To address critical shortage Northern Light welcomes psychiatry residents

In 2023, Northern Light Acadia Hospital launched a Psychiatry Residency Program to help fill a void left by the dwindling number of psychiatrists currently practicing in Maine. From 2020 to 2022, the number of licensed psychiatrists practicing in Maine dropped by more than half, from 110 to 50, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

On the first day accepting applicants to its newly-launched residency program, Acadia Hospital had nearly 500 people apply for one of its four openings. Ultimately, 95 candidates were interviewed by program faculty and then ranked for the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) selection process. Each spring the NRMP matches graduating medical students with residency programs at hospitals and universities across the nation. Candidates rank their favorite programs, and the programs in each specialty rank their favorite candidates. The NRMP then uses a computerized algorithm to determine where the budding physicians will train. Think of it as the NFL draft of medicine!

“We could not be more pleased to welcome these brilliant future psychiatrists to our new residency program,” says John Campbell, MD, FANPA, vice president and senior physician executive for Northern Light Acadia Hospital. “More than the quantity of candidates, which was certainly noteworthy, it is the quality of the applicants that really struck the selection committee. These four individuals are unquestionably the best of the best and we can’t wait to welcome them to Acadia Hospital, to Northern Light Health, and to Maine this June to begin their studies.”

On Friday, March 15, Acadia’s Residency program participated in its first “Match Day” and are pleased to introduce Acadia Hospital’s inaugural class of psychiatry Residents:

Kelly Anne Kossen received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Sciences from Colorado State University. She will soon graduate from the University of Queensland, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, with her medical degree. Kelly’s work over the past two years with The Trevor Project, a 24/7 crisis service focused on suicide prevention in LBGTQ+ youth, exemplifies her passion for service.

Adrielle Grace Massey earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Dartmouth College and a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree with a concentration on Human Biology from the University of Montana. This spring she will graduate from the University of Washington School of Medicine, in Seattle, with her medical degree. As part of her medical training, Adrielle was also engaged in the Indian Health Pathway, a certificate program providing educational opportunities and experiences in American Indian/Alaska Native Health.

Emily Rose Schiller received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Michigan prior to obtaining a Master of Arts in a postbaccalaureate premedical program at Mount Holyoke College. She went on to attend Rutgers’ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, in Piscataway, New Jersey. Emily has an impressive world/community health perspective built on a post-college internship in Liberia, as well as presentation on women’s health in rural Malawi for the National Institutes of Health Academy on Health Disparities.

Karen Jit Singh is a local resident of Hampden. She completed premedical training at the University of Toronto, in Ontario, Canada. Following that, she attended the Medical University of the Americas (St. Kitts and Nevis.) Karen is currently finishing a transitional year of Internal Medicine at Merit Health Wesley Hospital, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She has been involved in research activities at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center including work on the opioid epidemic.

Acadia Hospital’s Residents begin their journey to becoming psychiatrists on June 17.

To learn more about Northern Light Acadia Hospital’s Psychiatry Residency Program, visit northernlighthealth.org/PsychiatryResidency.