as mentors.