Meet the Team

Dr. Connor Adams (she/they) is a Clinical Assistant Professor who received her doctorate in psychology from the George Washington University and completed her internship training at Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance. Her clinical and research interests center on therapeutic interventions that support recovery for individuals living with serious mental illness. Dr. Adams grounds her work in a psychodynamic perspective, assisting individuals in understanding why they think, feel, and behave the way they do, in order to increase agency and choice. Dr. Adams has specialized training in comprehensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy and provides treatment for individuals with emotion regulation difficulties. She also has specialized training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis (CBTp). Additionally, Dr. Adams provides individual and group psychotherapy within the psychiatric inpatient treatment setting. She is broadly interested in increasing access to person-centered and recovery-oriented care.

Dr. Altamirano is a Clinical Psychologist at Stanford University’s INSPIRE Training Program, specializing in CBT for Psychosis (CBTp). She works in outpatient and inpatient settings and her primary clinical appointments are in the INSPIRE Clinic and La Clínica Latina, where she blends her expertise in psychotic-spectrum disorders and clinical presentations influenced by Latinx/a/o culture (she is a native Spanish-speaker). Her main research/clinical interests lie in cultural adaptations to psychosocial treatments for psychotic spectrum disorders (e.g., Culturally Informed Therapy For Schizophrenia: A Family-Focused, Cognitive Behavioral Approach). She is involved in EPI-CAL, an initiative aimed broadly at creating a network of early psychosis programs across the state of California. Dr. Altamirano additionally co-teaches the undergraduate "Destigmatizing Psychosis... I thought I heard my name" course, and advises graduate students in the PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium.

Jacob S. Ballon, M.D., M.P.H. specializes in the treatment of people with psychotic disorders including schizophrenia. He is the Co-Director of the INSPIRE Clinic at Stanford which provides interdisciplinary care for people experiencing psychosis. He is also the co-Division Chief for General Adult Psychiatry and Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Ballon completed his residency at Stanford in 2009 and a Schizophrenia Research Fellowship at Columbia University in 2011. Dr. Ballon maintains an interest in understanding the connections between the brain and the rest of the body as relates to the manifestation and treatment of people who experience psychosis. He works closely with a diverse group of researchers throughout the university and technology community to investigate these connections. He has active projects investigating the metabolic implications of schizophrenia and of psychiatric medication including the association of antipsychotic medication with weight gain and insulin resistance. He also is an active investigator in clinical trials of new medications for the treatment of schizophrenia and the associated side effects of antipsychotic mediations. In understanding the whole-body impact of psychiatric illness, Dr. Ballon also has an active interest in the role that exercise can play in psychiatric treatment. He is the site-principal investigator of an NIMH-funded clinical trial looking at the use of aerobic exercise to improve cognition in people with schizophrenia. INSPIRE is an innovative interdisciplinary client-centered resource providing respectful evidence-based care to support people to achieve meaningful recovery from psychosis through collaborative partnership with individuals and their families while advancing knowledge and training for a new generation of providers. With a recovery-oriented philosophy, the clinic provides an array of services including psychopharmacology, psychotherapy, and psychosocial evaluations. As a research clinic, they are focused on collaborating with multiple disciplines throughout the university to conduct clinical and basic science research including functional imaging, clinical trials, basic pathophysiology, and genetics.

Apurva Bhatt, M.D., is a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist and Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. Her role spans the General Adult Psychiatry Division, Child Psychiatry Division, and Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing Division. Dr. Bhatt specializes in early psychosis evaluation and treatment. She currently provides clinical care in both the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital Child INSPIRE early psychosis clinic and the Stanford Health Care INSPIRE clinic. She contributes to early psychosis program development in California (through EPI-CAL) and nationally (through PEPPNET/Westat). She is also co-chair of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Adolescent Psychiatry Committee and Early Psychosis work group. Dr. Bhatt provides school clinical consultations for the Redwood City School District through the Stanford Redwood City Sequoia School Mental Health Collaborative. She also provides clinical consultations to schools in the Los Altos School district, and supervises child and adolescent psychiatry fellows providing consultation to Los Altos, Redwood City, and Mountain View schools. Dr. Bhatt’s research interests include early psychosis measurement instruments in pediatric populations, Asian American and South Asian youth mental health, and prevention of youth suicide by firearm. She enjoys teaching and mentoring students and trainees, and currently is a mentor through the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Psychiatric Association's FLIPP program.

Dr. Mariya Borodyanskaya enjoys being part of the Stanford Team at Mills, an interdisciplinary team dedicated to supporting adolescents and their families in navigating the challenges of mental health crisis. She maintains a broad set of interests, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Psychotic Disorders and Juvenile Justice system reform. She also enjoys supervising and teaching the Stanford Child & Adolescent Psychiatry fellows.

Will Carlson is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who received his master's in social welfare from the University of California, Los Angeles and completed his internship training at UCLA Santa Monica Emergency Department. His main clinical interests lie in assisting to create macro level social welfare policies that advocate on behalf of foster youth experiencing psychosis. Driven by a passion to help and understand, Will hopes to fulfill the Social Work role at the INSPIRE clinic by offering a wide variety of psychosocial interventions which include field work, psychotherapy, groups, family support, and community engagement activities. 

Dr. Sripriya (Priya) Chari is a CA Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Assistant Professor working with the INSPIRE Clinic at Stanford. Dr. Chari's clinical interests lie in early identification of the psychosis risk syndrome and providing evidence based psychotherapeutic interventions from a recovery oriented perspective. Prior to the INSPIRE Clinic, Dr. Chari was a clinical assessor for the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study, aimed at studying the predictors for conversion to psychosis of youth at clinical high risk for psychosis. She also worked for Santa Clara County Department of Mental Health, in inpatient, outpatient, and forensic settings providing psychotherapy and assessment services.

Dr. Eisen is a Clinical Associate Professor and CA Licensed Clinical Psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. She works with the INSPIRE clinic at Stanford and is the Inpatient Director of Psychological Services for the acute inpatient psychiatric units at Stanford Hospital. Her research and clinical interest center on therapeutic interventions that support recovery for individuals living with serious mental illness, in particular for individuals experiencing psychosis. Dr. Eisen received her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, and her PhD from the University of Connecticut, and completed postdoctoral training at Stanford University. She is trained in CBT for psychosis (CBTp) and provides training and consultation in CBTp and CBTp informed skills to community-based clinicians, graduate students, medical students and residents, to support the use of recovery-oriented psychosocial interventions with individuals experiencing psychosis.

Kate Hardy is a California Licensed Psychologist who has specialized in working with individuals with psychosis for over 20 years in both research and clinical settings. Dr. Hardy received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. She has worked in specialist early psychosis services in both the UK and the US, including UCSF’s Prodrome Assessment Research and Treatment (PART) program, where she completed her post-doctoral fellowship, and as Clinical Director for the Prevention and Recovery from Early Psychosis (PREP) program. Dr. Hardy is the co-director for the INSPIRE clinic at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Stanford University and has significant experience in providing CBTp to individuals with early psychosis, and those at risk of developing psychosis, in both individual and group settings and integration of this clinical intervention to broader systems and staff teams. Dr. Hardy is also involved in the implementation of national strategies to increase dissemination of early psychosis models with the aim of bringing these cutting edge treatments to a broader population and is the co-editor of the book Intervening Early: A team approach. Dr. Hardy is also the director of INSPIRE training and within this role has led multiple trainings and workshops in CBTp to a wide variety of audiences including community clinicians, psychiatrists, and families, and provides ongoing supervision and consultation in this approach. INSPIRE training offers training in evidence based interventions for psychosis to providers across diverse settings. In 2024 Dr. Hardy became president elect for IEPA: Intervening Early in Mental Health.

Nuriya (Nuri) Hefron, MS, OTR/L (she/her), is a licensed occupational therapist with expertise in program management and expansion within early psychosis care. She is passionate about integrating holistic, recovery-oriented approaches that emphasize meaningful daily engagement and applying a social justice framework to foster trauma-informed connections and service delivery. Committed to systems change and adaptive practices, Nuri prioritizes understanding and addressing the diverse needs of service users, especially those from marginalized groups. Her work seeks to expand access, foster resilience, and promote inclusion in early psychosis care, ensuring teams broaden pathways to meet the needs of all communities.

Dr. Hu is Medical Director of the Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Unit at Stanford Hospital, specializing in the care of those with serious mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, bipolar and depression. She completed medical school and residency in psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and fellowships in Pharmacology and Schizophrenia Research through the National Institutes of Health. She is also active in the minority issues and cultural psychiatry, and has received regional and national recognition for her clinical care, research and teaching.

Melanie Lean, Clin.Psych.D. is a Californian licensed clinical psychologist, Clinical Assistant Professor, and assistant director of research in the INSPIRE early psychosis clinic, Stanford University School of Medicine. She provides Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for psychosis (CBTp) within the recovery oriented and trauma informed framework of the INSPIRE clinic. Dr Lean received her doctorate from University College London, UK and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. She is a mixed methods researcher, with over 15 years’ experience in mental health research, working across a range of settings with a focus on severe and enduring mental illness and ways to improve service provision for this population. She has specialized knowledge in self-management and peer support interventions for people with psychosis and has experience working alongside service user researchers in the evaluation and delivery of study interventions. Dr Lean is also trained in psychedelic assisted therapy and works on a range of clinical trials investigating psilocybin for treatment resistant depression.

Grace Lee, Ph.D. is a Clinical Assistant Professor and a CA Licensed Clinical Psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Lee specializes in evidence-based, trauma-informed, and compassion-focused care for individuals presenting with psychosis. She is currently providing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis (CBTp), Cognitive Processing Therapy, and Prolonged Exposure Therapy within the INSPIRE Clinic and PTSD Clinic. She also leads trainings in CBTp to providers supporting individuals with psychosis.

Douglas L. Noordsy, MD, is Clinical Professor, Director of Lifestyle Psychiatry and co-founder of the Sports Psychology & Psychiatry clinic in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Noordsy was previously Professor of Psychiatry at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. His research interests include effects of physical exercise on neurotrophic factors, brain volume and function and mental health and wellbeing. He is particularly interested in the role of physical exercise for prevention of progression of early psychosis and interactions between social and physical aspects of team sports. Dr. Noordsy is a member of the American College of Psychiatry, American College of Lifestyle Medicine and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He is a member of the editorial boards for Community Mental Health Journal and Mental Health & Physical Activity. Dr. Noordsy was recognized with the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness in 2001, and the Excellence in Leadership Award from the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford in 2018. He launched the Stanford Lifestyle & Sports Psychiatry Special Initiative of the Department of Psychiatry in 2024 and is seeking philanthropic partners. https://med.stanford.edu/psychiatry/special-initiatives/lifestyle.html https://med.stanford.edu/psychiatry/patient_care/lifestyle.html

Dr. Nichole Olson is a Clinical Assistant Professor and licensed psychologist in the INSPIRE Clinic and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) program at Stanford. Dr. Olson completed her masters and doctorate degrees at Northwestern University in Chicago and finished her postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. Dr. Olson specializes in evidence-based, recovery-oriented care for individuals with psychosis, providing both individual and group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis (CBTp) to adults within the INSPIRE Clinic. In addition, Dr. Olson leads trainings and ongoing consultation for providers learning to implement CBTp. As a clinician and Assistant Director of Stanford’s DBT program, Dr. Olson also provides individual DBT treatment for those with emotion regulation difficulties.

Tyler Prestwood, M.D., Ph.D. specializes in the treatment of people with psychotic disorders and psychiatric complications with immunologic abnormalities. He is an attending in the INSPIRE Clinic at Stanford, which provides interdisciplinary care for people experiencing psychosis. He also provides care for patients experiencing psychiatric symptoms associated with long-COVID/Post-Acute Coronavirus Syndrome (PACS). Dr. Prestwood has extensive research experience related to the immune system in various contexts including infectious disease, cancer, and psychiatry. His current work is focused on understanding the influence of infections, the immune response to infections, and metabolism on the subsequent development of psychiatric illnesses, including schizophrenia and PACS.

Dr. Jenae Richardson is a Clinical Assistant Professor and a CA Licensed Clinical Psychologist in the INSPIRE Clinic in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. She also works in the acute psychiatric inpatient units at Stanford Hospital. She specializes in utilizing evidence-based treatments (EBTs) to treat individuals with psychosis and has worked with this population across inpatient and outpatient settings. She is passionate about improving the dissemination and implementation of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for psychosis (CBTp), and at the INSPIRE Clinic, she leads CBTp trainings for mental health professionals and provides CBTp to individuals with psychosis. Dr. Richardson completed her pre-doctoral internship at the University of Arizona’s Early Psychosis Intervention Center and her postdoctoral fellowship at Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. She obtained her doctorate in clinical psychology from Long Island University Post and conducted research exploring barriers to implementing CBTp in the United States.

Khalid Salaheldin, MD, holds the position of Clinical Assistant Professor and serves as an interventional psychiatrist within the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. His expertise lies in the specialized care of individuals who present with early psychosis. At Stanford, Dr. Salaheldin's current responsibilities encompass a range of clinical activities, including evaluating patients with early psychosis at the INSPIRE clinic, providing care in the inpatient psychiatric unit, and delivering interventional psychiatry services. In addition to his clinical work, he is actively engaged in teaching, conducting research, and fostering collaborative learning among his patients and colleagues. His treatment philosophy is a recovery oriented and compassionate approach evaluating vital underlying factors alongside pharmacotherapy & neuromodulatory interventions including: sleep, exercise, nutrition, mindfulness, therapy integration, underlying medical issues, substance use, psychosocial history, and importantly patients’ current relationships (including pets of course!). His approach focuses on meeting patients where they are at in their health journey, aligning treatment with their personal goals, and being actively present in their management. Dr. Salaheldin’s research interests include early psychosis interventions, underlying medical causes of psychiatric symptoms, neuromodulation, community/global mental health, spirituality and mental health, healthcare worker mental health, novel psychiatric therapeutics, and mental health parity & policy. Before joining Stanford, Dr. Salaheldin served as the academic chief resident at Northwell Health, where his focus centered on designing a consult liaison service for patients experiencing a first episode of psychosis. This pioneering initiative aimed to provide compassionate support to patients and their families from the moment they arrived at the emergency room, throughout their inpatient stay, and during their transition to the outpatient setting. He hopes to continue this work on a local and global scale. “True compassion means not only feeling another's pain, but also being moved to help relieve it. ” —Daniel Goleman

Karen Sugarman is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who received her Masters in Social Work at NYU Silver School of Social Work. Karen currently works as a therapist at the INSPIRE Clinic, Dual Diagnosis clinic, and Assessment and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy clinic at Stanford. Karen has worked as a social worker and therapist for over 20 years in both inpatient and outpatient psychiatric and medical settings providing crisis intervention, case management, individual therapy, and group therapy. Karen is trained in CBT for psychosis, CBT, DBT, EMDR, and CPT. Karen takes a holistic approach to working with patients and focuses on “meeting them where they are at” and tailors the treatment accordingly. Karen has a particular interest in trauma focused modalities and continues to pursue further training and education in trauma focused therapy.  Karen also has a lot of experience working with individuals with chronic pain having spent close to seven years as a complex care case manager at the Stanford Pain Management Clinic doing case management, crisis intervention, supportive therapy and group therapy. Karen continues to use her skills set working with patients that have chronic pain and comorbid medical conditions at all 3 clinics she is part of at Stanford Outpatient Psychiatry.

Diane Wakeham, Ph.D. (she/her) is a clinical research coordinator who received her doctorate in pharmaceutics at the University of California, San Francisco and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in phylogenetics at UCSF. Her research interests span laboratory assays, statistical analysis, and administrative coordination and support of clinical studies focused on psychosis. She has been involved in studying both industry-sponsored novel investigational medications and lifestyle interventions to improve the lives of patients with schizophrenia and related illnesses, and also in basic research into the biological mechanisms causing psychosis. She is dedicated to improving the accessibility of psychosis treatments across the state and supporting families through Psychosis REACH (Recovery by Enabling Adult Carers at Home). She has taught several classes in chemistry, biochemistry, and related subjects at local colleges. She is an ACRP Certified Clinical Research Coordinator.