Program description
Accreditation Pending (anticipate accreditation for 2022 class)
Thank you for your interest in Stanford’s forensic psychiatry fellowship program. Our mission is to train the next generation of leaders in academic forensic psychiatry embodying the highest standards of ethics, scientific rigor, scholarship and professionalism. While adhering to all ACGME requirements for forensic psychiatry fellowships (e.g. for forensic knowledge and competencies), our program is unique in its focus in neurolaw. Fellows with such training will be ideally positioned to guide legal decision-making, ethical discussions, and policies that center around questions of neuroscience-based evidence in the courtroom.

Stanford University is uniquely positioned to train neurolaw specialists, given its outstanding depth and expertise in the fields of neuroscience research, medicine, law, and neuroethics.

Fellows participate in a wide variety of forensic cases and didactics with faculty, with an emphasis on cases involving the use of neuroscience in the courtroom, for example evaluating the strength and reliability of neuroimaging evidence in determining capacities and mental states relevant to legal questions such as mens rea, mitigation, and criminal responsibility.

Fellows rotate at the VA PM&R inpatient and outpatient units, with the goal of developing
particular expertise in evaluating claims of brain damage and other biological factors in leading to offensive behaviors, guiding sentencing determinations, and assessing disability.

Our fellowship is integrated with the Stanford School of Law. Fellows participate in didactics at the School of Law, which include courses on Neuroethics by Hank Greely, Mental Health Law, and Criminal Law. In addition, fellows participate in a wide range of cases with the Law Student Clinic.

Fellows have protected time throughout the year to access and participate in a wide range of research efforts in the Law School, School of Medicine, Center for Biomedical Ethics, and Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. Stanford is fortunate to house all its schools on one unified campus, thus enabling ideal conditions for cross-fertilization and idea incubation, which drive innovation and scholarship.

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