Guam Center Invites UNM Psychiatric Students to New Residency Program

Psychiatric Professor Helene Silverblatt, MD, Discusses Mutually-Beneficial Initiative

Rural America has been facing mental health clinician shortages for decades. But with The University of New Mexico School of Medicine’s rural psychiatric residency program, New Mexicans all over the state have better access to mental health clinicians than those who reside in rural areas in other states.

Now UNM is bringing this same model to another place where psychiatric clinicians are sorely needed, Guam.

According to psychiatric professor Helene Silverblatt, MD, UNM psychiatric residents will now have an opportunity to do rotations at the Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center.

“It’s such an exciting program that is moving forward with loads of potential,” said Silverblatt, who, in addition to being a professor, is also the associate residency training director for rural psychiatry at the School of Medicine and the executive director for behavioral health at the Office of the Vice President for Community Health.

The in-state psychiatry residency program at the School of Medicine has been ongoing for 30 years, thanks to a state-funded grant, Silverblatt said.

“We’ve really been a pathbreaker in rural rotations,” she said. “Our residents have done rural rotations all over the state. It’s been such an enriching experience for them.”

Due to the success of the long-term rural residency program, its prominence grew.

Dennis Mohatt, the vice president for behavioral health at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), an agency that allows nonresident students to enroll and pay 150 percent or less of the enrolling institution’s resident tuition, took an interest in the program and came to Silverblatt with an idea.

“He asked if I thought any of our residents would be interested in doing a rotation in Guam,” she said, referencing the westernmost point and territory of the U.S. In Oceania, Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands and the largest island in Micronesia.

“I responded and got approvals very quickly, because I knew this would be a great opportunity,” she added.

In October 2022, Silverblatt had the opportunity to travel to Guam and look at the program firsthand.

“It’s such an interesting and well-put-together program,” she said. “I know it will be a very worthwhile and enriching training experience for our residents, and I think our faculty will learn a lot too.”

It looked like such an interesting and well-put-together program. It would be a tremendous opportunity to learn about Guam. I know it will be a very worthwhile and enriching training experience for our residents, and I think our faculty will learn a lot too.

— Helene Silverblatt, MD