Broadlawns Medical Center and UnityPoint Health-Des Moines announced today that their jointly administered psychiatry residency program has earned full accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The Broadlawns and UnityPoint Health Psychiatry Residency program will welcome its first class of four residents into the four-year training program in July. Dr. Larry Severidt, Broadlawns’ director of medical education, said the new program is “a critical component toward expanding the number of trained psychiatrists in the state of Iowa and addressing the mental health issues that we are facing in our community.” Iowa currently ranks 49th out of 50 states in the number of practicing psychiatrists per capita. Last May, Mercy Medical Center Des Moines received ACGME accreditation for a new psychiatric residency program that Mercy will also begin in July 2018.