Dr. Carlos Fernandez, a second-year resident in the UC Riverside School of Medicine’s Psychiatry Graduate Medical Education Program, has been awarded a fellowship by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The APA/SAMHSA Minority Fellowship is one of the most renown fellowships offered and “endeavors to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in mental health and substance use care by providing specialized training to psychiatry residents and medical students interested in serving minority communities,” according to the American Psychiatric Foundation website. The fellowship amount is $24,576. “As an immigrant from Mexico, and being raised in an underserved community in Southern California, I have a deep-rooted sentiment in giving back to the Latino community as a bilingual psychiatrist,” Fernandez said. “My goal is to bring mental health services to the diverse, underserved and displaced populations within Riverside County by increasing accessibility and empowering patients with the knowledge to better understand mental illness and help eliminate the negative stigma of mental illness.” Fernandez grew up in Rancho Cucamonga and attended UCR as an undergraduate, receiving his B.S. in biological sciences. He attended medical school at the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, and then conducted an internship at the New York Medical College. He joined the UCR psychiatry residency program in 2014. His research interests include psychopharmacology, anxiety management, child and adolescent psychiatry, forensic psychiatry and long term care in schizophrenic patients. “We are thrilled that Dr. Fernandez has become the first APA fellow from our program,” said Psychiatry Residency Program Director Dr. Gerald A. Maguire, M.D. “He is living the mission of the UCR School of Medicine through his commitment to the community, and the quality and scope of his work are outstanding.” By Ross French on INSIDEUCR