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Central Regional Hospital Forensic Services Unit – Pretrial Evaluation Service

Central Regional Hospital is a psychiatry residency training site for both University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University in Durham. Central Regional Hospital’s Forensic Treatment Service Unit provides pretrial evaluation and dedicated forensic treatment services for the State of North Carolina. It is the site for mental health treatment of individuals who are involuntary committed for psychiatric hospitalization after being found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) or found Incapable to Proceed (ITP). Central Regional Hospital serves as the state’s only Forensic Evaluation Center to assess male and female criminal defendants of all ages from all 100 counties in the State of North Carolina on issues such as capacity to stand trial and the insanity defense.

Forensic psychiatry fellows rotate on the Pretrial Evaluation Service for 6-months, during which, under supervision, they evaluate inpatient and outpatient criminal defendants to determine competency to stand trial, mental state at the time of the alleged offense, and other forensic questions as ordered by the court.The Forensic Evaluation Service provides fellows with exposure to adult and juvenile defendants of both genders.Under supervision, fellows are expected to maintain a small caseload of long- term forensic patients, lead the evaluation process, write a report for the court, and testify as an expert witness when subpoenaed.Fellows will have the opportunity to conduct forensic consultations for patients at other state psychiatric hospitals.

Core Faculty: Nicole Wolfe, M.D.; Peter Barboriak, M.D., Ph.D.; David Batholomew, M.D.; Bruce Berger, M.D.; Jill Volin, M.D.; LaVonne Fox, Psy.D.; Angel Gray, J.D.; David Hattem, Ph.D.; Mark Hazelrigg, Ph.D.; Nancy Laney, Ph.D.; Charles Vance, M.D., Ph.D.; Rebecca Semble, M.D.; Jeffery Fahs, M.D.

North Carolina Department of Prison Services (DPS)

Fellows rotate for six months in the mental health unit of either the Central Prison or the North Carolina Department of Prison Services (DPS) Institution for Women. The mental health units provide inpatient mental health services to North Carolina prison inmates and pretrial detainees. Under the supervision, forensic psychiatry fellows will lead a treatment team providing correctional mental health assessment and treatment services to inpatient inmates.

Core Faculty: Robert Lucking, M.D.; Dustin Morris, Ph.D.

University of North Carolina Hospitals Forensic Psychiatry Clinic

The civil forensic psychiatry rotation occurs at the University of North Carolina outpatient forensic psychiatry program in Chapel Hill under the supervision of Sally Johnson, MD.

The clinic provides adult outpatient civil and criminal forensic evaluation services in an academic private practice setting. During a six month rotation, forensic psychiatry fellows will gain experience in civil forensic psychiatry by involvement and review of forensic civil cases under the supervision of a faculty member. Fellows will review case materials, write reports, and assist faculty members in a variety of civil forensic issues including medical malpractice, personal injury, and fitness for duty as opportunities arise. In addition, Fellows provide forensic consultation services for other services in the Hospital, and help teach Dr. Johnson’s UNC and / or Duke Law school classes in the spring.

Core Faculty: Sally C. Johnson, M.D.

Additionally, fellows are expected to participate in the supervision of psychiatry residents and medical students rotating in forensics at CRH and Central Prison. Forensic psychiatry fellows are also expected to participate in research or scholarly project. Training and supervision in research methodology will be provided by a faculty member.