Tulane Triple Board Training Program

Welcome to Tulane Triple Board (Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry)!

We’d like to tell you about triple board training in general and at Tulane, our residents, our faculty, the three departments, the city, post-Katrina training.

What is Triple Board Training?

Triple board residents train in Pediatrics, General Psychiatry, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ("Triple Board Program") to become skilled physicians who integrate the clinical knowledge and skills of pediatrics and psychiatry to provide outstanding clinical care for children and their families.  In five years, triple boarders become board-eligible in all three disciplines and can practice in any of the three.  More importantly, triple boarders often use this combined training to develop unique career paths that cross the traditional disciplinary boundaries.

Why Tulane Triple Board?

Tulane combines the unique strengths of Tulane and opportunities of New Orleans with the 20+ year history of triple board training in the country.  Our residents, faculty, the departments, and our city create an incredible environment for learning to provide comprehensive medical and mental health care to children and their families.  Plus, Tulane’s Triple Board training includes :

• Triple Board Clinic- Pediatric continuity clinic with supervision for medical and psychiatric issues by Pediatric and Triple Board attendings
• Triple board supervision and mentorship from day 1!
• Triple board lunches- monthly lunches with residents and faculty
• Triple board faculty- learn from triple-board trained attendings
• Triple board retreat- meet with triple board faculty, training director and all residents to review the program and shape its future
• Triple Board Journal Club- discuss triple-board relevant articles with triple board faculty

Who is a Tulane Triple Board Resident?

It’s hard to say there is a “typical” Tulane Triple Board Resident- our residents are as diverse and unique as the opportunities that this innovative training presents!  But, they share some important characteristics.  They are smart, motivated, energetic physicians. They go the extra mile to care for their patients.  Tulane’s triple boarders embrace the adventure of shaping a new training program, take ownership of their educational experiences, and are true team players.   Most importantly, they do all this while balancing their professional lives with the non-medical side of life.

Our Faculty

Tulane’s faculty includes triple board graduates and a diverse group of pediatricians, general psychiatrists, and child psychiatrists, who work in true collaboration with psychologists, social workers, lawyers, and other health professionals in the departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry & Neurology.  These faculty are:

• Dedicated clinicians
• Talented teachers who have earned multiple departmental and university teaching awards
• Widely recognized child advocates
• Effective policy makers
• Experts in public health
• Internationally recognized researchers in such diverse areas as early childhood mental health, genetics, congenital renal disease, tuberculosis, and pediatric HIV.  Tulane ranks in the top third of federal funding for pediatric research.  Child Psychiatry faculty members receive funding from NIMH, SAMHSA, and the MacArthur Foundation. 

The Departments
Triple Board training depends upon collaboration among the three disciplines of pediatrics, psychiatry, and child psychiatry.  Tulane has a history of collaboration across traditional disciplinary boundaries even before the Triple Board Program began- many child psychiatry faculty members have joint appointments in pediatrics.  Tulane also has a long history of combined residency programs - Medicine-Pediatrics, Psychiatry-Neurology, Medicine-Psychiatry programs have been established at Tulane for decades, creating a longstanding track record of interdepartmental collaboration!

The City
For more than 300 years, New Orleans has been a bastion of culture and diversity, and that definitely continues today.  Where else in the U.S. can one find a city, steeped in history and flavored with elements of French, Spanish, Caribbean, African and Southern American cultures?  It is one of the world's great cities, featuring great visual and performing arts, incredible music, elaborate festivals, tasty food, year-round outdoor activities, professional sports or just the freedom to find yourself, no city matches New Orleans.  In addition to being a city of unique character, New Orleans is also a renewed city: the schools are new and improved, housing is more than available, food is unparalleled and the festivals march on proudly.

Post-Katrina Training
Post-Katrina New Orleans offers new adventures and opportunities for residency training.  This tragedy has created opportunities for new approaches to medical service delivery and highlighted the need for access to mental health care.  Triple boarders join in the recovery process and have the skills to participate in unique ways. Residents in the Tulane Triple Board program learn to see patients in a wide range of community settings and complete the program with the skills to see patients anywhere they want.

Bottom Line:  Tulane Triple Board residency gives new doctors experiences that nurture and support their development into well-rounded, broadly thinking triple board physicians. Our commitment to your development of autonomy, responsibility, stewardship, and a sense of social justice are the pillars of the Tulane approach.   If you want to be part of our community of scholars, if you are passionate about helping children and families, and if you want to work in supportive, stimulating and diverse clinical settings in a collegial interdisciplinary environment, you may be a Tulane Triple Boarder!

Other useful links:

National Triple Board Association: http://www.tripleboard.org

American Academy of Pediatrics Resident site: http://www.aap.org/sections/ypn/r/

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: http://www.aacap.org/cs/students.residents.ecp

Printable Triple Board Brochure (to view this file, you need the Adobe Acrobat Reader)