2023-2024 Public Psychiatry Fellows
Dr. Tyler Wheeler
Dr. Tyler Wheeler grew up in Prince Edward Island, Canada where he received his BSc at the University of Prince Edward Island. He attended medical school at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. During this time, he planned and developed a proof-of-concept mobile application to help users self-manage hypertension and was part of the national Psychiatry Student Interest Group Network (PsychSIGN) leadership team. After completing medical school, he moved to the Bay Area, where he assisted in investigating mobile technology interventions for smoking cessation in veterans with PTSD. Tyler then completed his residency at UCLA-Kern Medical in Bakersfield, where he worked primarily at a safety-net hospital and within the county’s behavioral health system. Here, he represented residents and played an active role in bargaining as CIR union delegate. He also served as chair of the GMEC Resident Advisory Council for two years and as Chief Administrative Resident during his PGY4 year. As a fellow, Tyler will be working at a variety of SFHN-BHS clinical sites, where he hopes to broaden his understanding of mental health systems while providing care to underserved populations. Outside of work, he enjoys listening to podcasts, hiking, and cooking with his wife.
Current Position: Assistant Clinical Professor, UCSF; Attending Psychiatrist, Jail Behavioral Health Service, San Francisco County Jail.
Dr. Rennie Burke
Dr. Rennie Burke was born in Japan and grew up near Palm Springs, California. He studied history and philosophy at UC Santa Barbara then earned a master’s in history at Ohio University. Following this, he moved to Oakland, California where he completed a post-baccalaureate at Mills College, volunteered at a needle exchange, and pursued research in UCSF’s emergency department. He then returned to his home region for medical school at UC Riverside, where he conducted research on trans medical education. During medical school, he took time off to complete a master’s in bioethics at Harvard focused on harm reduction in the trans masc community and the experiences of donor-conceived individuals. As a resident at San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, he has pursued his passion for community mental health through direct patient care and a project examining racial disparities in long-acting injectable prescriptions. During his public psychiatry fellowship, he plans to work with unhoused patients, asylum seekers, and in a clinic for HIV positive community members, in addition to his regular clinic duties. In his free time, he enjoys learning languages, working through the Criterion Collection, and avidly following the LA Dodgers.
Dr. Victor Contreras
Dr. Victor Contreras grew up in the binational community of San Diego-Tijuana. He attended UC San Diego, where he received a bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and Cell Biology and a master’s degree in Biology. He completed his MD degree at Stanford School of Medicine and later joined UC San Francisco’s Psychiatry department for residency training. His professional interests include addiction psychiatry and working with immigrant populations. In his free time, he enjoys reading, lifting weights, and cycling.
Current position: Fellow in UCSF Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program
Dr. Thanh Truong
Dr. Thanh Truong grew up in Southern California and received dual bachelor degrees in Psychology and Public Health Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. She completed her medical education at Stanford University and continued on to complete her adult psychiatry residency training there. During residency she co-created a class on culture and psychotherapy, and a mini-conference for trainees and faculty called the Mental Health Equity and Advocacy Round Tables (MHEART). She also served as a chief resident and her happiest moment was pulling off a spring retreat on a boat! She is completing her child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship here at UCSF. Her areas of clinical interest include cultural psychiatry, mental healthcare access, and family therapy. Outside of work, she enjoys gardening, hanging out in cafes and museums, and spending time with loved ones.
Current position: Psychiatrist at Child Youth Services, Orange County Health Care Agency
2022-2023 Public Psychiatry Fellows
Dr. Samuel Ricardo Saenz
Dr. Saenz was born in the Bay Area and received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Stanford University. He completed his MD at UC Irvine’s Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community, and he also obtained an MPH from UC Berkeley. He completed residency at Stanford and served as chief psychiatry resident. His professional interests include fostering the next generation of diverse mental health providers as well as advancing justice, equity, and inclusion (JEDI) work in academic medicine. In his free time, he enjoys playing/writing music, watching soccer games, and finding the best local taquerias.
Current position: Clinical Assistant Professor, Director of Trainee Mentorship Programs, Stanford University
Dr. Lucy Ogbu-Nwobodo
Dr. Lucy Ogbu-Nwobodo is dedicated to improving health care through social justice. She was born in Nigeria and moved to Oakland California at the age of 11. After completing her medical school education at University of California, Davis, she moved to Boston for residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/McLean Harvard Psychiatry Program, where she served as the MGH Administrative Chief Resident and Chair of the Resident and Fellow Committee (RFC) under the MGH Center of Diversity and Inclusion (CDI).
She is passionate about diversifying the healthcare workforce, and has created two pipeline programs, one targeted towards increasing STEM exposure in K-14 aged youth, and a pre-health internship program—which have led to the matriculation of over 200 students into medical schools and other graduate health professional programs. As a APA SAMHSA Fellow, she developed a psychoeducation curricula for high school students with underrepresented identities. She currently serves as a Co-Editor of the Racism and Mental Health Equity column with the Psychiatric Services Journal. She will be joining the faculty at UCSF in a number of leadership and clinical roles this Fall. As a health professional, she is committed to promoting equitable access to healthcare.
Current position: Associate Director, UCSF Public Psychiatry Fellowship; Associate Program Director, UCSF Psychiatry Residency Training Program; Medical Director, UCSF Alliance Health Project; Director, UCSF Post-Baccalaureate Program and Office Outreach
Dr. Harminder K. Gill
Dr. Harminder K. Gill grew up in the Seattle area and is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Medicine. Prior to attending medical school, she assisted in researching the effects of alcohol use on decision making during adolescence and understanding connectivity patterns of the developing brain. As a medical student, she worked in free clinics serving local emergency shelters and transitional housing programs to help provide primary care to low income, homeless, and immigrant populations. She also worked with the No One Dies Alone Program to help ease the transition to end of life care for patients. In residency, she sees publicly insured and uninsured patients at the South County Mental Health Clinic in Redwood City and is especially interested in working with individuals struggling with substance use, immigrant populations (including asylum seekers and refugees), individuals who are unhoused, as well as incorporating psychodynamic therapy and cultural psychiatry into the county clinic setting. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with family, cooking, and exploring local eateries and coffee shops.
Current position: Staff Psychiatrist, UCSF Alliance Health Project
Dr. Paul Wallace
Dr. Paul Wallace was born in Providence, RI and grew up in Massachusetts. He attended Columbia University where he studied economics and history and captained the rugby team. After two years of teaching in New York he moved back to Massachusetts to complete a post-baccalaureate at the Harvard Extension School. He then attended medical school at Brown University where he was active in drug policy and research, harm reduction, advocacy, and education. Paul finally left the East Coast to do his psychiatry residency at UCSF, where he has continued to care for people living on the margins through clinical work and advocacy. He has also served as a three-time CIR union delegate and VP of Bargaining for UCSF’s CIR chapter. During his public psychiatry fellowship Paul is working at Citywide with the goal of learning how best to care for our most vulnerable community members with a special interest in addressing the overdose epidemic through clinical care and public policy. When he is not working or organizing, Paul is probably reading, running, lifting weights, listening to music, or spending time with friends.
Current position: Assistant Medical Director, The Providence Center
2021-2022 Public Psychiatry Fellows
Dr. Tiffany Arnold
Dr. Arnold was born in Lafayette, Louisiana and received bachelor’s degree in Biology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Then studied medicine at Louisiana State University- Shreveport, where Dr. Arnold also completed psychiatry residency and served as Chief Resident. Moved to San Francisco, California for Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship. Interests include street psychiatry, easier access for starting patients on medications for opioid use disorder, and patient education/advocacy. Outside of work, hobbies include reading, hiking, and traveling.
Current position: Staff Addiction Psychiatrist, Eleanor Health Metairie clinic in Metairie, LA
Dr. Stacie Collins
Dr. Stacie Collins was born and raised in Oakland, CA and completed her undergraduate studies at Howard University with a BS in Psychology. She returned to California for medical school, and attended UCLA where she was a part of the Charles R. Drew medical Education program, a program whose mission is to train physicians committed to serving diverse and underserved communities. She completed her adult psychiatry residency at the UCLA/ Veteran’s Administration Residency program, and finally returned home to the Bay Area to complete her Child and Adolescent fellowship at UCSF, where she served as chief fellow. Dr. Collins joins the San Francisco Department of Public Health at the Foster Care Mental Health clinic, and has a special interest in delivering care to youth who have experienced complex trauma. In her spare time, Dr. Collins can be found spending time with family and friends, and enjoying the many restaurants and eateries the Bay Area has to offer.
Current position: Senior Psychiatric Physician Specialist, Foster Care Mental Health, SFDPH Behavioral Health Services
Dr. Zachary Lenane
Dr. Zach Lenane grew up in Connecticut and attended McGill University in Montreal, graduating with a BA & Sc in Physics and History. He received his MD and MPH degrees from Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, where he was a case manager at a free clinic for people recently released from jail or prison; with financial support from APA Helping Hands Grants, he and formerly incarcerated partners developed an ongoing peer support group focused on the emotional and practical challenges of re-entry in Louisiana. He currently serves as chief resident for the San Mateo County BHRS Psychiatry Residency and is the inaugural APA/APAF Correctional Public Psychiatry Fellow. During residency he worked with the county’s Service Connect program, which provides wraparound services to people returning to the community from incarceration. He continues to see publicly insured and uninsured patients at the North County Clinic in Daly City and is particularly interested in supportive alternatives to incarceration for people struggling with mental illness and substance use who have come into contact with the legal system. Outside of work he loves spending time with his family, surfing, and making music.
Current position: Psychiatrist, Whiting Forensic Hospital, Conneticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services
Dr. Rita Morales
Dr. Morales was born in San Salvador, El Salvador, but grew up primarily in the Bay Area. She moved to New York City to pursue undergraduate studies at Columbia University, where she earned a B.A. in Psychology and Art History. She completed a post-baccalaureate program at Bryn Mawr College before returning to Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons for medical school. She completed her general psychiatry residency at Columbia University / New York State Psychiatric Institute, serving as Chief Resident in her fourth year. In residency, she pursued interests in emergency psychiatry, psychotherapy, medical education, and women’s mental health, including completion of a longitudinal elective in reproductive psychiatry during her fourth year.
Dr. Morales joined the Public Psychiatry Fellowship as an employee of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, where she worked both at Mission Mental Health and Southeast Mission Geriatric Services as a bilingual attending psychiatrist. She excited to return to her home state, and hopes to continue pursuing her passions for teaching and delivery of comprehensive women’s mental health treatment in her roles at UCSF and DPH.
Current position: Attending Psychiatrist, SFDPH Behavioral Health Services
Dr. Emily Asher
Dr. Asher received her M.D. from UCSF and completed her psychiatry residency at Yale, where she served as Chief Resident in the National Center for PTSD and received the Howard Zonana Award in Psychiatry and the Law. She has master’s degrees in health care administration, public health, and public administration. Prior to medical school, she worked as a clinical program analyst at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital focusing on quality improvement initiatives and supporting the Associate Chief Medical Officer. For ten years, she also worked to improve clinical operations and support underserved populations in both an inner-city ER and a Free Clinic. Her professional interests include organizational dynamics, health care systems, psychoanalysis, and working with infants, children, and adolescents, together with their families and caregivers.
Current position: Fellow in Psychiatry and the Law, UCSF
2020-2021 Public Psychiatry Fellows
Dr. Chuan-Mei Lee
Dr. Lee is currently an Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at UCSF and works clinically as a child and adolescent psychiatrist at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland. She serves as the Associate Director of the UCSF Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship program. She is also the Director of Research and Program Evaluation at the UCSF Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Portal, which provides remote psychiatric consultation services to pediatric primary care providers. Her clinical and research interests include integration of mental health services in pediatric primary care and providing access to quality care for vulnerable populations.
Current position: Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, UCSF
Dr. Ricardo Lozano
Dr. Ricardo Lozano grew up in the Central Valley in Northern California. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Human Biology and Master’s Degree in Microbiology, both at UC San Diego. He then studied medicine at the University of Iowa where he developed a program to celebrate members of the local LGBT older adult community. He moved back to California for psychiatry residency at Stanford University. There he was selected as an American Psychiatric Association SAMHSA Minority Fellow in his second year of residency and he is currently completing a project aimed at reducing mental health stigma in the Latinx community. His interests include cross-cultural psychiatry, mental health stigma, and psychotherapy.
Current position: Associate medical director, Casa Del Sol in Oakland, CA
Dr. Kyle Jamison
Dr. Kyle Jamison grew up in Eugene, Oregon then attended Brigham Young University, graduating with a BS in neuroscience. He received his MD from The Ohio State University College of Medicine, graduating with an interdisciplinary specialization in global health, which involved completing research and clinical work in Peru and Kenya. During his final year of medical school, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Ride for World Health, a non-profit that organizes an annual cross-country bike ride, which he completed with 15 others to raise money and awareness for global health education projects in Peru and Kenya. Kyle completed his general psychiatry residency at Indiana University School of Medicine, serving as chief resident during his last year. During that same time, he was the Assistant Medical Director at the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction where he worked with Community Mental Health Centers across the state on quality improvement projects. During residency he was also selected as an American Psychiatric Association Leadership Fellow and participated on the APA’s Council of Advocacy and Government Relations. He has participated in several political advocacy projects, including helping facilitate the passage of mental health parity legislation in Indiana. As a Public Psychiatry Fellow at UCSF, Kyle will be working with Healthright 360, a non-profit which runs integrated care clinics for those who are uninsured or underinsured. When not working, you can likely find Kyle riding one of his bikes or exploring the outdoors on foot with his partner Emma, their daughter Amelia, and their dog Noah.
Current position: Attending psychiatrist, ZSFG; Assistant Program Director, UCSF Public Psychiatry Fellowship at ZSFG
Dr. Michael Politis
Dr. Michael Politis earned his bachelor's degree at Florida Southern College, after which he came west to San Francisco Bay Area where he attended Touro Universisty California and earned a degree in osteopathic medicine. He completed his general psychiatry residency at the State University of New York - Downstate program in Brooklyn, NY. Finally, he returned to the Bay Area where he did child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Stanford University.
Dr. Politis is a member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) HIV Issues Committee, and he presented on the dangers of gender identity and sexual orientation change efforts (“conversion therapy”) at the 2019 AACAP national meeting. He is joining the Public Psychiatry Fellowship as an employee of the San Francisco Department of Public health, where he will work in Foster Care Mental Health and Comprehensive Crisis Services. When outside of the clinic, he enjoys exploring the greater Bay Area.
Current position: Senior psychiatric physician specialist, SFDPH Foster Care Mental Health
Dr. Jonathan Tsang
Dr. Jonathan Tsang grew up in Hong Kong, and completed his undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley with a BA in Economics. During his senior year and after graduation he spent time as a AmeriCorps-Justice Corps Member, serving litigants who could not afford attorneys in self-help centers in California Superior Court. He then completed his M.D with a Distinction in Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in NY. Currently, Dr. Tsang serves as chief resident at the San Mateo County BHRS Psychiatry Residency in San Mateo, CA, where he is in his final year of residency. His clinical interest includes working with the severely mental ill population, psychodynamic psychotherapy, and mental health in the Asian population. Outside of work, he likes to spend time hiking, visiting national parks, and playing badminton.
Current position: Staff psychiatrist, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
2019-2020 Public Psychiatry Fellows
Dr. Sam Murray
Dr. Samuel Murray was raised in Southern Utah, he studied construction management at Southern Utah University and then worked in the construction industry for a several years. At 32 years old he went back to school, getting his medical degree from Creighton University in 2016. He was attracted to residency training at UC Davis in Sacramento, CA because of the programs strong reputation in community psychiatry and UC Davis’s strong connection to both county and academic environments. He was selected as an American Psychiatric Association Public Psychiatry Fellow for the 3rd and 4th year of resident training and currently serves as one of the UC Davis Chief Residents. Sam has strong clinical interests in psychosis and the intersection of homelessness and serious mental illness as well as interests in advocacy and public policy. When not working, Sam spends his time on adventures with his spouse, Natalie, and their two beautiful sons, Oliver (7) and Felix (3).
Current position: Interim Medical Director/Psychiatrist at Early Assessment and Support Alliance (EASA), Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), and Psychiatric Security Review Board (PSRB), all under Deschutes County Behavioral Health
Dr. Tamara Bendahan
Dr. Tamara Bendahan grew up in San Jose, California and received her bachelor's degree in Psychobiology at UCLA. She then traveled east to The Ohio State University College of Medicine for medical school where she created an integrated behavioral health program at the Columbus Free Clinic and her interest in community mental health developed. She continued eastward to the Psychiatry Residency Program at Columbia University before returning to the West Coast to pursue the Public Psychiatry Fellowship at UCSF. Her interests are in the integration of behavioral health and primary care, psychotherapy including IPT, CBT and psychodynamic psychotherapy as well as complementary and alternative medicine. She will be working at the Richard Fine People’s Clinic on the integration of behavioral health.
Current position: Lead Psychiatrist, Galileo Medical
Dr. Matt Goldman
Dr. Matthew Goldman is a native San Franciscan. He graduated from Pomona College with a Major in Molecular Biology and a Minor in Spanish. After spending a year living in Ecuador on a Fulbright research scholarship, he attended the UC Berkeley - UCSF Joint Medical Program, where he received his M.D. and a M.S. in Health and Medical Sciences, with a Masters thesis focusing on health delivery innovations. Matt then completed his residency and chief residency in psychiatry at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, where he developed his interest in mental health services research and quality measurement. After graduating residency, Matt worked briefly as an inpatient attending psychiatrist and then moved to DC to spend the year as a Policy Fellow in the Office of the Chief Medical Officer at SAMHSA. He is now a member of the APA’s Council on Advocacy and Government Relations, he sits on the National Council for Behavioral Health’s Medical Director’s Institute as the public psychiatry fellow, and he is Co-Editor of the Editor’s Choice Collections for the journal Psychiatric Services. As a Public Psychiatry Fellow at UCSF, Matt will be working at Mission Mental Health and with the San Francisco Mobile Crisis Team. Matt is thrilled to be back home in the Bay Area where he and his wife Kira (and puppy) are enjoying adventuring in the outdoors, eating fresh produce, and spending time with friends and family.
Current position: Associate Medical Director, Comprehensive Crisis Services, San Francisco Department of Public Health
Dr. Clayton Barnes
Dr. Clayton Barnes was born and raised in rural Maine and later received a BS from the University of Vermont. After volunteering as an AmeriCorps VISTA in Montpelier, Vermont, Dr. Barnes enrolled in the dual degree MD/MPH program at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, MA. At Tufts, he focused on developing an interdisciplinary student group engaged in outreach to the community’s underserved citizens
Currently, Dr. Barnes serves as chief resident at the San Mateo County BHRS Psychiatry Residency in San Mateo, CA, where he is in his final year of residency. Dr. Barnes’ clinical interests lie in the treatment of those with severe mental illness, the improvement of access to care for vulnerable populations, and the overlap of addiction and forensic populations. Outside of his professional work he enjoys running, camping, and spending time with his family.
Current position: Medical Director, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment, JBER, United States Air Force
2018-2019 Public Psychiatry Fellows
Dr. Kate Benham-Suk
Dr. Kate Benham, a Bay Area Native, received her Bachelor of Arts in Feminist Studies from Stanford University. She left the Bay Area for New York where she received her MD at Columbia University, but returned for residency at UCSF. She is interested in the intersection of mental health and the criminal justice system, and hopes to do advocacy and clinic work in this arena when she finishes both her Public Psychiatry Fellowship this year and Forensics Fellowship next year. Outside of medicine her favorite activities are picnicking, backpacking, and reading in the sun.
Current position: Psychiatrist, Baywell Psychiatry Group
Dr. Robertino Lim
Dr. Robertino Lim was raised in New York and then attended Vassar College, where he majored in Science, Technology & Society with a focus on public health. He worked for 2 years in research at The Rockefeller University before heading to Boston for the combined MD/MPH program at Tufts University School of Medicine. After his 3rd year of medical school, Robertino served as a Doris Duke Charitable Foundation International Clinical Research Fellow in Malawi through UNC School of Medicine. He was then drawn to the San Mateo County BHRS Psychiatry Residency, where he now serves as Chief Resident, because of his desire to serve vulnerable populations. Robertino has a strong interest in health technology, systems innovations and psychotherapy. In his free time, Robertino enjoys making music, playing soccer and basketball, cycling and watching a great movie or TV show.
Dr. Bobby Mendenhall
Dr. Bobby Mendenhall is originally from Claremont, California, where he grew up and also went to college, majoring in Biology and minoring in Chicana/o Studies at Pomona College. After studying abroad in Australia during his junior year, he learned that there was a whole world outside of his hometown, and he subsequently moved to Boston, completing his medical school training and his psychiatry residency at Tufts. However, after learning that he was not built to handle another “snowpocalypse,” he returned to California, to complete his child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at UCSF. As a newly-minted child psychiatrist working for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, Bobby is thrilled to be a part of the Public Psychiatry Fellowship, so that he can gain a better understanding of how public health systems work and how he can help communities access them. In his free time, Bobby enjoys exploring the wonders of the city, anything related to superheroes (especially Batman), and searching through Netflix movies before ultimately watching an episode of Law and Order on TV even though he’s already seen it.
Current position: Psychiatrist, Family Mosaic Project, San Francisco, CA
Dr. David Grunwald
Dr. David Grunwald grew up in Oakland and Berkeley, California. He studied psychology as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley and went to medical school at the UC Berkeley/UCSF Joint Medical Program, psychiatry residency at Yale, and child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Stanford. After completing fellowship, he began working as a child psychiatrist at the City and County of San Francisco Department of Public Health, working with children in the foster care system and at a wraparound service for children/families with more complex needs. David is interested in the use and development of programs aimed at prevention and early intervention in mental illness. He enjoys spending time with friends/family, various sports and outdoors activities, listening to live music and occasional attempts at playing “music” on the piano.
Current position: Psychiatrist, Family Mosaic Project, San Francisco, CA
2017-2018 Public Psychiatry Fellows
Dr. Kei Yoshimatsu
Dr. Kei Yoshimatsu was born in Sydney, Australia, spent early childhood in Tokyo, Japan, and then grew up in Los Angeles, California. He majored in Molecular Biology at UCLA, though he much preferred hanging out in the Philosophy department which ended up being his minor. For medical school, he journeyed to rural Minnesota to study at Mayo Clinic where he spent most of his time complaining about the frigid weather! After three years of training at UCSF, Kei is interested in many different areas of psychiatry, including public psychiatry (thinking intersection of trauma, structural violence, and mental illness) as well as psychodynamic psychotherapy (learning about the fascinating workings of the unconscious). In his free time, he will be found in various eateries around SF or wineries around Napa!
Current position: Psychiatrist, Santa Clara Homeless Mental Health Program, San Jose, CA
Dr. Pilar Abascal
Dr. Pilar Abascal, a Bay Area native, received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Stanford University. After graduation, she moved to rural Peru where she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer for two years. She received her M.D. from UCSF where she became interested in psychiatry during her clinical clerkships at the SFVA and SFGH. She completed her psychiatry residency at UCLA where her interests included reproductive psychiatry, addiction medicine, and health services research.
Current position: Medical Director, Mission Mental Health Clinic, San Francisco, CA
Dr. Colin Buzza
Dr. Colin Buzza grew up in Minnesota then attended Wartburg College in Iowa, where he studied biology. In college, and after he spent time traveling and eventually moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, where he received an MSc in medical anthropology from the University of Edinburgh. Medical anthropology helped cement his interest in medicine while sparking an interest in psychiatry in particular. After graduation he returned to the Midwest, where he completed an MD/MPH at the University of Iowa. Experiences in medical school helping to coordinate a free mental health clinic guided his course towards public psychiatry, and this interest helped attract him to UCSF for psychiatry residency. During residency he has served as an APA Public Psychiatry Fellow and has developed additional interests in advocacy, education, and cultural psychiatry. Outside of medicine he enjoys cooking, photography, and exploring cities and nature on foot.
Dr. Jessica Koenig
Dr. Jessica Koenig was born in Bern, Switzerland and grew up on Galveston Island in Texas. She got her B.S. in Neuroscience from Trinity where she also played soccer and was selected as an All-American player. She received the Humanism Award while in medical school at The University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston and graduated in 2013. She served as Chief Resident while she completed her psychiatry training at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas-Austin. During residency she was involved in advocacy and research in mental healthcare access with SIMS, a nonprofit for mental health and substance abuse treatment servicing local musicians that could not access care. Her professional interests include community mental health, academic medicine, trauma and substance use disorders. In her free time Jessica enjoys hiking, playing soccer and spending time with her dogs.
Current position: Psychiatrist, HeathRIGHT360, San Francisco, CA
Dr. Arter Biggs
Dr. Arter Biggs is a native of Birmingham, Alabama, and a graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, TN. He is currently a psychiatry resident at San Mateo County Psychiatry Residency training program which is based in community mental health and serving the needs of the severely mentally ill. His clinical interests include public health, CBT for psychosis, and addiction psychiatry.
2016-2017 Public Psychiatry Fellows
Dr. Aislinn Bird
Dr. Aislinn Bird, a Bay Area native, honed her interest in medicine and psychiatry as a volunteer at the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic and as a Case Manager for Community Focus, which serves people with serious mental illness in San Francisco. After earning her MD at UC Irvine Medical School and a MPH at California State University, Long Beach, she entered residency in the Stanford University Psychiatry and Behavioral Science Program where she served as a chief resident. While at Stanford, Aislinn helped teach an undergraduate study abroad course in Cambodia, taught yoga at an East Palo Alto High School as part of her research on the benefits of mindfulness for adolescents, and focused heavily on psychotherapy with a special interest in psychodynamic, couples and CBT for psychosis. Her clinical interests include public health and policy, community program development, mindfulness, nutrition, teaching, and psychotherapy. In her free time, she can be found backpacking, biking, gardening or helping to raise backyard chickens.
Current position: Psychiatrist, TRUST Clinic, Alameda County Health Care for the Homeless, Oakland, CA
Dr. Regan Carey
Dr. Regan Carey was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania in one of the small river towns outside Pittsburgh. After studying English and Writing at Chatham College, she worked and travelled several years before heeding the call of medicine. She returned home to Pittsburgh for medical school, then did a pediatric internship at Harbor-UCLA, an experience which furthered her longstanding passion for working with underserved populations, as well as inspiring an interest in improving systems of care. She then completed a psychiatry residency at Stanford, where experiences working with community mental health and severe mental illness were especially salient for her. In her free time Regan enjoys hiking and exploring the natural wonders of California.
Current Position: ZSFG Psychiatry Attending, UCSF Associate Physician, San Francisco, CA
Dr. Kory Combs
Dr. Kory Combs grew up in Southern California as the youngest of nine children. He graduated from Occidental College in 1992 with a BA in English and Comparative Literature and then took his first job working at a homeless shelter as a social worker and overnight supervisor. There, he began to realize that he loved working with folks caught in the overlaps of poverty, homelessness, mental illness, and addiction. He then worked for Glendale Unified School District for 15 years as an English teacher, basketball coach, and guidance counselor before he decided to make a big jump into medicine. He studied at Duke University, and knowing he wanted to pursue psychiatry, he did research on insomnia and depression. After three years of residency at UCSF, his interests within psychiatry are still very broad, but he has special interest in the intersection between public psychiatry and forensics. He is THRILLED to be a part of the Public Psychiatry Fellowship at UCSF!
Dr. Carrie Cunningham
Dr. Carrie Cunningham grew up in San Diego and received her Bachelor's degree in Biology and Women's Studies at Yale University focusing on Women's Health and Public Policy. She returned to California, obtaining her MPH at the University of California, Berkeley in Health and Social Behavior and graduating from UCSF School of Medicine. She completed a Family Medicine Residency at UCSF/San Francisco General Hospital and is a board certified Family Medicine physician. Drawn to Psychiatry since medical school, she further recognized the importance of increasing mental health care access as a resident in primary care. She then headed back to the East Coast to pursue sequential training in Psychiatry at Cambridge Health Alliance. There she was the Integrated Care Chief with interests in curriculum development, mixed methods research, and adapting Integrated Care models for people with severe mental illness. She is excited to return to San Francisco for the UCSF/SFGH Public Psychiatry Fellowship and combine her training in Psychiatry and Family Medicine.
Current position: Medical Director, UCSF/ZSFG Division of Citywide Case Management, San Francisco, CA
Dr. Farah Zaidi
Dr. Farah Zaidi is a graduate of Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences in Pakistan and is a Psychiatry Resident at San Mateo County Psychiatry Residency Training Program. Farah began her residency in OB/GYN but subsequently shifted her focus to Psychiatry after a trip to Pakistan during which she witnessed the physical and psychological devastation of underserved communities after a major flood. In 2012, Farah also volunteered at UCSD department of Psychiatry with Dr. David Janowsky. They worked on a research project focusing on personality profiles of patients with various psychiatric disorders. Farah's professional interests include women and minority mental health, community psychiatry, physicians and residents’ wellbeing and psychotherapy. Farah is a Resident Councilor in Northern California Psychiatric Society (NCPS), APA’s district branch as well as an active member of NCPS’s Wellness Committee. She speaks English, Urdu, Hindi and basic Spanish. In her spare time she enjoys traveling, reading, watching movies, hula hooping, meditation, walking on the beach and spending time with family and friends.
2015-2016 Public Psychiatry Fellows
Dr. Anna Fiskin
Dr. Anna Fiskin was born in Belarus and immigrated to the United States at age eleven. She obtained her MD at Case Western Reserve University and an MSc in Medical Anthropology at Oxford University. Throughout her time in medical school, she sought out opportunities to work on health promotion in the community. This ranged from volunteering to design nutrition workshops for the student run free clinic, collaborating with an African American congregation in Cleveland to develop a Health & Wellness series, or organizing diabetes workshops within the Lumbee tribe as a health justice intern in North Carolina. Her decision to become a psychiatrist was sealed after she did a Community Mental Health rotation in her fourth year. She observed the development of a mental health clinic within a recovery oriented clubhouse and traveled to see clients in homeless shelters and tent camps to provide mental health treatment alongside social services. It was during this experience that she saw how she could have a career that brings together her interests in community organizing and public health with stimulating and rewarding clinical work. During residency, she worked at the Connecticut Mental Health Center serving those with chronic mental illness and in the Specialized Treatment for Early Psychosis clinic. She also worked with the Programme for Improving Mental Health Care on a project to pilot integration of mental health with primary care in several districts in Nepal. During these experiences, it became clear to her that in order to create mental health services that meet the needs of community members and health providers at home and abroad, she will need advanced training in Public Psychiatry.
Dr. Dawn Sung
Dr. Dawn Sung was born in San Francisco General Hospital to Korean immigrant parents and grew up in the East Bay area. She attended UC Berkeley for her undergraduate studies, where she began volunteering with homeless and mentally ill communities. She was also a health policy intern at the Greenlining Institute, where she advocated for underserved minority communities at the state level. After graduating she volunteered for a year as a Community Appointed Special Advocate (CASA worker) for Alameda County with foster youth in inner-city Oakland. She then attended UC Davis School of Medicine and fell in love with psychiatry while working with ethnic minority community clinics and conducting cross-cultural research in India and Kenya. She pursued her psychiatry residency and child psychiatry fellowship at New York University/Bellevue Hospital. While there she helped to found the Association for Culture and Psychiatry and in the past year both taught and developed a course on cultural issues in child mental health for undergraduates at NYU. Dr. Sung has returned to San Francisco to pursue further training in public psychiatry and systems of care. Her interests are in working with underserved minority youth, adults, and families, community program development, and providing culturally sensitive care.
Dr. Christopher White
Dr. Chris White grew up just outside the mighty town of Okanogan in rural Washington State, where he learned to fish and hike from a young age. After graduating high school, he relocated to California and graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a double major in Mathematics and Philosophy. During this time he took a year abroad in New Zealand and traveled throughout Southeastern Asia and really enjoyed himself. He returned home and gained his pre-requisites for medical school at Humboldt State University, where he discovered a passion for extremophilic microorganisms and kinetic sculptures. He raced in the “Kinetic Grand Championship” in Arcata, California, with his good friend. He attended medical school at UC Davis. During this time, he co-directed a student-run clinic focused on providing psychiatric and medical care to Sacramento’s homeless population and hiked the John Muir Trail with his beautiful wife. He is now at San Mateo Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Psychiatry Residency Program. He is an APA Public Psychiatry Fellow and counts himself lucky to be able to care for the underserved in San Mateo County. His interests include tele-psychiatry, hypnosis, hot yoga, group therapy, relational psychodynamic psychotherapy, community psychiatry, and health informatics.
Dr. Keith Wood
Dr. Keith Wood grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. He attended the University of Kentucky where he engaged in leadership with campus community service organizations and conducted research in organic chemistry. Keith graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in biology and shortly after entered medical school at the University of Louisville where developed interests in the interaction between mind and body. Upon completion of medical school he entered residency training in psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis. While at Washington University he became actively involved in medical student education, conducted research examining the relationship between personality characteristics and subjective well being in patients with severe mental illness, and developed an interest in methods of mental healthcare delivery in the outpatient setting. Following residency, Keith completed a Master’s in Population Health Sciences at Washington University to further his knowledge of public health and statistical methods in medicine. His areas of clinical interests include psychopharmacology, consultation-liaison psychiatry, substance use disorders, and public health.
Current position: ZSFG Psychiatry Attending, UCSF Assistant Clinical Professor, San Francisco, CA
2014-2015 Public Psychiatry Fellows
Dr. Richard Feng
Dr. Richard Feng grew up in San Francisco to first generation immigrant, working class parents and was immersed, literally from birth, in an urban environment of incredible diversity as well as notable disparity. He attended public schools in San Francisco, an experience that helped to foster his interest in systems and marginalized communities. He graduated from Pomona College with a degree in History. During his time at college, he engaged himself in student advocacy organizations dedicated to social justice. After graduating, he completed Public Allies, an Americorps program. During his time in Public Allies, he worked full time at a non-profit, and collaborated with community members to organize community-led youth programs. His interest in social justice, communities, social disparities, led him to Charles Drew /UCLA Medical School, an institution in south Los Angeles with a clear mission statement of training physicians to serve and advocate on behalf of marginalized urban communities. Dr. Feng returned to San Francisco to pursue psychiatry residency training at UCSF, where he is taking advantage of the opportunity to fully engage at all levels of health care delivery.
Current Position: Staff Psychiatrist, Richmond Area Multi-Serices, Inc. (RAMS), Richmond, CA
Dr. Melissa Goelitz
Dr. Melissa Goelitz is a native Midwesterner originally from Illinois. She completed undergraduate work at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she majored in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Psychology with a minor in Chemistry before starting her journey north. Moving to the big city, Chicago, she completed medical school at University of Illinois. While aware of her long time passion for working with and advocating for uninsured patients, Melissa was not initially planning for a career in psychiatry. However, during her rotation, Melissa recognized her excitement at providing care on a daily basis. She continued her trek north to Madison, for residency at the University of Wisconsin. While there, she participated in numerous activities including the clinical educator track, community psychiatry track, and was a chief resident during her final year of training. Her areas of interest are certainly varied ranging from teaching to chronic mental illness to working with patients who have HIV to working with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing population.
Current Position: Inpatient Attending Psychiatrist, William S Middleton VA Hospital, Madison, WI
Dr. Anand Iyer
Dr. Anand Iyer grew up in the Los Angeles area. He completed his undergraduate degree in Psychology at UCLA, where he also engaged in leadership within South Asian community/social organizations. He then attended medical school at the University of Southern California. During his time at UCLA and USC, he engaged in psychiatric sleep and genetics research. He currently is completing his psychiatry residency at UCSF, where he received a PGY-3 Medical Student Teaching Award. His experiences in public clinical settings, such as LAC+USC Medical Center and San Francisco General Hospital, led him to develop an interest in working with and improving care delivery to underserved and socioeconomically marginalized patients. His other current interests include healthcare systems, consultation psychiatry/integrated care, PTSD/complex trauma, substance use disorders, and integrative psychotherapy.
Current Position: Psychiatrist, Laguna Honda Hospital and ZSFG Behavioral Health Center (San Francisco Department of Public Health), San Francisco, CA
2013-2014 Public Psychiatry Fellows
Dr. Megha Miglani
Dr. Megha Miglani grew up in the Midwest but spent her formative years in the San Francisco Bay Area, moving during early childhood. She graduated with honors from UC Berkeley with a degree in Economics and a German minor. During her time at Berkeley, she first discovered an interest in public health and education while serving as a teaching assistant for a large student-run seminar on issues in healthcare and medicine. She moved south to attend the Keck School of Medicine of USC in Los Angeles and had the opportunity and pleasure of training at the busy LAC+USC Medical Center. After graduation, Dr. Miglani started her psychiatry residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (CSMC) and became involved in graduate medical education as Co-Chair of the Housestaff Executive Committee. The closure of CSMC’s inpatient and outpatient psychiatric services prompted Dr. Miglani to venture east and join Yale University as a Chief Resident on the Consult-Liaison Service at the VA. At Yale University, she expanded on her interest in education, creating a weeklong workshop curriculum for 2nd year medical students. Her unique experiences during residency have only furthered her interest in public psychiatry, medical education and community advocacy.
Current position: Inpatient Psychiatry Attending at Ventura County Medical Center
Dr. Meena Rajendren
Dr. Meena Rajendren graduated from medical school in India. After moving to the United States, she spent some time doing research at UCSF and at the UC Davis MIND Institute where she worked with Fragile X Associated Tremor and Ataxia patients and their families. She completed her psychiatry residency at the University of Nevada in Reno where she also served as chief resident. During residency, she published a book chapter on Amphetamines and Drug Policy. Her current interests include public psychiatry, working with ethnic and minority groups, psychodynamic concepts, teaching, supportive and acceptance/commitment therapy, mindfulness based practice and women's mental health. Meena enjoys traveling, hiking, playing tennis, reading, cooking international cuisine and hosting parties.
Current Position: State of California correctional facility, Telepsychiatry
Dr. Summer Savon
Dr. Summer Savon is a native of upstate New York where she was named a Regents Scholar. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree with a double major of zoology and music at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. In a desire to understand life starting from its molecular foundation, she obtained her PhD in Biochemistry at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. As a basic scientist her work focused on protein-DNA interactions in the promoter regulatory region of the gene which codes for the rate-limiting enzyme of gluconeogenesis. She then embarked on a distinguished teaching career in medical school both stateside and in the Caribbean. Exposure to situations where cultures collide and socially marginalized populations are at risk of inequitable treatment, led her to develop strong interests in the universal questions of what makes life valuable and rewarding. In order to better serve others in their quest for emotional health, she then obtained her MD at the Medical College of Toledo in Ohio. She is especially focused on removing barriers to universal availability of behavioral health services, including preventative measures. She also champions the role of liberal arts, especially music, in promoting mental health. Additional interests include public psychiatry, cross-cultural psychiatry, and the use of psychodynamic concepts, mindfulness meditation, and complementary treatment modalities to foster well-being.
Current Position: Staff Psychiatrist, Community Psychiatry, Oakland, CA
2012-2013 Public Psychiatry Fellows
Dr. Serina Deen
Dr. Serina Deen graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in Psychology. After graduation she spent a year working as a lab manager and research assistant at Stanford University, researching facial recognition using fMRI. She then attended Mount Sinai School of Medicine, completing a dual MD/MPH program. During medical school she spent a summer working at the Hospital de Clinicas in Montevideo, Uruguay and served as co-president of the International Health Society. She also spent a year working at UCSF in the Multiple Sclerosis Center, and authored research papers looking at the effect of medication on location of multiple sclerosis relapse. After graduation, Dr. Deen started her psychiatry residency at Columbia University. She published a paper about using a narrative writing exercise to foster empathy with hard-to-reach patients, and co-taught a medical student seminar in non-fiction writing. She was awarded a fellowship with the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry, and will co-lead a workshop at the American Psychiatric Association about teaching doctors how to write for the lay public. Her current interests include public psychiatry, non-fiction writing, global mental health, and complementary and alternative medicine.
Current Position: Private Practice, Faculty at Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, OR
Dr. Jarrell Meier
Dr. Jarrell Meier grew up on the Central Coast of California. He received his undergraduate degree in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley and worked as a research assistant in the Department of Nutritional Science and Toxicology. Jarrell discovered his passion for working with the underserved mental health population while in medical school at The Ohio State University. He moved to New Orleans in 2008 to start his residency at Tulane University, less than three years after Hurricane Katrina. During his training, Jarrell has had the opportunity to work in one of the most chaotic and socially challenging environments in the country as a member of the rebuilding effort. He also recently traveled to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti to provide medical and mental health relief after the earthquake. Jarrell has worked with many facets of community mental health care, from telepsychiatry in Cajun Country to mobile outreach and assertive community treatment across much of Southeast Louisiana. Jarrell has additionally done inpatient work at NYU’s Bellevue Hospital and the University of Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital. His main interests include eliminating cultural disparities in mental health care and working with the homeless population.
Current position: Tulane University Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Staff Psychiatrist with Resources for Human Development (RHD) Jefferson Parish ACT Team Staff Psychiatrist at South Central Louisiana Mental Health in Lafourche Parish
Dr. Jacob Sacks
Dr. Jacob Sacks is a California native and grew up in Seattle. He attended University of Washington where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering with Honors as a pioneering member of their undergraduate bioengineering major. He went on to earn a Master of Science in Bioengineering using nanotechnology to study the biomechanics of individual muscle cells. He attended University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, where he worked with the Dean of Students to create universal guidelines promoting professionalism among medical students. He also explored his early interest in public health with the GLBT Center of Colorado’s campaign to target smoking cessation interventions to the GLBT community. He moved to New York City to complete psychiatry residency at NYU/Bellevue Hospital, learning to provide care across federal, state, and city systems. He worked extensively in Bellevue's Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, and presented work on effective crisis interventions at the national Institute on Psychiatric Services in 2010. He was officially recognized by the CPEP for his dedication to treatment of the severely mentally ill and aptitude for Emergency Psychiatry. His additional interests include HIV psychiatry, mindfulness-based interventions, medical education, and working with psychodynamic and psychoanalytic concepts.
Current position: Private Practice Psychiatrist in San Francisco, CA
2011-2012 Public Psychiatry Fellows
Dr. Fumi Mitsuishi
Dr. Fumi Mitsuishi was born in Japan and grew up in France. She came to the U.S. as a teenager and completed her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley with a double major in History of Art and Molecular and Cell Biology, with an emphasis on Neurobiology. After her undergraduate degree she worked as an HIV Services Specialist at the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium as part of her AmeriCorps service and then worked at ZSFG as a project coordinator on a project led by Dr. Jim Sorensen, called the ED Linkages Project before starting medical school at the UC Berkeley/UCSF Joint Medical Program. She completed a Masters of Health and Medical Sciences at UC Berkeley titled "Picturing the Disease of the Tropics: Conventions of Clinical Photography and the Display of Race", a historical piece about the depiction of illness and otherness in colonial medicine. She completed her medical training at UCSF and worked on an ethnographic project on the possibility for collaborative work for the care of patients with HIV mental illness between traditional healers and mental health workers in Uganda. After graduating from medical school, she matriculated into the UCSF Department of Psychiatry Residency Training Program, where she was awarded the Julius Krevans Award during her internship at ZSFG. During the last year of residency training, she worked as the Chief Resident at ZSFG. She has been awarded the UCSF Department of Psychiatry Resident Training Program graduation award for Public and Community Service. Her interests include medical education particularly of systems level issues, public sector psychiatry, cultural issues in psychiatry, global mental health and humanities in medicine.
Current position: Division Director, UCSF/ZSFG Division of Citywide Case Management; Associate Clinical Professor, UCSF Department of Psychiatry; San Francisco, CA
Dr. Ryan Shackelford
Dr. Ryan Shackelford attended the University of Denver where he received a B.S. in cognitive science and psychology, with honors, and published in the field of neuropsychology. He spent three years between undergraduate and medical schools working as a counselor in a large state psychiatric hospital in Colorado. He attended the Medical College of Wisconsin where he authored and received several grants related to improving the medical care of the underserved. While at MCW he co-developed a cultural competency curriculum, started a mobile health screening clinic and was a manager of the student run free clinic. He then moved to the University of California, San Diego for residency training where he completed a 5-year combined program in Family Medicine and Psychiatry with a focus on care of homeless persons with serious mental illness. He is passionate about improving the behavioral medicine training of all physicians. He has worked extensively with the San Diego County of Mental Health on developing an integrated behavioral medicine and primary care community clinic system. He contributed to a county-wide web-based lecture series for primary care physicians on the treatment of mood disorders in the primary care setting. Finally, he facilitated a diagnostic interviewing course for family medicine residents during his chief residency year. He hopes to work on promoting the ideal of a truly integrated system within the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium.