Program Director
I am grateful to be a lifelong University of Washington Husky. Training at the UW has afforded me the chance to learn from world class educators, clinicians, and researchers. I’ve learned from excellent mentorship that focusing on what you are passionate about is critical to professional satisfaction and success. For me, working with individuals experiencing co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders reminds me of the amazing resilience that lies within us all. As a clinician educator at the VA Puget Sound, I am humbled at the trust both patients and trainees place in me everyday. It is a privilege to be part of this amazing place.
I have pursued a career at the intersection of mental health and primary care, training in both family medicine and addiction psychiatry. I currently practice in various integrated care settings as a consulting psychiatrist and in the outpatient adult psychiatry clinic. I am the co-medical director for the University of Washington Psychiatry and Addiction Case Conference (UW PACC), a weekly online learning collaborative to help community providers across the state improve their psychiatric and addiction clinical skills. My area of interest is focused on improving addiction and psychiatric treatment to primary care settings. I also spend a significant amount of time training both family medicine and psychiatry trainees and fellows on integrated treatments for substance use disorders.
I am a clinical associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington and specialize in the treatment of co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders (SUD) in outpatient and acute care settings. This includes working serving Harborview’s inpatient addiction consult service, providing care in a community mental health center, and serving as psychiatric consultant embedded in the Madison (HIV/AIDS) clinic and the Fred Hutch Cancer Center. From time to time, I strive to contribute to research and applied projects relating to SUD treatment and integrated care efforts.
I am a board certified addiction psychiatrist and work in the outpatient substance use disorder clinic at the Seattle VA. My primary interest is in direct clinical care, working with patients with co-occurring substance use disorders and psychiatric disorders. My passion lies in helping the vulnerable and underserved populations, those with serious mental illness, and ensuring that everyone has access to high quality mental health care. I am an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington and supervise psychiatry residents and addition psychiatry fellows.
My primary interest and expertise is in the assessment and treatment of substance use disorders in adults, including those with co-occurring psychiatric disorders and individuals needing stabilization early in their episode of care. Assisting treatment with medication to manage withdrawal symptoms or support ongoing abstinence are also areas of expertise, combined with a psychotherapeutic approach incorporating motivation enhancement, twelve-step facilitation, cognitive-behavioral, supportive, and psychodynamic perspectives to promote recovery. I am also involved in the clinical and didactic education of medical students, nurse practitioner students, medicine residents, psychiatry residents and addiction fellows.
I am a Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Addictions Division in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, Washington. I am also the clinical director of addictions treatment services at Harborview Medical Center, and work in the psychiatric rehabilitation and recovery services.
I am board-certified in Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology with Added Qualifications in Addiction Psychiatry, and the American Board of Addiction Medicine. A Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, I am on the editorial board and a reviewer for several scientific journals and holds a number of research grants from the National Institute of Health.
I am a board certified psychiatrist and work at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. I am a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. I obtained a fellowship in consultation-liaison psychiatry, a specialty that focuses on providing psychiatric care for people with complex medical conditions. My primary clinical focus is people with cancer. I love my work. Being ill is a vulnerable time and my goal is to ease suffering and provide a sense of connection and understanding for all I work with. I believe in working collaboratively with patients and families. We work together to identify what the goals of treatment are. I have expertise in diagnosis, psychopharmacology and psychotherapy and adapt my recommendations to best serve the goals of the person before me. I am also passionate about education. I am the site director at Fred Hutch Cancer Center for our Psycho-oncology Fellowship Program. I supervise Cl fellows, addiction fellows, psychiatry residents and provide education to social workers and psychology trainees.
I am an addiction psychiatrist and Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. I work as the medical director of the Seattle VA’s Opioid Treatment Program. I also am a Lieutenant Colonel in the Washington Army National Guard and consult with the National Hockey League as the Player Assistance Program Administrator. My interests include training residents and fellows as well as working to destigmatize the treatment of patients experiencing mental illness and substance use disorders.
I am an addiction psychiatrist and Acting Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. My clinical expertise include treating substance use disorders in the outpatient and inpatient settings as well as general psychiatric illness. I also work with the Healthcare for the Homeless Network, through Harborview Medical Center. I’m interested in working with under-served populations and expanding their access to care.
I have expertise in managing acute psychiatric presentations with research experience in studying neuroanatomy and the synaptic effects of schizophrenia. I have published in fields of neuroscience, schizophrenia, autism, and anxiety disorders. I also actively manage a telepsychiatry clinic based in eastern WA, and coordinate psychiatric management of emergency room mental health evaluations. I am very interested in the education of residents and fellows rotating on the consultation service, and participating in educational curriculum and recruitment committees.
Areas of Interest: Addiction psychiatry, co-occurring disorders, cultural psychiatry, public policy and advocacy through professional organizations; research areas include screening, assessment, prevention and treatment of substance use disorders, assessment and treatment of co-occurring disorders, adapting evidence-based practices in Asian-Americans and other ethnic minorities, and health services utilization
Rotation Supervisor: Co-occurring Disorders; Asian Counseling and Referral Service
I am a board certified attending psychiatrist at the VA Puget Sound and an Acting Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. My clinical focus is primarily on caring for patients with substance use disorders and co-occurring psychiatric illness in inpatient settings. Aside from taking care of patients, I am also deeply passionate about medical education, and I am actively developing educational curriculum for medical students, psychiatry residents, and addiction fellows. Although I loved my time on the East Coast during residency, I am thrilled to be back home in the Pacific Northwest.