Psychiatry Residency

Message from the Program Director

I am excited to welcome you to the Henry Ford Jackson Psychiatry program!  We strive to be the premier community residency program that provides you with exceptional training and the opportunity to do meaningful work for our underserved community.

What sets our small community program apart is our focus on providing residents with intensive mentorship and practical experience treating complex mental illness.  Our small size has allowed us to develop a warm and close-knit culture, where residents and faculty care about each other. Residents spend much of their time working shoulder-to-shoulder with faculty who are passionate about teaching and helping them reach their goals and full potential.  We strive to train outstanding psychiatrists that we could entrust with the care of even our loved ones.

In our goal to achieve excellence, we value the principle of continuous improvement.  We are continuously reflecting on the program, deliberately eliciting feedback from faculty and residents, and engaging in quality improvement to become better. Our small size allows us to be nimble in experimenting with feedback and changes to find what works best for us as a team.  As residents advance to their senior year, they are entrusted with responsibilities to help shape the program and to gain practical experience as leaders and mentors themselves.

The city of Jackson, and the surrounding community, is a rich learning environment. This is a diverse and underserved community, with a high prevalence of substance abuse, trauma, and comorbid medical illness.  Working with this population is inherently meaningful and rewarding, and the complexity will prepare you for any career in psychiatry.  The city of Jackson has a lot to offer as a place to live and work as well, with great food, outdoor recreation, events, and museums. Jackson is also affordable and geographically in a great location in southeast Michigan, close enough for weekend trips to major cities including Ann Abor, Lansing, Detroit, Chicago, and Cleveland.  See this website about things to do in Jackson.

We are looking for trainees who are interested in working with underserved populations, work well in teams, and are passionate about improving themselves and immersing themselves in the craft of this profession.  I hope you’ll explore the rest of our website, where you can find more information about us and resident testimonials.  Please also see our Instagram to see pictures of our residents in action.  I hope that you will apply if you think we are a good fit for you.  I wish you the best in your career.

Sincerely,
Aaron Iuppa, MD MPH
Program Director, Henry Ford Jackson Psychiatry Residency

Aaron Iuppa, M.D., Program Director
Janice Showerman, Program Coordinator

Program Mission

We train exceptional psychiatrists and improve mental health for Jackson and beyond. Our enthusiastic and dedicated faculty provide intensive teaching, supervision, and feedback. Our small department cares about its residents and cultivates meaningful relationships among trainees and mentors. We strive for continuous evaluation and improvement of our program. Residents develop advanced expertise in managing complex mental illness by caring for the underserved Jackson community, which has a high prevalence of substance abuse and trauma. We help our residents reach their full potential.

The Psychiatry Residency at Henry Ford Jackson Hospital is a four-year program accredited by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education. Our program provides an integrated environment for residents to work collaboratively with staff psychiatrists and support staff, gaining a broad range of outpatient and hospital experience.