In response to Alabama’s last place ranking nationally in mental health care providers per capita, CCHS launched a psychiatry residency in 2025 to help address the critical need for psychiatrists in the state. One year later, the inaugural class has filled and the residents have begun the four-year training program.
The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa Psychiatry Residency Program is a four-year education and training program for medical school graduates that will prepare them to become board-eligible in the field of psychiatry.
The program allows for six residents each year, with a potential for 24 residents as all four years of the program are filled. Six medical school graduates matched with the residency in March 2026.
“I am thrilled to get started as we expand and improve mental healthcare access across West Alabama, said residency Director Dr. James Reeves, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry with CCHS and a practicing psychiatrist at University Medical Center, which the College operates.
Reeves said the residency will expand mental health services by producing well-trained psychiatrists who understand the needs of Alabama communities. In addition to having fewer mental health care providers per capita than any other state, Alabama also has a higher suicide rate than the national average, as well as high rates of depression among its adult population.
The Tuscaloosa Psychiatry Residency provides opportunities for residents to learn and work alongside highly skilled and experienced medical professionals in a wide range of inpatient and outpatient practice settings, including urban medical centers and smaller and rural community sites.
Residents work at DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa, on the hospital’s inpatient unit and psychiatric emergency room, and they handle psychiatric consultations.
They also work in community mental health at Indian Rivers Behavioral Health in Tuscaloosa and in rural psychiatry at Project Horseshoe Farm in Greensboro, Ala. In addition, residents have addiction psychiatry rotations at Bradford Health Service’s rehabilitation unit in Warrior, Ala., and they work with physicians at University Medical Center in Tuscaloosa and the UA Student Health Center and Pharmacy, both of which are operated by CCHS.
“Our patients and the community will benefit tremendously from this new program, as the need for mental health services and psychiatrists is greater now more than ever,” said Dr. Richard Friend, dean of CCHS.
The Tuscaloosa Psychiatry Residency joins The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa Family Medicine Residency Program, also operated by CCHS and one of the largest family medicine residencies in the country.
From left: Residency faculty Drs. William Brooks Burns and James Reeves and residents Drs. Priyenka Khatiwada, Mary Parkes, Jacob Thomas, Christopher Lane, Kartik Reddy and Haris Rehman
Dr. Priyenka Khatiwada
Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Roanoke, Va.
Dr. Christopher Lane
Mercer University School of Medicine, Macon, Ga.
Dr. Mary Parkes
Edward Via University (Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine), Auburn Ala.
Dr. Kartik Reddy
McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas.
Dr. Haris Rehman
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (Bradenton Campus), Bradenton, Fla.
Dr. Jacob Thomas
McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas.