About
A psychiatrist from the city, at home in the world
Psychiatry (ABPN), Fellow of APA · Addiction Medicine (ABPM), Fellow of ASAM · Licensed WA · OR · MT · NY · CA
Background
My Journey
My path to medicine was not direct. I grew up in New York City, studied German in college and spent a year living in Munich, later living in Seattle and working at a hospital before ultimately doing a postbaccalaureate program and starting medical school. All of these experiences helped me grow my understanding of the world, particularly my interest in language and in how people communicate their experience.
During high school, I was in New York City during 9/11, near the World Trade Center, an experience that led me to think more directly about mortality, the limits of time, and how to balance long-term planning with attention to the present. In the aftermath, the Chancellor of Germany visited New York and invited students from schools near the World Trade Center to Germany. I was nominated for that trip, which was my first experience traveling somewhere where people spoke a different language, and it led me to study German in college alongside fiction writing.
I initially considered infectious disease based on a long-standing interest in epidemiology. During clinical training, I found myself returning to psychiatry, realizing that the same curiosity about how disease affects people at the population level could also be applied to how people think more broadly. I was drawn to the natural link between the phenomenology of how people think and describe their internal experience, which also resonated with my writing background.
My work reflects that same focus. I am interested in careful medication management, in re-evaluating diagnoses, and in reducing unnecessary treatment when appropriate. I am drawn to complexity and take the time to individualize care.
Coaching developed later, first as I was building my private practice and thinking about alternatives to a purely pathology-oriented model of care. It connects back to earlier experiences, from learning Iyengar yoga before medical school, to a mindfulness course focused on observing thoughts without judgment, to training in CBT and DBT during residency.
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Clinical
I run a solo telepsychiatry practice, direct-pay, seeing patients primarily in Washington State with licenses in Oregon, Montana, New York, and California. I also work in residential treatment settings. I am a volunteer faculty member at the University of Washington, and serve on the boards of the Northwest Washington Medical Society and the Washington State Psychiatric Association, and on the WSMA Board of Trustees as the Young Physician and Early Career Section Representative and as an AMA Alternate Delegate for Washington State.
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Tech
I have worked with pre-seed and early-stage startups, supported SBIR grant writing, conducted clinical due diligence with venture firms, and helped individual clinicians transition to private practice. I stay connected to communities including HiTLab, MedStartr, XPC, and Health Tech Nerds.
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Writing
I studied writing at Williams College, where my mentors included Jim Shepard, Paul Park, and Andrea Barrett. I publish at thought.doctor on Substack, in addition to academic writing.
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Outside
I travel whenever I can, spend time in the garden and the kitchen, and do some of my best thinking on airplanes while looking out the window. I listen to a lot of podcasts and believe deeply in iteration, trying things, making mistakes, learning from them, and trying again.
