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Sep 23, 2025, 15:15 ET

BRONX, N.Y., Sept. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Urban Health Plan (UHP) today announced the establishment of an ACGME-accredited Community Psychiatry Residency Program, set to launch on July 1, 2026. This initiative is made possible through partnerships with NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, a 545-bed public teaching hospital in Queens affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln, a leading acute care institution in the Bronx with 347 inpatient beds, including 60 dedicated to psychiatric care.

As one of New York State's largest networks of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and a Teaching Health Center, UHP, the sponsoring institution, is committed to preparing the next generation of psychiatrists to address the evolving mental health needs of diverse and underserved communities. The residency program will equip residents to provide comprehensive, culturally responsive, and high-quality care in the areas where it is needed most.

UHP has partnered with NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst and NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln for inpatient clinical rotations while also training residents in outpatient psychiatry across its community health centers. Additional experiences will include community-based settings such as assisted living facilities, mobile crisis units, and home visiting programs. This breadth of training ensures residents are skilled in navigating complex systems of care and adopting a holistic, community-centered approach to treatment.

New York City faces a severe shortage of mental health providers, with demand far outpacing the current workforce. By embedding psychiatric training in community-based settings, UHP and its partners are helping to close this gap and create a sustainable pipeline of psychiatrists dedicated to equity, innovation, and patient-centered care.

"Teaching health centers like Urban Health Plan play a critical role in shaping the future of health care. By embedding psychiatric training within the fabric of our community, we ensure that residents not only learn clinical excellence, but also understand the social and cultural realities that impact our patients every day," said Paloma Izquierdo Hernández, President & CEO of Urban Health Plan. "This program reflects our belief that the strongest providers are those who are deeply connected to the communities they serve."

UHP's Community Psychiatry Residency Program is built on a mission to prepare physicians to excel as inclusive and culturally responsive clinicians, empathic to the needs of under-resourced communities. Through rigorous clinical training and community-centered experiences, residents will learn to create an environment of belonging where psychiatric, social-emotional, and behavioral health needs are met with dignity, compassion, and respect. Guided by UHP's holistic approach, which includes mental health advocacy and family-based treatment, the program seeks to graduate practitioners who are committed to team-based care, skilled in navigating community-based systems of support, and dedicated to advancing health care equity.

"NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst has had an amazing partnership with Urban Health Plan for the past 16 years," said NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst CEO Dr. Helen Arteaga-Landaverde. "We look forward to continuing to work closely with UHP to train the next generation of psychiatric clinicians and provide much-needed behavioral health care in our underserved community."

"NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln greatly values the cooperative partnership we have established with Urban Health Plan over many years," said Cristina Contreras, LMSW, MPA, FABC, DHL, Chief Executive Officer. "We are proud to serve as a training site, along with our sister hospital Elmhurst, for this community psychiatry residency program, which will enable us to bring needed mental health care to the residents of the South Bronx. This program is not only an investment in future physicians, but a direct investment in the health and well-being of our community and will significantly improve the disparities in access to psychiatric care."

The program will participate in the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) and accept applications through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). As one of the few psychiatry residencies in New York City rooted in a federally qualified health center, it expands training capacity and demonstrates how community health centers and public hospitals can collaborate to strengthen the psychiatric workforce.

"Our goal is not just to train psychiatrists, but to inspire a new generation of providers who see community service as the foundation of excellent care," added Paloma Izquierdo Hernández. "That is the legacy we are building together, and the promise this residency program carries into the future."

For more information on the residency program visit: https://www.urbanhealthplan.org/psychiatry-residency-program/.

About Urban Health Plan:

Urban Health Plan (UHP), a health system of federally qualified community health centers based in the South Bronx, Central Harlem, and Corona, Queens, has served the community since 1974. In 2024, UHP served over 89,000 patients. UHP is Joint Commission-accredited. For more information, visit www.urbanhealthplan.org.

About NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst:

NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, part of the NYC Health + Hospitals health care system, is the major tertiary care provider in the borough of Queens. The 545-bed hospital is a Level 1 Trauma Center, an Emergency Heart Care Station, a Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Receiving Center, a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Center of Excellence, and a 911-Receiving Hospital. It is a premiere health care institution offering exceptional services across a wide range of specialties, including surgery, cardiology, women's health, pediatrics, rehabilitation medicine, renal services, and mental health care. In the past year alone, the hospital received nearly one million ambulatory care visits and over 140,000 emergency room visits, reflecting its essential role in the community. NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst has been nationally ranked and recognized as a "Best Regional Hospital" by U.S. News & World Report in critical areas such as Heart Failure, Heart Attack, Stroke, Hip Fracture, Maternity, Kidney Failure, Orthopedics, Pneumonia, and COPD.

About NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln:

NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln, located in the South Bronx, is a 362-bed, Acute Care Level 1 Trauma Center and sees more than 168,000 emergency room visits and more than 600,000 outpatient visits annually. Clinical centers of excellence include Emergency Medicine and Trauma Care; Breast Imaging; Designated Stroke Center, Diabetes Center and HIV/AIDS Center. Lincoln Hospital was the first Baby-Friendly designated hospital in the Bronx, providing clinical services and consultations for over 1,500 deliveries per year. The hospital emphasizes primary care and specialty medicine, using the latest advances in medical science. Lincoln is part of NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest public health care system in the nation. For more information visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org/lincoln or follow us on Instagram at www.Instagram.com/LincolnHospBX and Facebook at www.facebook.com/LincolnHosp.

SOURCE Urban Health Plan