Hackensack Meridian Health-Ocean University Medical Center Program

Program Identity & Fit

This is a four-year community-based psychiatry residency at Ocean University Medical Center, embedded within the large Hackensack Meridian Health network, combining hands-on community training with academic infrastructure shared across two other affiliated psychiatry programs. Clinical training is broad and procedurally rich for a general psychiatry program: an 81-bed inpatient unit for severe and treatment-resistant illness, dedicated psychiatric emergency services at two sites, consult-liaison rotations, and hands-on ECT, TMS, and esketamine/ketamine clinic experience, alongside individually precepted outpatient psychotherapy training with PhD psychologists. Career outcomes lean heavily toward subspecialty fellowship (child/adolescent, addiction, forensic, CL) as well as direct community and CL/EPS employment within the HMH system, with research described as supported and mentored rather than a defining institutional identity. The program explicitly values clinical breadth, procedural exposure, teaching involvement (hosting MS3/MS4 students), and a collegial, growth-oriented culture within a large network offering internal moonlighting and cross-site elective flexibility.