Program Directors' Messages
Robert J. Olson, M.D., Program Director
Welcome to the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences Psychiatry Residency Program website. We are very excited that you are considering our program for your residency training. The program was founded in 1980 and this past summer we held our 30th graduation banquet for our most recent residents completing the program. Our faculty practice in multiple community locations including a large multi-specialty tertiary referral clinic/hospital system, the Fargo Veterans Administration Health Care System, Community Human Service Centers, the State Hospital, private clinics both large and small, university settings, and other community agencies. Rural outreach and telemedicine extends through 10 locations throughout our region. Integration into primary care includes co-location of our Internal Medicine, Family Medicine and Psychiatry Resident Clinics, providing cross-pollination between and joint learning. Our teaching is personal and in small groups, classes varying from six to twelve residents in a course. You and your professors will get to know each other well as teachers, learners, and physicians caring for patients.
We expect motivated residents who want to actively participate in their learning and working together to strengthen the residency. Our faculty and staff, residents and graduates are proud of this program.
As director of the residency program, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you. I have personally been involved in teaching our residents for the past 30 years; including teaching a variety of didactic courses and supervising clinical experiences which include outpatient resident clinics, ER psychiatry, inpatient electives and geriatric psychiatry consultation to nursing homes. I was raised in western North Dakota, trained in psychiatry at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon, before returning to Fargo. I continue to practice in Adult and Geriatric Psychiatry, which are my board certifications, but spend 75 percent of my time teaching.
James L. Roerig, Pharm.D., BCPP, Assistant Program Director
Welcome! I am a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and the assistant director of the psychiatry residency program. In addition, I am the director of Undergraduate Medical Education in Psychiatry & Psychiatry Clerkship. A little about my background: I have a Doctor of Pharmacy degree (Pharm.D.) with board certification in Psychiatric Pharmacy (BCPP) from the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties. I earned my bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy and the Pharm.D. degree from the University of Minnesota with a specialty in psychopharmacology. I have been teaching and practicing psychopharmacology for 40 years. My experience includes state and private psychiatric hospitals and acute care inpatient and outpatient psychiatry. I also have served as the director of psychopharmacology research in the psychiatry department of an acute inpatient/outpatient teaching hospital. I initiated and directed one of the first clozapine clinics in the country in 1990 and have initiated a new clozapine clinic in our residency program. I have been involved in our residency program for 19 years teaching basic and advanced psychopharmacology, case conferences, research application and literature seminar. I frequently take on individual residents for special projects and elective experiences.
Our aim is to graduate well-rounded psychiatrists with broad training experiences. Our graduating residents will be well-equipped to become board certified in Psychiatry and practice successfully, giving excellent patient care with confidence.