The American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s (AACAP) Government Affairs & Clinical Practice Department hosts the AACAP Resident Advocacy Scholar program, a four-week elective experience in Washington, D.C., designed to allow current or rising child and adolescent psychiatry fellows to learn about the political, legislative, and regulatory factors that affect the delivery of patient care.

During this experience, the Resident Advocacy Scholar will achieve a comprehensive understanding of health care policy, gain exposure to the current healthcare political environment, help craft policy statements, create specific research projects, and explore and report on new law and policy changes affecting child and adolescent psychiatrists. The Resident Advocacy Scholar will be supervised by AACAP’s Deputy Director of Federal Affairs.

This program requires the Resident Advocacy Scholar to be in Washington, DC, for up to four weeks, and to secure their own housing, if necessary. A stipend of $2,000 is provided to offset living expenses.

If interested in applying to the 2027 cohort, please submit a one-page statement of interest, updated CV, letter of recommendation from an AACAP member, and a letter of support from your program director by Friday, September 25, 2026. Applicants will receive notification of decision in December 2026. Please send these documents and any questions to govaffairs@aacap.org.

Learn more about this program by reading the first-hand experiences of recent AACAP Resident Advocacy Scholars published in AACAP News.

• Joe Piks, MD (2025)
• Muhammad Yusuf, MBBS, MD (2025)
• Melissa Peace, MD (2025)
• Jad Hilal, MD (2024)
• Israel Taylor, MD, MPH (2023)
• Courtney Kandler, MD (2023)
• Justin Schreiber, DO (2016)
• Laura Willing, MD (2016)