WHAT IS THE PCFA?

The Psychiatric Clinical Faculty Association (PCFA) is a 501(c) (3) California corporation based in Los Angeles, California. The organization is dedicated to teaching the art and science of psychiatry to trainees at the Semel Institute at UCLA.

Membership consists of UCLA clinical professors who volunteer their time and energies to teach residents and fellows across a variety of settings, including clinical supervision, on-site staffing, seminars, lectures and mentoring.

PCFA contributes expertise to the clinical curriculum of the psychiatric training programs and provides funds for trainee activities. It also serves its members by representing them in the university and by providing ongoing educational activities.

MISSION STATEMENT

Please click each statement for additional information.

    1. To promote and enhance the education in clinical psychiatry of all UCLA psychiatric residents, fellows and other health science trainees.

    2. To represent the interests of the UCLA psychiatric clinical faculty in areas relating to our professional activities within the university.

    3. To support the efforts of the administration and full-time faculty members in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences in advancing scientific knowledge, instilling professional standards and improving the mental health of our patients and the public at large.

    4. To participate actively in teaching and preserving those components of professional identity that involve the doctor-patient and the psychotherapeutic relationship.

    1. The Lela Degolia Rogawski and Twenty-First Century Psychiatry Prizes: Now $2,500 each. These awards are given annually to the psychiatry trainees who write the best scholarly papers on topics relevant to the advancement of psychiatry.

    2. The Distinguished Psychiatrist Seminar Series: For many years we have sponsored lectures for departmental trainees and faculty by nationally-renowned figures, including Drs. James Masterson, Glenn Gabbard, Ethel Person, Robert Michels, Otto Kernberg, Robert Neborsky, Lenore Terr, Vamik Volkan, Roy Menninger, Russell Meares, John Gunderson, Anthony Bateman, Marsha Kraft Goin, Richard Green, Peter Kramer, Allen Frances, Salman Akhtar, Frank Yeomans, Allan Abbass, Andrew Gerber, Lawrence Kirmayer, Jonathan Salk, Helena Hansen, Beverly Stoute, Deborah Cabaniss, Lois Choi-Kain, Charles Raison, and Jeffery Smith.

    3. The Clinical Faculty Database: The PCFA wholeheartedly supports the challenging goal of creating a comprehensive computer database, which facilitates clinical teaching and supervision by keeping better track of the professional interests, activities and accomplishments of the clinical faculty.

    4. Departmental Committee Participation: The PCFA sends representatives to promote its mission in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, including the Volunteer Clinical Faculty Academic Appointments and Advancements Committee (VCFAAAC), the Volunteer Clinical Appointments and Promotions Committee (VolCAP), the Faculty Executive Committee (FEC), the Residency Oversight Committee (ROC) and the Child Psychiatry Training Advisory Committee (CTAC).

    5. Distinguished Clinical Faculty Recognition: We intermittently honor the lifetime achievement of outstanding faculty members.

    6. PCFA Annual Meeting: The clinical faculty meets each year to award prizes, to receive updates from the psychiatry department and the training directors and to discuss issues pertinent to its mission.

    7. Monthly meetings of the PCFA Executive Committee and Quarterly PCFA Board Meetings: The officers of the PCFA and members of the Executive Committee meet regularly on the first Wednesday of the month to hear reports from representatives on departmental committees, to develop and coordinate all mission-oriented activities, and to manage the budget, which consists of voluntary contributions collected from PCFA members and philanthropic donations. The full Board meets quarterly.

    8. Other implementations: through our widespread involvement in supervision, lectures, seminars and workshops for trainees at all levels, we continue to seek improved ways to accomplish our mission as we “vote with our feet” for the highest standards of balanced clinical education in psychiatry.

    1. Optimization of existing computer-based technology, including the development of online low-cost psychiatric CME offerings for trainees, members and other health professionals

    2. Internet-based Information Services.

    3. Resident and Fellow participation on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors.

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