Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship Program

II. Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship Program Description

The Fellowship Experience

The Consult-Liaison Psychiatry (CLP) Fellowship Training Program provides a rich learning environment for our fellows while providing a unique and specialized service to our institution. The CLP Service manages the psychiatric and psychological needs of patients, in every medico-surgical unit at SHC and affiliated facilities, in addition to providing primary psychiatric care to patients in the Emergency Department and the outpatient medico surgical specialty clinics. We provide unique psychiatric evaluation and support to organ transplant candidates, donors, and their families. We manage delirium, agitation, alcohol and substance intoxication and withdrawal, and all kinds of psychiatric emergencies throughout the medical center, in addition to providing support, counseling and psychiatric care to those with chronic medical illness (e.g., cancer, HIV, and many others) and the hospital personnel that care for them, especially after traumatic events, through our Critical Debriefing Service.

Content

The one-year Stanford Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (CLP) Fellowship Program, developed and directed by José R. Maldonado MD and supported by a robust and diverse group of CL psychiatrists, offers advanced training in the field of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry in both hospital and ambulatory settings with abundant clinical, educational, and innovative research opportunities. The Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship received full accreditation by the American Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) since its inception in 2010.

The program allows the fellow to engage in a variety of required and elective clinical and research rotations as well as to engage in a wide variety of educational activities where the fellow can serve as a learner and as an educator. The program also allows each CLP-Fellow to develop his or her own unique strengths and interests. Every member of our core faculty is either CLP-Board Certified or eligible.

Beginning with the 2023 – 2024 fellowship class, the number of fellow training positions will go up to four clinical fellows. Fellows will be allowed to choose a fellowship curriculum that confers them excellent training in General Consultation Liaison Psychiatry, but it also offers two optional sub-specialty tracks: Critical Care Psychiatry or Psychosocial Oncology (also known as Psycho-oncology). 

General CLP (GCP) Fellows

Critical Care Psychiatry (CCP) Fellows

Psychosocial Oncology (PSO) Fellows

We offer fellows a total of 8 core rotations, with the fellow’s ability to choose up to 3 of 8 available elective rotations, as well as protected time to allow fellows to carry out a QI or research project. Our rich clinical training experience is complemented by a robust didactic program, which includes a series of innovative seminars designed to provide fellows with everything they need to know to manage almost any clinical problem they will encounter in their career.

III. Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship Curriculum

The main educational objective of our program is to develop fellow’s expertise through a combination of didactic, clinical, research experiences and exposure to a wide range of patients in a tertiary, state of the art, academic medical center, under the supervision of board-certified Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry specialists.

These experiences are developed to provide the skills and expertise necessary to independently evaluate and treat complex psychosocial, psychiatric, and behavioral problems in the medically ill patient in a multidisciplinary team approach.
The various clinical settings and didactic experiences that comprise the fellow’s training experience at the Stanford Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Program described below: 

A. Clinical Training Experience

1. Main Training Site
   
    Stanford University Medical Center
   The Stanford University Medical Center is comprised of three world-renowned institutions: Stanford Hospital & Clinics, which includes the Comprehensive Cancer Center; the Stanford University School of Medicine, the oldest medical school in the Western United States; and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, an adjacent pediatric teaching hospital providing general acute and tertiary care.
   
   Stanford Hospital & Clinics (SHC) is a 600-bed general medical and surgical facility with over 26,000 admissions a year. Stanford is known worldwide for advanced treatment of complex disorders in areas such as cardiovascular care, cancer treatment, neurosciences, surgery, and organ transplants. In November of 2019 we inaugurated our new hospital building equipped with innovative facilities to combine superb clinical care, world-class research, and Stanford University’s groundbreaking education programs. The new, four towers, seven-story facility, houses a new Trauma Center and Emergency Department, and an enhanced capacity for patient care with 20 additional state-of-the-art operating rooms, state of the art radiology and imaging services, and a rapidly expanding world-class cancer center.
   
   Stanford Health Care's renowned Stanford Hospital has again been recognized as one of the nation's premier hospitals by U.S. News & World Report, earning a spot on its national Honor Roll. As in previous years, U.S. News & World Report gathered and analyzed data for more than 4,500 medical centers. Stanford Health Care is among the top 10 hospitals in the nation, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-2023 Best Hospitals rankings.
   
   The hospital was named in the top three in California and the best in the San Jose metropolitan area. For the eighth consecutive year, Stanford Hospital was included in the honor roll, which recognizes the 20 best-performing hospitals nationwide for a variety of medical specialties, procedures, and conditions. Stanford Health Care’s strong showing reflects expertise in numerous specialties and complex procedures. It was recognized as No. 1 in the country for ear, nose and throat, and it earned top-10 rankings for cardiology and heart surgery as well as obstetrics and gynecology.
   
   
2. Specialty Rotations
   In addition to the required rotations, the fellow spends half day a week, on average, in up to three sub-specialty rotations. Available rotations include: Neurocritical Care, HIV/AIDS Clinic, Women Wellness Clinic, Pain Service, Palliative Care Service at the Palo Alto VAHCS, Transplant programs, Pulmonary Clinic; GI Clinic, Psycho-oncology, and Clinical Research.
   
   
3. In-patient Rotations
   
   Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Service at Stanford University Medical Center – Inpatient Service
   The inpatient Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (CLP) Service provides consultation throughout the hospital’s 23 medical/surgical units for the management of psychiatric conditions arising within the context of medical and surgical conditions, including the critical care units, cancer center, and organ transplantation. The service consists of a full time CLP attending physicians, 1–2 CLP fellows, 2 – 3 PGY2 psychiatry residents, 0 – 2 internal medicine or neurology residents, and 0 – 2 medical students. Fellows learn to evaluate patients and provide a wide range of treatment recommendations, including pharmacotherapy, hypnosis, cognitive-behavioral management plans, brief supportive psychotherapy, alterations in the milieu, meetings with family or members of support system and recommend interventions by other disciplines such as neurology, social work, the spiritual care, or rehabilitation services. Fellows provide on-going supportive psychotherapy and family counseling, and may arrange and chair, focused, multidisciplinary staff conferences to deal with difficult management problems. They learn to communicate clearly, orally and in writing to medical and surgical colleagues and develop liaison relationships with other departments. They also participate in competency and conservatorship proceedings, as well as in initiating and extending psychiatric holds.
   
   In addition to direct patient care, the fellow is heavily involved in educational activities on the service, providing teaching and peer supervision to other trainees on the team (medical students, residents). This is a required rotation.
   
   Service Director: Jose Maldonado, MD, FACLP, FACFE.
   
   Critical Care Psychiatry [CCP] Service
   The rotation’s purpose is to introduce trainees to the diagnosis and management of neuropsychiatric syndromes associated with critical care illness and/or its treatment. Most disorders encountered during this rotation are those associated with acute severe medical disorders (e.g., pneumonia, myocardial infarctions), acute and chronic end organ failure, acute trauma, and immediate post-operative states. The service consists of a full time CLP attending physicians, one CCP fellow, 1 – 2 PGY2 psychiatry residents, 0 – 2 internal medicine or neurology residents, 0 – 1 Critical Care Medicine fellow, and 0 – 2 medical students. The most common diagnoses trainees will be exposed to in this environment include delirium, post-operative neuro cognitive syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, and traumatic brain injury. Fellows will rotate through Stanford’s ten (10) specialized critical care units. This is a required rotation. Beginning with the 2023-2024 academic year, CLP fellows with special interest will be able participate in a subspecialty CCU concentration/ track.
   
   Service Director: Jose Maldonado, MD, FACLP, FACFE.
   
   Neuro-Critical Care Medicine [NCC] Rotation
   This rotation is an immersion experience into the world of Neurocritical Care Service. It also serves as a great refresher of basic neurological anatomy and physiology; presentation and management of acute neurological disorders (e.g., stroke, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury). This is a required rotation; with extra time allowed as elective rotation time.
   
   Service Director: Anna Finley, MD (Neuro-Critical Care)
   
   
4. Out-patient Rotations
   
   Consultation–Liaison Psychiatry (CLP) Evaluation & Continuity Clinic
   The Consultation–Liaison Psychiatry (CLP) Evaluation & Continuity Clinic specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric syndromes associated with medical and surgical conditions and their treatment. The clinic provides assessment and management of the major psychiatric disorders encountered in the medical/surgical patients including Adjustment Disorders, Anxiety Disorders (e.g., Panic Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), Mood Disorders (e.g. Major Depression), Cognitive Impairment Disorders (e.g. Delirium, Dementia), Psychotic Disorders, and Somatic symptom disorders, using combined psychopharmacology and psychotherapy. The clinic also provides pre-organ transplant psychiatric evaluation and post-transplant psychiatric follow-ups for various organ transplant services at SHC. This is a required rotation.
   
   Clinic Director: Yelizaveta Sher, MD, FACLP.
   
   HIV Psychiatry Clinic
   The Stanford Positive Care Program serves approximately 2000 HIV+ patients in two multidisciplinary clinics located in Atherton and San Jose. The Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellow will become experienced in the evaluation and treatment of new and returning patients for a wide variety of conditions, including HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder (HAND), substance abuse (predominately methamphetamine), and neuropsychiatric presentations of opportunistic infections, sexually transmitted diseases, and side effects of antiretroviral medications. Approximately thirty percent of the patients positive for Hepatitis C, management of which involves close psychiatric assessment and treatment. Fellows will also become familiar with the latest treatments for HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, and the management of drug-drug interactions. Previous fellows have elected to participate more extensively in community activities, including HIV/AIDS support groups, research, and educational programs (e.g., telemedicine consultations and webinars for primary care providers). This is an elective rotation.
   
   Clinic Director: Lawrence McGlynn, MD.
   
   
5. Combined In & Out-patient Rotations
   
   Abdominal Transplantation Psychiatry Service
   
   Fellows will get experience working with organ transplant services participating in pre-transplant psychiatric evaluation, screening of prospective living donors, post-transplant management of psychiatric complications, and inpatient consults of abdominal transplantation (i.e., liver, kidney, pancreas, small intestine) patients. This is an elective rotation.
   
   Service Director: Filza Hussain, MD, FACLP.
   
   Thoracic Transplantation Psychiatry Service
   This clinical rotation provides a variety of outpatient and in-patient experiences. This service provides primary consultation to the Heart and Vascular Clinics (e.g., General Cardiology, Adult Congenital Heart Program, Amyloid Center, Cardiac Arrhythmia Service). In Addition, this team serves as primary consultant to the Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathy Clinic, the Heart Transplant Program, and the Mechanical Circulatory Support Program. In that capacity, we perform pre-transplant/pre-LVAD evaluations, as well as provide support to heart/LVAD post-transplant patients. This is an elective rotation.
   
   Service Director: Yelizaveta Sher, MD, FACLP.
   
   Cystic Fibrosis/Pulmonary Medicine Psychiatry
   This clinical rotation takes advantage of a new embedded clinic developed by Dr. Sher, a recognized expert in the psychiatric aspects of Cystic Fibrosis. This clinic provides trainees with an opportunity to be exposed to the psychosocial aspects of a chronic medical illness process (including end stages) with significant mental health sequelae. This is an elective rotation.
   
   Service Director: Yelizaveta Sher, MD, FACLP.
   
   Hospice & Palliative Care Medicine
   This rotation is an immersion experience into the world of the Palo Alto-VA, In-patient Palliative Care Unit; a specialized, inter-professional unit caring for medically complex patients who are seriously ill. The Stanford University Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship is the oldest training program in the nation. We were also the first program in the nation to be funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs. This rotation takes place at the Palo Alto – Veterans Administration Health Care System, where specialized palliative care is available through inpatient consultation teams at the Palo Alto–VA. During this rotation, fellows participate in the activities common to a Palliative Care Service, including symptom management; discussion and planning for care options; how best to support patients and families with stress associated with illness. This is a required rotation.
   
   Service Director: VJ Periyakoil, MD, Professor of Medicine; Associate Dean of Research (Geriatrics and Palliative Care), Founding Director, the Stanford Hospice & Palliative Care Program
   
   Psycho-oncology Service
   Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellows have an opportunity to rotate on the Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) Psycho-Oncology Service. The exact duration of the elective and time invested is to be determined based on programmatic needs and fellow’s preferences.
   
   During the course of this rotation Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellows will learn to assess psychiatric symptoms and psychological distress and coping mechanisms in patients at various stages of a cancer diagnosis, including: diagnosis, treatment, and remission/survivorship or terminal disease; develop proficiency in using psychiatric medications in the context of various cancer treatments (e.g., chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery, bone marrow transplantation); develop competency in providing various form of psychotherapy (e.g., supportive, cognitive behavioral, couples/family, and end of life/existential) and dealing with family dynamics, grief, and countertransference amongst medical staff; and gain experience working in a multi-disciplinary setting (i.e. oncologists, nurses, social workers, chaplains) and utilizing liaison skills. This is an elective rotation. Beginning with the 2023-2024 academic year, CLP fellows with special interest will be able participate in a subspecialty Psycho-oncology concentration/ track.
   
   Service Director: Sheila Lahijani, MD, FACLP.
   
   

B. Formal Didactic Experience – Seminars and Conferences Series

In addition to the extensive clinical experience offered through the various rotations listed above, the CLP Fellowship at Stanford truly provides a rich, didactic environment that promotes a framework for a life-long learning process. The purpose of the program is to provide the foundations to CLP, along with an opportunity to scholarly development and career development, through a number of seminars and conferences as listed below:

Immersion to CLP Didactic Series: This is the crown jewel of our didactic program – Based on feedback from previous trainees, we collaborate with partners throughout the Stanford School of Medicine for this innovative seminar, unique to Stanford CLP Fellowship. Occurring during the first 8 weeks of fellowship on Wednesdays and Fridays at noon, it is geared towards arming our incoming Fellows with advanced medical knowledge germane to daily clinical work in CL Psychiatry. Topics taught by medicine faculty include ICU medicine, Neuroimaging, Cardiology, Hepatology and renal medicine and Oncology. Our own faculty presents on transplant psychiatry, delirium, and alcohol withdrawal. This is a required didactic activity. Topics covered in this lecture series include:

Faculty Director: Filza Hussain, MD, FACLP

The “Critical Care Psychiatry Series” which provides a review of the highly specialized systems in the intensive care units, as well as the pharmacokinetic and dynamic changes associated with critical illness:

Faculty Director: José Maldonado, MD, FACLP, FACFE

The “Transplant Psychiatry Series” which provides and introduction to the psychosocial evaluation to transplantation, as well as the psychological syndromes associated with the post-transplant period;

Faculty Director: Yelizaveta Sher, MD, FACLP

The “Healthcare Disparities Seminar” – intended to highlight and understand disparities within our healthcare system – due to socioeconomic, racial and gender based societal differences.

Faculty Director: Mira Zein, MD

The “Psychotherapy of the Medically Ill / Death & Dying Series” – intended to provide the skills and knowledge to provide bedside psychotherapy to the medically ill, including addressing issues such as demoralization and existential conflicts associated with death & dying.

Faculty Director: Sheila Lahijani, MD, FACLP.

The “Humanities in CLP Seminar” – developed to explore the importance of humanities for clinical practice. Attendees will work through numerous ways of defining mental disorders and look at the limitations of these definitions.

Faculty Director: Dany Lamothe, MD

Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Journal Club:  On the last Friday of every month, trainees will take turns presenting a CL-related topic of interest. This trainee-led teaching is designed to help trainees critically evaluate published literature, understand evidenced-based medicine, and practice teaching relevant scientific information around a topic. Fellows have access to a list of “must read” literature as well, an evolving list of papers important to our field, and previous resident/fellow produced PowerPoints presentations. Journal presentations are led or supervised by the Fellows. This is a required didactic activity.

Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Trainees Clinical Conference: On every other Friday, trainees are expected to participate in the didactic process through a lecture series covering the diverse types of medical disorders presenting with psychiatric manifestations, as well as a review of the diagnosis and management of common psychiatric conditions found in the general medical/surgical units. Alternatively, based on particular cases or clinical events, a clinical case conference is held in which medically ill patients with psychiatric disorders or who developed psychiatric/behavioral complications are discussed, followed by an in-depth review of relevant literature. This is a required didactic activity.

Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellow Didactic Series: CLP-Fellows are given a list of essential PM topics and are expected to research them and prepare a lecture series based on their studies, literature review, supervision with their mentor and PD, as well as develop evidence-based diagnostic and treatment approaches. Fellows will then teach these to trainees on the PM Service as a way of evaluating their knowledge and consolidate their grasp in the learned material. This is a required didactic activity.

Chief of Service rounds: Every fourth Wednesday of the month, the CLP team comes together for a round table discussion, presided by the Chief of our service, Dr. Jose Maldonado. Attendings or Trainees bring forth a challenging case and pose questions to Dr. Maldonado with the aim of quality improvement, incident debriefing and systems-based practice. This is an opportunity to invite colleagues from other disciplines as well in order to have a well-rounded discussion. This is a required didactic activity.

Mental Health in Medicine Lecture Series & Case Conference: Conducted during the first half of the year. It consists of a lecture series covering the several types of medical disorders presenting with psychiatric manifestations, as well as a review of the diagnosis and management of common psychiatric conditions found in the general medical/surgical units. During the second half of the year, it consists of a clinical case conference in which medically ill patients with psychiatric disorders or who developed psychiatric/behavioral complications are discussed, followed by an in-depth review of relevant literature. This is a required didactic activity. The list of covered topics in the include:

• Alcohol Withdrawal
• Anxiety disorders
• Bipolar disorders
• Capacity Evaluations
• Delirium Management
• Depression/ECT
• Eating Disorders
• NMS/Serotonin Syndrome
• Psychotic Disorders
• Substance Use Disorders/Addiction Medicine
• Suicide Prevention
   

Interdisciplinary Clinical Psychiatry in Neurology series: A clinical case conference in which patients with neuropsychiatric disorders are discussed, followed by an in-depth review of relevant literature. This is a required didactic activity.

Psychosomatic Medicine – O/P Clinic Case Review: All outpatient cases seen by PM-Fellows during O/P Clinic are reviewed and discussed with Service Chief and/or senior clinic attending. This is a required didactic activity.

Annual Symposium (Grand Rounds): Once a year PM-Fellows will present a Grand Round session on his/her research or on a clinically significant issue. This is an elective didactic activity.

Bedside Psychotherapy Skills in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry: Review of the diverse types of psychotherapeutic techniques appropriate for the use in the acute setting of the hospital setting; as well as psychotherapeutic techniques useful in the treatment of chronic medical disorders. When possible and available a live interview will take place to allow trainees learn from seasoned clinicians with particular expertise in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. This is a required didactic activity.

Ethics Committee Meeting: At this meeting representative members from all major specialties discuss difficult ethical cases, develop hospital policy, and conduct actual ethical consultations. Often, discussions regarding major bioethical principles take place. This is an elective didactic activity.

Psychiatry & the Law Course (Law School): This course is offered every year at the Stanford School of Law by joint faculty from the Schools of Medicine and Law and is an excellent opportunity to gain experience about the interfaces and clashes of mental health and the law. The course includes a review and discussion of landmark cases in psychiatry, Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and the Law, issues of competency assessment, decision making capacity, informed consent, right to refuse treatment, substituted decision making, end of life & right to die will be discussed in depth. This is an elective didactic activity.

Long-term Psychotherapy for the Medically Ill: PM-Fellows are assigned a challenging or complex, long-term psychotherapy case which will be followed longitudinally for the rest of their fellowship (or until the patient needs to terminate for medical reasons, or improvement). A psychotherapy supervisor, skilled in the application of psychotherapy in the medically ill will watch via one-way mirror/video camera and provide active feedback and supervision immediately at the end of each session. This is an elective didactic activity.

Scholarly Concentration: New research projects in development and ongoing project updates are presented and discussed by research and clinical faculty, and CLP-Fellows In this forum scholarly projects (e.g., manuscripts, abstracts, poster) are discussed and presented. The program offers plenty of opportunities for scholarly activities. Participating Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellows are required to join in an existing research project, develop a new research project, design and conducting a case series, or conduct an advanced literature review on a particular topic of interest, with intent to publish the findings. Fellows interested in developing their own research project will obtain training and mentorship in identifying and developing a research idea, delineating and carrying out the steps required to implement a clinical research project (e.g., write study proposal; compose and obtain IRB approval; literature review; search for funding), and writing and submitting a manuscript for publication, or poster presentation at scientific meeting. This is an elective didactic activity.

Methodology of Research in Behavioral Sciences Seminar: Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellows have the opportunity to enroll in the Methodology of Research in Behavioral Sciences Seminar in which the instructors review and discuss essential methodological topics in clinical psychiatric research, including randomized clinical trials and effect size, statistical hypothesis testing: significance & power; discussion of reliability, validity, and sensitivity; medical test evaluation and risk factor research. Instructors: Boil Jo, PhD, Helena Kraemer, PhD. Duration: one quarter. This is required didactic activity.

Summary of Didactic and Clinical Experiences throughout the Academic Year

In-Patient [I/P] Rotations:

• General Consultation Liaison Psychiatry [CLP] Service (R)
• Critical Care Psychiatry [CCP] Service (R)
• Neuro-Critical Care Medicine [NCC] (R)

Out-Patient (O/P) Rotations:

• Psychiatry Consultation – Evaluation & Continuity Clinic [ECC] (R)
• Cystic Fibrosis Psychiatry Clinic [CFP] (E)
• Functional Neurological Disorders Clinic [FND] (E)
• HIV Psychiatry – Positive Care Clinic [PCC] (E)
• Integrative Medicine Clinic [IMC] (E)
• Women Wellness Clinic [WWC] (E)

Combined I/P & O/P Services:

• Transplant Psychiatry Service [ATP] (R)
• Palliative Care Medicine – PAVA [PCM] (R)
• Psychosocial Oncology Service [PSO] (R)
• Pulmonary Psychiatry Service [PPS] (E)

Legend: (R) required; (E) elective; (M) monthly; (W) weekly; (Q) quarterly.

Besides the required Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Inpatient and Outpatient rotations, the Fellowship offers a menu of elective rotations, including Research/Scholarly Concentration, Positive Care Clinic (HIV Psychiatry), Psycho-Oncology, Pulmonary Medicine–Psychiatry Clinic, Ethics, Transplant Psychiatry.

Accreditation

The Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship received full accreditation by the American Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) since its inception in 2010.

Certifications

Trainees who successfully complete the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship Program are eligible to take the subspecialty certification examination in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry offered by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN)

IV. Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship – Application Process

We are currently accepting applications for the July 2023 start date. The application deadline is October 31, 2022.

Program Eligibility Criteria and Application Requirements

1. Before entry into the program, applicants must complete or have completed an ACGME accredited psychiatry residency program, or a general psychiatry program in Canada accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, which qualifies them to sit for the ABPN Psychiatry Board.
   
   
2. Applicants must be a U.S. citizen or possess the appropriate documentation to allow them to legally train at the Stanford University Medical Center according to School of Medicine Department of Graduate Medical Education policy. http://med.stanford.edu/gme/
   
   
3. Applications for training in the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry fellowship program must include:
   1. The Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Common Application for Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship form: https://www.clpsychiatry.org/residents-fellows/common-application
   2. Curriculum Vitae
   3. Personal Statement
   4. Copy of medical school diploma and/or transcripts
   5. Documentation of post-graduate medical education completed elsewhere
   6. Copies of state medical license(s), DEA certificate, board certifications, when applicable
   7. Documentation of ECFMG certification, when applicable
   8. Three (3) professional letters of recommendation, one must be from the psychiatry training director documenting that the applicant meets the eligibility criterion (#1 above); and at least one from a Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry supervisor.
   9. Documentation of successful passing scores on USMLE parts 1, 2, and 3.
   10. For International Medical Graduates (IMGs) – Documentation of VISA status:
       Stanford Hospital and Clinics uses the J-1 visa program sponsored by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG). Stanford does not sponsor H-1B visas for graduates of international medical schools. Graduates of Canadian medical schools must also use the J-1 program. For more information visit the SHC-GME website: https://med.stanford.edu/gme/housestaff/incoming/j1_visas.html
       
       
4. Applicants must be eligible for medical licensure in the State of California.
   Graduates of foreign medical schools should contact the Medical Board of California to ensure the requirements to obtain a license and practice medicine in this state have been met. You must obtain an 'Evaluation Status Letter' from the Medical Board of California, stating that your credentials are adequate to practice in this state and submit this letter with your application so your file may be reviewed.
   
   
5. For the July 2023 fellowship start date: The Stanford Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship Program will be participating in the National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) through the Specialties Matching Service® (SMS®), as are most USA – ACGME approved PM fellowship programs.
   
   Please note the following key Psychiatry Match dates:
   
   October 5, 2022 - Match Opens at 12:00 p.m. ET
   November 2, 2022 – Ranking Opens at 12:00 p.m. ET
   November 30, 2022 – Programs: Quota Change Deadline at 11:59 p.m. ET
   December 14, 2022 – Rank Order List Certification Deadline at 9:00 p.m. ET
   January 11, 2022 – Match Day at 12:00 p.m. ET!
   
   For more fellowship Match information, please see http://www.nrmp.org/
   
   
6. Due to the new realities associated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this year we will not be conducting on-campus visits; interviews will be conducted virtually. Please feel free to watch the following videos designed to provide you with a sense of the Stanford Medical Center and our campus:

V. Faculty & Fellows

Fellowship Faculty: (in alphabetical order)

Andrea Ament received her bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame, where she majored in psychology and was a varsity athlete and NCAA fencing champion. After college, she worked in a cancer genetics lab at Ohio State University, and then attended medical school at Wright State University. During medical school she was interested in a number of specialties and received a scholarship award for her work with the OB/GYN department. Her interest in the field of Consultation-Liaison psychiatry was born during medical school, due to her passion for psychiatry and continued intrigue in multiple other fields of medicine.

In 2012 she started her residency in psychiatry at Stanford University and served as a chief resident. During residency she was incredibly involved in the CL psychiatry service - as a PGY2 she completed her scholarly concentration on brief psychotherapeutic interventions in the medically ill (specifically bone marrow transplant patients) and helped to initiate a brief clinical trial looking at the use of Valproic Acid for the management of hyperactive delirium.  After residency, she stayed at Stanford to complete her CL fellowship, during which time she co-authored a peer-reviewed paper on the critical care management of TBI, and a book chapter on the psychosocial issues related to uterine and penile transplantation. She has been an active presenter at both the American Psychiatric Association national meetings, and the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine national meetings since 2015.

Dr. Ament joined the Stanford Psychosomatic Medicine team in 2017 after completing her fellowship. She served as a regular attending on the General Consult Service, and Service Chief of the Emergency Psychiatry Consult Service at Stanford Hospital. She has been involved in teaching of trainees at all levels, was the former rotation director for the Stanford EM Psych rotation, organizer of psychiatric didactic curricula for Internal Medicine residents and Palliative Care fellows, and current course director for the psychiatry PGY2 resident psychopathology/psychopharmacology course. In 2021 she was awarded Teacher of the Year Award by the Stanford PGY2 residents. Additionally, she has given regional and international talks on healthcare worker's mental health struggles and coping during the COVID19 pandemic. Other professional interests include understanding and addressing inequities in psychiatric treatment, for which she led a 2-year QI project on the inequity of the transfer of psychiatric patients boarding in the emergency department. 

After graduating from Vanderbilt Medical School, Dr. Fishman completed the Psychiatry Residency Program at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he served as Chief Resident and was lauded with the program’s sole Teaching Award. Thereafter, Dr. Fishman completed the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship also at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. During his training, he also served as Chief Fellow was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha, Honors Medical Society. In the subsequent years, Dr. Fishman practiced as a consultation and liaison psychiatrist, simultaneously serving both academic and community hospitals in the Greater Pittsburgh Area. In his outpatient clinic, he managed and treated patients with complex issues linking the domains of neurology and psychiatry and specialized in nonepileptic episodes.

Dr. Fishman joined the faculty of Stanford University School of Medicine in 2020 as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Since his appointment, Dr. Fishman has led medical psychiatry services on the medical/surgical units, intensive care units and in the emergency department at Stanford Hospital to provide psychiatric care for patients with acute diagnoses and provide graduate medical education to psychiatry, internal medicine, palliative care, oncology, and neurology trainees. His work on developing a framework for evidence-based best practice guidelines was recognized with a 2020 DLIN/Fischer finalist award.

Dr. Fishman is the appointed Chief of the Inpatient Proactive Psycho-Oncology Service, a service designed to proactively identify patients with psychopathology or who will require psychiatric intervention during their hospitalization. The service helps prevent development and escalation of psychopathology in the inpatient blood and marrow transplant and other cancer populations. His outpatient work is primarily as a psychiatric oncologist at the Stanford Cancer Center where he provides psychiatric consultation services and collaborates closely with his oncology colleagues to deliver comprehensive cancer care.

His clinical and scholarly interests include the interface of medicine and psychiatry, psycho-oncology, catatonia, neuropsychiatry, collaborative care models, psychotherapy for the medically ill, interdisciplinary, and graduate medical education.

Dr. Renee Garcia received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from California State University, Los Angeles in 2005. She then participated in biochemical research in DNA base excision repair enzymes. She subsequently enrolled in Loma Linda University School of Medicine where she completed her medical degree in 2010. She completed her general adult psychiatry residency program at University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine in 2014.

Her passion for inpatient Consultation-Liaison work also bloomed during residency leading to pursuit and completion of Stanford’s Psychosomatic Medicine Fellowship in 2015. She subsequently transitioned to Stanford faculty with an academic focus in suicidality in the medically ill, agitation in hospitalized patients, assertive ER psychiatric management, psycho-oncology, and ICU psychiatry. She has published on topics, such as, suicidality in the ICU & ER settings, psychiatric complications after hematopoietic stem cell transplants, and importance of cultural competence & sensitivity in the delivery of medical & cancer care.

In addition to her role as an associate clinical professor at Stanford, she is also director of the Psychiatric Consultation-Liaison service at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, California. In 2021, she was also promoted to Chair of Hoag’s Neurology & Psychiatry Department. She has partnered with Hoag’s critical care medicine team to develop a Critical Care Recovery Clinic supporting the cognitive and psychiatric sequalae in ICU survivors. Dr. Garcia has been able to extend the Stanford Psychosomatic medicine comprehensive biopsychosocial model to the community hospital setting along with providing continuing medical education symposiums to community primary care physicians, neurologists, and critical care physicians.

Dr. Hoover graduated with a BS in Biology and a minor in Chemistry from Duke University. After his undergraduate studies, he joined the Leppla Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health as an Intramural Research Training Awardee. While there, he investigated the use of engineered anthrax toxin as a chemotherapeutic, and he graduated from the NIH Academy, with extensive coursework in health disparities. Then he returned to the Duke University School of Medicine, where he earned his MD in 2017. While in medical school, his interest in infectious disease evolved into curiosity about the gut-brain axis. He investigated gut sensation and its role in behavior using 3D electron microscopy, publishing a novel characterization of tuft cell ultrastructure.

 Given his growing interest in behavior, Dr. Hoover pursued psychiatry residency at the MGH McLean program. During this time, he was accepted into the R-25 funded Physician Scientist Training Program and joined the Kahn Laboratory at the Joslin Diabetes Center. He employed an iPSC model to investigate the role of insulin signaling dysfunction in Alzheimer’s Disease pathogenesis. His clinical interests also began to focus on the intersection of medical and psychiatric disease. He served as a chief resident and won the Anne Alonso Award for Psychotherapy and the Residency Neuroscience Award. After residency, he was accepted into the MGH Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship.

 After graduating from fellowship in 2022, Dr. Hoover joined the Stanford University School of Medicine faculty as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. As part of the Medical Psychiatry division, he consults on hospitalized patients with psychiatric comorbidities within intensive care units and general medical and surgical floors. He will also join the Psychosocial Oncology Service. The interface between endocrinology and psychiatry remains a particular area of clinical and research interest, and he brings years of previous laboratory experience in this area to his clinical practice.

Associate Program Director – Consultation Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship Program

Dr. Hussain completed her medical education in Karachi, Pakistan, at the Aga Khan University in 2005 and travelled to the US to pursue her interest in Psychiatry. During residency at the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota she was awarded the Mayo clinic M.J Martin award for excellence in CL psychiatry. It was at Mayo that she solidified her interest and identity as a Consultation Liaison Psychiatrist. Eliminating Mind body dualism while educating others and addressing stigma against psychiatry seemed like an effortless choice and so she pursued a CL fellowship at Columbia University in New York.

Visa obligations took her first to the UK where she utilized her experience in evaluating CL service performance in large teaching hospitals in the NHS. She subsequently moved back to the US to serve as the sole outpatient provider for eleven different counties in Northwest Wisconsin with a panel of over 1500 patients at a Mayo clinic satellite. During this time, she was an active board member of NAMI, taught psychopathology in Crisis Intervention Training for the Eau Claire, and Chippewa Police departments and avidly contributed to international health blogs and newspaper articles with an aim to decrease stigma against psychiatry

In Pursuit of a stimulating academic environment and a return to her true passion, CL psychiatry, she joined Stanford as a Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine in 2017. As member of the Education Committee and as of 2022, the CLP Fellowship Training Program - Associate Program Director. She has been active in helping to restructure the fellowship education experience, initiating several new seminars including the immersion series, the book seminar, organizing the Chief of service rounds. Her clinical focus is transplant psychiatry, and she serves as the liaison to the Liver and Kidney transplant programs at Stanford. She continues to be engaged with the community and currently participates in the LEARN program, an endeavor educating patients about Fatty Liver disease. Other areas of clinical/research interests include Personality disorders, Suicidology, Cultural Psychiatry and medical pedagogy. She is also working with Dr. Maldonado in developing the SIPAT-D, a tool for evaluation of live organ donors.

Prior to becoming a physician, Dr. Lahijani worked as a board-certified licensed pharmacist in community settings and as a consultant for the Rhode Island Department of Health’s Diabetes Prevention and Control Program. Those experiences highlighted the interface of medicine, psychiatry, and behavioral sciences to her. Dr. Lahijani thereafter attended Brown Medical School and completed sub-internships in psychiatry, critical care medicine, and endocrinology, during which time she developed more experience caring for medically and psychiatrically complex patients. After graduating from Brown, she completed the Combined Internal Medicine/Psychiatry Residency Program at Rush University Medical School in Chicago where she was a chief resident. She then served as a physician in the areas of primary care and triple diagnosis (addiction, HIV, mental illness) at the Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center.

As a dually trained internist and psychiatrist, Dr. Lahijani went on to complete the Psychosomatic Medicine/Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (CLP) Fellowship at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University. During her fellowship, she served as a psychiatric oncologist at the Robert H. Lurie Cancer Center in Chicago and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. In addition to practicing psychopharmacology, Dr. Lahijani is trained in and administers Meaning Centered Psychotherapy and Dignity Therapy, among other therapeutic modalities.

She joined the faculty of Stanford University School of Medicine in 2015 and since then has served as the lead psychiatric oncologist at the Stanford Cancer Center (SCC). In 2019, she was appointed as the inaugural Medical Director of the SCC Psychosocial Oncology Program. As the Medical Director, she serves in SCC leadership and oversees the development and operationalization of psychiatric care for patients with cancer, in addition to providing clinical services. Dr. Lahijani is also the Co-Chair of the Distress Steering Committee of the SCC and leads efforts for suicide prevention and risk assessment in patients with cancer.

Clinically, she also attends on the medical/surgical units, ICUs and in the emergency department at Stanford Hospital to provide care for all patients with complex medical and psychiatric illnesses. Dr. Lahijani has served for many years as a psychiatric oncologist on the hematology/oncology wards, including the blood and marrow transplant units. Her clinical and scholarly interests are focused on the interface of medicine and psychiatry, collaborative care models, interdisciplinary and graduate medical education, and the neuropsychiatric sequelae of cancer therapies. 

Nationally, she serves on the education and program committees of the Academy of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry (ACLP) and the American Psychosocial Oncology Society. She is the Chair of the Psycho-Oncology/Palliative Medicine Special Interest Group of the ACLP. Dr. Lahijani also serves on the Advisory Panel of Cancer.Net by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s guidelines panel and is a reviewer for the journal Psycho-Oncology.  Dr. Lahijani has presented at a myriad of academic conferences both nationally and internationally, published peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, podcasts, and has been featured as a psychiatric oncologist in the media.

As an educator, she teaches didactics to psychiatry, internal medicine, and neurology trainees. She also leads seminars for hematology/oncology fellows, advanced practice providers, and palliative medicine clinicians. Dr. Lahijani is committed to advancing relationship centered communication skills as Faculty of the Advancing Communication Excellence at Stanford. She is collaborating on efforts to improve provider wellness, and, as a recipient of the Innovator Award from the Department of Psychiatry, she is piloting a debriefing intervention for CLP trainees. Dr. Lahijani also serves as the CLP faculty representative in the department’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Committee.

Dany Lamothe received his medical school education at Laval University, Quebec, Canada. He completed his general psychiatry residency program at Sherbrooke University, Canada, serving as a representative on the national association for psychiatric education, the Coordinators of Psychiatric Education (COPE). During his training, he developed expertise in various psychotherapeutic modalities, with a focus on psychodynamic psychotherapy. He went on to pursue a master’s degree in the Philosophy of Medicine and Psychiatry at King’s College London, where his dissertation focused on the evolution of the conceptualization of somatoform disorders. He then completed his Consult-Liaison Psychiatry fellowship at Stanford University in 2021.

Dr. Lamothe joined the Stanford University CLP team in 2022. He is now a regular attending on the inpatient psychiatry consult service and the emergency psychiatry service, as well as a member of the fellowship Education Committee. Clinically, Dr. Lamothe focuses on the treatment of patients with somatic symptom disorder, functional disorders, chronic pain, or trauma related disorders. Other areas of clinical/research interests include Brief Psychotherapeutic Interventions, Eating Disorders, Suicidology and Conceptual Issues in Psychiatric Diagnosis.

Program Director – Consultation Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship Program

José Maldonado, MD joined the Stanford faculty in 1993 and became Medical Director of the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Service in 1995. He received his medical degree at Ponce School of Medicine and his psychiatric training at Temple University, in Philadelphia. He completed additional training in Forensic Psychiatry at Temple University, and a fellowship in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry/Neuropsychiatry at New England Medical Center/Tufts University, in Boston.

Dr. Maldonado is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, with courtesy appointments in the Departments of Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Surgery, the Center of Biomedical Ethics, and the Stanford School of Law. He serves as Chief of the Division of Medical Psychiatry, Director of the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Service, and Medical Director of Critical Care Psychiatry Service. Dr. Maldonado’s areas of special expertise include delirium, Critical Care Psychiatry and post-critical care cognitive disorders, alcohol withdrawal syndromes, somatoform disorders, neuropsychiatry, dissociation, medical hypnosis, and organ transplantation.

Dr. Maldonado's research interest include: Neurobiology, Prediction, Prevention and Treatment of Acute Brain Failure (Delirium); Neuropsychiatric Sequelae of Medical Illness and its Treatment; Psychosocial Assessment & Neuropsychiatric Complications of Organ Transplantation; Functional Neurological Disorder; Application of Hypnosis in Psychiatry and Medicine; Neuropsychiatric Sequelae of Traumatic Brain Injury; Pathophysiology and Management of Alcohol Withdrawal; Factitious Disorder & Munchausen's Syndrome; Cultural Diversity in Medical Care; Diagnosis and Treatment of Dissociative Disorders; and Forensic Psychiatry.

Dr. Maldonado has received numerous awards including the Charles Shagass, MD Award, for meritorious scholarly work during residency training, from Temple University (1988). The Psychiatric Times named Dr. Maldonado 2001 Teacher of the Year. In 2002 he received the Best Paper Award on the Application of Hypnosis, presented by the American Psychological Association. In June 2003, Dr. Maldonado was awarded the Henry J. Kaiser Award at the Stanford University School of Medicine Commencement Ceremony for excellence in clinical teaching. In August 2003, Dr. Maldonado received the "Best Researcher/Author Presentation" Award at the World Congress in Psychosomatic Medicine for his work on acute brain failure/delirium. He received the 2004 DLIN/Fischer Award, for significant achievement in clinical research from the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry for his research in the prevention of Post-Operative Delirium and the introduction of novel alpha-2 agonists (e.g., dexmedetomidine) in ICU sedation protocols. He received the Teacher of the Year Award by the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford University in 2004, 2009, and 2011. In 2009 he was recognized by the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry with the Dorfman Award, for Best Original Research, for his work on the development of the Stanford Integrated Psychosocial Assessment for Transplantation. In September 2012 he was named one of US News and World Report's 'Top Doctors'. In November 2012, he received the Research Poster of the Year Award from the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, for the development of a “Non-Benzodiazepine Protocol for Alcohol Withdrawal Syndromes”. In 2013, he received the Research Poster of the Year Award from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. In May 2014, Dr Maldonado received the Herbert Spiegel Award for Hypnosis Research from the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University & New York State Psychiatric Institute. In November 2014, Dr Maldonado received the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry’s DLIN/Fischer Award, for significant achievement in clinical research for his research on alcohol withdrawal syndromes and the development of the Prediction of Alcohol Withdrawal Severity Scale (PAWSS). He also received the APM’s 2014 Research Poster of the Year Award for the paper “Cortical hypoactivation during resting EEG suggests central nervous system pathology in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome”, and the 2014 Visiting Professorship Award. In June 2016, Dr Maldonado received the Sawlow Memorial Award on Neuroscience from the Oregon Health & Science University and the Portland International Neuroscience Symposium planned jointly by psychiatry, neurology, and neurosurgery. Dr. Maldonado, he has been recognized by his clinical peers as one of Castle Connolly – “Top Doctor Award” every year since in 2003 (2003 – 2016). Finally, Dr. Maldonado was the recipient of the 2018 – Eleanor and Thomas P. Hackett Memorial Award by the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, the Academy’s highest honor, for distinctive achievements in CLP training, research, clinical practice, and leadership.

Dr. Maldonado is a Fellow of the American College of Forensic Psychiatry and the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (ACLP); and a member of the Board of Directors and Past-President of the American Delirium Society (ADS). Dr. Maldonado enjoys national and international recognition as an expert in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, and specifically in the pathophysiology, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of delirium and acute brain failure; the neurobiology, prevention, and treatment of alcohol withdrawal syndromes; Transplant Psychiatry, more specifically the psychosocial assessment of organ transplant candidates and donors; traumatic brain injury; conversion disorder; and hypnosis. He is also director of the Mental Health & the Law course in the Stanford School of Law. Dr Maldonado was just named the Inaugural Chair of the Critical Care Psychiatry – Special Interest Group at the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.

Dr. Maldonado is Board Certified in General and Adult Psychiatry, Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, Forensic Medicine, and Addiction Medicine. Dr. Maldonado has over 130 publications to his name, over sixty-five peer-reviewed scientific posters, and delivered over 170 peer-reviewed, organized and directed over 50 peer-reviewed symposia at national and international scientific meetings, and over 365 invited national and international presentations.

Dr Maldonado and his team have developed a number of clinical instruments and tools designed to assist Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry practitioners, including:

• Stanford Integrated Psychosocial Assessment for Transplantation (SIPAT) – developed to assess the psychosocial candidacy of organ transplant and ventricular assisted devices (VADs). Studies have demonstrated that demonstrated that higher SIPAT scores are significantly correlated with the probability of poor medical (p<.001) and psychosocial (p=.002) outcomes. Currently been used in over 175 centers around the world and been translated into ten languages. 2012, Stanford University.
• Prediction of Alcohol Withdrawal Severity Scale (PAWSS) – Developed to identify medically-ill patients at risk of severe AWS, so appropriate prophylaxis and timely treatment could be implemented before the development of clinical complications. Studies have demonstrated the tool has a sensitivity of 93.5%, specificity of 99.5%, positive predictive value of 93.5%, and negative predictive value of 99.5%. I received the 2014 DLIN/Fischer Award for excellence in clinical research from the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry for my work on PAWSS. 2013, Stanford University.
• Stanford Proxy Test for Delirium (S-PTD) – The first and only Delirium diagnostic tool based on DSM-5 and ICD-10 criteria, developed to allow for the timely and accurate diagnosis of delirium, to provide early and timely management of this condition. The tool has a sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 90% in the diagnosis of delirium in medically ill patients. 2014, Stanford University.
• Stanford’s Algorithm for Predicting Delirium (SAPD) – developed to help predict those patients at risk for developing delirium, which should provide for the implementation of prophylactic management techniques and monitoring of patients at risk. Validation studies are under way. 2015, Stanford University.
• Stanford Integrated Psychosocial Assessment for Transplantation for Ventricular Assisted Device Patients (SIPAT–V) – a new tool developed for the psychosocial assessment of mechanical circulatory support candidates, including ventricular assist devices (VAD) and total artificial heart. 2017, Stanford University.

• Stanford Integrated Psychosocial Assessment for Transplantation for Living Organ Donors (SIPAT–D) – a new tool developed to assess the psychosocial fitness of living organ transplant, donor candidates. The tool evaluates twenty-one critical risk factors, in 4 psychosocial domains: Candidate’s Readiness Level; Donor’s Social Support System; Psychological Stability: Psychopathology, including substance use disorders; Donor Decision Making Process. 2018, Stanford University.

Liza Sher, MD received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley, where she majored in Molecular and Cell Biology with emphasis in Neuroscience. She then worked in Molecular Biology Lab at the VA Medical Center in San Francisco, where she conducted basic science research on Complex I and Complex II of the respiratory chain, resulting in several publications.

In 2003, she was accepted to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and was awarded the Olin Fellowship, for “female graduate students with exceptional professional promise.” During medical school, she received several awards, including the Herrmann Award, a peer-nominated recognition for a graduating medical student for their listening and communication skills, and the Peter Halstead Hudgens Award, in recognition of "excellence in research and clinical psychiatry during medical school." She was also elected to Alpha Omega Alpha, Honors Medical Society.

Dr. Sher went on to receive her residency training in adult psychiatry at Stanford Hospital and Clinics, where she was elected to be a Chief Resident and was awarded the Outstanding Resident Award during her final year. During her training at Stanford, Dr. Sher was particularly inspired by Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. She was a member of the research team that first demonstrated the clinical efficacy of the Stanford Integrated Psychosocial Assessment for Transplantation (SIPAT) and became the first fellow in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at Stanford.

Dr. Sher joined the Stanford faculty in October 2012. She was awarded 2012-2013 Webb Fellowship by the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. During her fellowship and continuing into her faculty time, Dr. Sher has been involved in several research projects, including the development and validation of a tool to help predict severe alcohol withdrawal among medically ill individuals, Prediction of Alcohol Withdrawal Severity Scale (PAWSS), a tool to diagnose delirium via the proxy Stanford Proxy Tool for Delirium (S-PTD), and an ongoing study designed to validate the SIPAT.

Her most recent clinical and research interests include mental health of transplant patients, in particular lung transplant recipients, and mental health of people with cystic fibrosis. In fact, she serves as a consultant to the Stanford Lung Transplant team and is embedded within the Stanford Adult CF Clinic, where she serves as a Director of Psychiatric and Psychological Program.

Dr. Sher has been a Stanford co-PI on a multi-site study on cystic fibrosis (CF)-specific Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with the lead site MGH and funded by CF Foundation.

In addition to a number of publications and conference presentations, Dr. Sher co-edited 5 books: Psychosocial Care of End-Stage Organ Disease and Transplant Patients with Dr. Jose Maldonado; Facing Cystic Fibrosis: Guide for Patients and Their Families with Dr. Theodore Stern and Dr. Anna Georgiopoulos; Facing Transplantation with Dr. Stern; Facing COVID-19 with Dr. Stern and Dr. Jay Fishman; and Transplant Psychiatry: A Case-Based Approach with Drs. Paula Zimbrean, Andrea DiMartini, and Catherine Crone. She has been recognized for her clinical innovation with The Annual Chairman's Award from Stanford Department of Psychiatry and for her teaching with the Best Teacher Award by the Graduating Psychiatry Residency Class. She has been recognized for her national clinical expertise by being elected to Academy of Consultation Liaison Fellowship and awarded the 2021 Cystic Fibrosis Research Institute (CFRI) Professional of the Year Award.

Dr. Sher currently serves as Deputy Chief, Division of Medical Psychiatry, Medical Director of Transplant Psychiatry, and Medical Director of the CLP – Evaluation and Continuity Clinic.

In addition, Dr. Sher and her team have developed a number of clinical instruments and tools designed to assist Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry practitioners, including:

• Stanford Adherence Tool for Cystic Fibrosis (SAT-CF) – a new tool clinical developed to quickly identify areas of strengths and challenges in adherence for patients with CF
• Stanford Adherence Tool for Transplant (SAT-T) – a new clinical tool developed to quickly identify areas of strengths and challenges in adherence for patients after transplantation (in particular, lung transplant recipients)

Dr. Zein received her dual bachelor’s degrees in Anthropology and Physiological Science at UCLA and worked initially as a healthcare consultant, developing programs that improve healthcare access for vulnerable populations. She returned to school to pursue a Master’s in Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, where she further developed her interests in the intersection of medicine and broader social-cultural themes, particularly the impact on mental health. She worked with the International Rescue Committee in Baltimore to help address the acculturation and psychological stress the Baltimore refugee population faced in resettlement.

In 2010, Dr. Zein began her medical training at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. During medical school she represented McGill nationally as the Global Health Advocate in the Canadian Federation of Medical Students and focused on national and local clinical projects to support refugee and asylum seeker access to medical and mental health treatment. She was awarded the Mona Bronfman Sheckman Prize in Psychiatry for her work. During her psychiatry residency training at New York University (NYU), Dr. Zein continued pursuing her interest in global mental health, working as a group leader for refugees/asylum seekers in the Bellevue Survivors of Torture program and the Association for Culture and Psychiatry. She also became interested in Integrated Behavioral Health, particularly the University of Washington AIMs model, or Collaborative Care Model. She founded the Integrated Behavioral Health resident working group and designed a two-year resident training program in the Collaborative Care Model as well as pioneered other electives in HIV psychiatry and psych-oncology. In her last two years of residency, she was an APA Leadership Fellow, and served on the APA Consult Liaison Psychiatry Committee. She worked on a Decisional Capacity Guidelines paper with other committee members and presented on Consult Liaison educational opportunities and Integrated Behavioral Health Models at the APA conference. She completed residency as a chief resident and won awards for Excellence in Resident Teaching as well as for humanism and clinical excellence in the Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program

Dr. Zein graduated the Stanford Consult-Liaison Fellowship program in 2019 and went on to become a faculty member. She has served both on the inpatient consult and ED teams. On the outpatient Medical Psychiatry side, she has been the psychiatric lead in developing an Integrated Behavioral Health program in Stanford's primary care clinics and has also worked to develop similar programs with the employer-based clinics in partnership with Cisco, Qualcomm, and Yahoo clinic sites. In 2020 she completed the CELT Leadership training program around Depression Remission monitoring in primary care. As part of her Integrated Behavioral Health, she worked with the Digital health team to start the e-consultation program for psychiatry, which currently serves primary care. Additionally, Dr. Zein serves as Cisco's behavioral health consultant and works with their wellness and benefits teams around mental wellbeing strategy. Dr. Zein also works with Dr. Daryn Reicherter in the Human Rights in Trauma Mental Health Laboratory to mentor medical students and residents in asylum and refugee evaluations. Lastly, Dr. Zein co-runs a PGY2/3 Neuroscience Curriculum with Drs. Kristin Raj and Laramie Duncan.

Dr. Larry McGlynn is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and has been on the faculty of Stanford since 2000. Dr. McGlynn began his career as a mathematician. After obtaining a graduate degree in applied mathematics/Operations Research from Stanford University, he was employed by Bell Communications Research to construct mathematical models of fiber optic electronics in the Japanese manufacturing industry. He began his transition to medicine after winning a fellowship in Mathematics and Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, where he utilized applied mathematics in both HIV and cardiovascular health in Mexican Americans. Dr. McGlynn went on to earn his MD at Harvard Medical School where he was the recipient of the Paul Dudley White Fellowship. Dr. McGlynn used this award to study infant mortality in the highlands of Guatemala. He completed his psychiatry residency at The Cambridge Hospital.

Dr. McGlynn serves as Clinical Professor at Stanford and sees patients in the Stanford Positive Care Clinic, dedicated to treating those living with HIV/AIDS, and those at risk of contracting the virus. He also sees patient in the Thrive clinic which provides care to those in the LGBTQ+ communities. His teaching efforts at Stanford reach undergraduates and graduate students, as well as medical students and residents. Topics include Latinx mental health, HIV psychopharmacology, neurocognitive impairment in HIV, substance use in the LGBTQ+ community, intimate partner violence in LGBTQ+ population, and psychotherapy for those living with HIV. Dr. McGlynn is a faculty advisor in the Public Mental Health track and serves as an advisor for Maitri HIV/AIDS Hospice in San Francisco, which provides residential services for those with HIV/AIDS and transgender individuals who are homeless and need stable housing during gender-affirming surgical aftercare. Trainees in the Stanford Consult-Liaison fellowship have the opportunity to work with Dr. McGlynn in any of these areas.

In addition to serving as Clinical Professor and seeing patients in the Stanford-based HIV clinics, Dr. McGlynn is also Director of the Stanford Methamphetamine Task Force, a multidisciplinary group of physicians, nurses, social workers, legal experts, and community members who are funded to research and provide education on the abuse of methamphetamine and its connection to HIV infection. Dr. McGlynn is also a member of the faculty for the Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center (AETC). In this role, he delivers educational programs and workshops for primary care providers in the field of HIV/AIDS. 

At the national level, Dr. McGlynn serves as a committee member and former chairman of the American Psychiatric Association’s Office of HIV/AIDS and its associated steering committee.

Dr. McGlynn's research interests include HIV-related neurocognitive disorders and methamphetamine use disorders.

In 2010, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors presented Dr. McGlynn with the Burgiss Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in HIV/AIDS.

Dr. Ravindranath, a board-certified Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry specialist, completed his undergraduate degree in Environmental Sciences with a minor in Business Administration at UC Berkeley in 1999. In 2000, he matriculated into the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program, earning his MS in Health and Medical Sciences in 2003 and his MD in 2005. He completed General Adult Psychiatry Residency and Fellowship in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at the University of Michigan in 2009 and 2010, respectively. During his post-graduate training, he received an additional certification in medical education and was the recipient of two teaching awards, the Association for Academic Psychiatry Fellowship, and the American College of Psychiatrists’ Laughlin Fellowship. He was the Assistant Director for Inpatient Mental Health, Director of the Mental Health Evaluation Clinic, and Director of the Consultation-Liaison Service at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Health Care System. He is now a CL and PES psychiatrist at San Mateo Medical Center, the safety net hospital for San Mateo County, and maintains an academic and clinical interest in emergency psychiatry and acute care services. 

Dr. Savant completed her medical school education from Government Medical College, Patiala, India in 2008. She received her residency training in adult psychiatry at Loyola University Medical Center (2009-13). During her residency she participated in various on-going research projects at her program. She received two achievement awards in research and appreciation for clinical work during residency. She was inducted as a member Medical Honor Society Alpha Omega Alpha during her residency by the caucus of student members of the society. She was actively involved in medical student teaching in psychopharmacology.

She completed her Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry fellowship at Stanford (2013 – 2014) during which time she participated in the development and studying of a new tool for the diagnosis of delirium, the Proxy Test for Delirium (PTD) among hospitalized, medically-ill patients. After graduating Dr. Savant joined Stanford faculty as a part of Psych-oncology consult team. She also started a multi-location group psychiatric practice. She believes that being a fellow at the Consult-Liaison program at Stanford Hospital set her up for being a successful leader at her practice. She also practices psych-oncology at Stanford Cancer Center and continues to be a part of the fellowship program and the Consult-Liaison team. She enjoys mentoring fellows about navigating complex aspects of the fellowship and offers to help plan post-fellowship plans and jobs.

Dr. Savant's treatment philosophy in her words "I believe in the whole patient approach to treatment. There are so many factors involved in how a person presents with symptoms and suffering. It is important to understand the patient within their context and take the most evidence-based approach with the least risk to treat them.”  She believes in an individualized approach to treatment. To enhance her treatment toolkit, she is pursuing further training in the field of Integrative Medicine.

Past & Current Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellows

• 2011 – 2012: Yelizaveta Sher, MD
• 2013 – 2014: Vidushi Savant, MD
• 2014 – 2015: Renee Garcia, MD
• 2015 – 2016: Anna Piotrowski, MD
• 2015 – 2016: Luke White, MD
• 2016 – 2017: Andrea Ament, MD
• 2016 – 2017: Earl De Guzman, MD
• 2017 – 2018: Anita Chang, DO, and Tiffany Chan, MD
• 2018 – 2019: Kyle Johnson, MD, and Mira Zein, MD, MPH
• 2019 – 2020: Beatrice Rabkin, MD, and Nafisa Reza, MD
• 2020 – 2021: Dany LaMothe, MD and Jeff Ha, MD

VI. Program Leadership & Contact Information

For more information, please visit the GME office site: https://med.stanford.edu/gme.html