Who We Are

Growing up I wanted to dramatically change education in schools, making education less rigid and more person-centered. Years later I have been fortunate enough to become an educator, as the Adult Division Chief and Residency Program Director at Stanford. My core beliefs about education are unchanged. My philosophy places residents as central participants in shaping and defining their training, promoting involvement in program improvement, and prioritizing well-being. The training structure here is dynamic by design. Residents who actively participate in the creation of their training experience flourish here. For me, residency training is first and foremost about education, and education is best when accounting for individual differences while sharing common goals.

As Associate Director of Residency Training, I have been involved in the development & implementation of a variety of educational programs aimed at effectively teaching residents the broad spectrum of psychiatry based on ACGME core competencies.  I have a strong interest in curriculum development and the use of innovative teaching tools both within the classroom and clinical setting.  I am particularly interested in psychotherapy education and how to develop an effective method of teaching individual and group psychotherapy.   Experiential and team-based learning as well as the use of technology as a tool to enhance learning are of specific interest to me.  I am also curious about the impact of mentoring and how to prepare and educate mentees and mentors to get the most out of these relationships. Other interests within residency include developing a strong global health program as well as an effective and supportive scholarly environment which includes medical education.

In addition, I am passionate about caring for people who suffer from psychiatric or psychological distress. As the Section Chief of the Assessment Clinics, I seek to identify how best to educate our residents within the context of providing excellent, patient-centered clinical care.

An academic department teeming with experts is an interesting place to specialize in the basics. And yet somehow this is where I have found myself. Being at the hub of our residency program as its assistant training director, I have the constant opportunity to delight in the beautiful depth of the various traditions that join together to comprise psychiatry – from neuroscience, to psychoanalysis, to public health, and beyond. But in that delight is also a realization of how daunting the charge is, to expose residents to an appropriate breadth of the field to optimally prepare them for their vocations.

As an educator I’ve been repeatedly drawn to the question of what “basic level training” can and should look like. I spend most of my clinical time working with PGY-1s in evaluation clinic, PGY-2s in their first psychotherapy case groups, and PGY-3s in their general continuity clinic. Residents share with me their enthusiasm and their struggles, and remind me daily how thrilling and how terrifying it can be to learn psychiatry while caring for real humans as patients. I’m passionate about being a good “generalist,” and a good partner with academia and the community, in order to best work at this level.

I believe that “the basics” include nurturing a residency culture and promoting structures that foster attentiveness to the mental health contributions and needs of diverse voices in the community, especially the traditionally marginalized. I also believe in the centrality of supporting residents in staying connected to their personal and professional values throughout residency.

My classes:

• Essentials of Psychiatry: Social Determinants of Health, Culture Workshop, Language Workshop (PGY-1)
• Culture and Spirituality in Psychiatry (PGY-3)
• Community, Public and Global Psychiatry (PGY-3)
• Leadership, Scholarship and Career Development (PGY-1, 2, 3)

Other current projects:

• Precision Psychiatry Continuity Clinic Project
  
• Leadership in Mental Health class