School of Medicine


Showing 1-40 of 40 Results

  • Sepideh Bajestan, MD, PhD

    Sepideh Bajestan, MD, PhD

    Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsNeuropsychiatry
    Functional Neurological Symptom Disorders, Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures
    Group and Individual Psychotherapy
    Impulse Control Disorders

  • Jacob S. Ballon

    Jacob S. Ballon

    Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (General Psychiatry and Psychology)

    BioJacob 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.

  • Sherry Ann Beaudreau

    Sherry Ann Beaudreau

    Clinical Professor (Affiliated), Psych/General Psychiatry and Psychology (Adult)
    Staff, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    BioDr. Beaudreau is a licensed clinical psychologist with board certification in geropsychology. As PI of the Mental Health, Neurocognition, and Treatment in Older Adults lab, she conducts late life clinical research and mentors trainees in the Sierra Pacific Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center at VA Palo Alto. Nationally, she directs the 28-site VA Advanced Fellowship Program in Mental Illness Research and Treatment. She holds appointments as Clinical Professor (Affiliated) in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine and as an Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. In her capacity as a VA Subject Matter Expert in Problem Solving Training, she is actively involved in clinician trainings, consultation, and development of program materials for the national roll-out of Problem Solving Therapy for Suicide Prevention.

    Her overarching research aims to leverage knowledge about the cognitive profiles of older adults with psychiatric disorders or at risk for suicide to inform the development and optimization of psychiatric behavioral interventions, including Problem Solving Therapy. She is the PI of a 5-year, multi-site randomized control trial to determine the efficacy of Problem Solving Therapy for reducing suicidal ideation over and above usual care. She is a Fellow of the Behavioral and Social Sciences section for Gerontological Society of America and the division of Adult Aging and Development for American Psychological Association. Additionally, she serves on several journal editorial boards including American Psychologist, Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, and Clinical Gerontologist. In the department, she co-chairs the Stanford/VA Palo Alto interdepartmental Geriatric Psychiatry and Neuroscience Grand Rounds, an interdisciplinary forum featuring national and international experts in geriatrics (http://med.stanford.edu/psychiatry/education/gpngrandrounds.html) and is a member of the departmental Nominations and Awards committee.

  • Nataly Beck, MD

    Nataly Beck, MD

    Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    BioAs co-founder and co-director of La Clínica Latina, Dr. Nataly Beck is a psychiatrist who is passionate about providing culturally sensitive and compassionate care to patients, especially to those from the Latino community. Originally from Lima, Peru, she immigrated to the US with her family at a young age. She graduated from Yale School of Medicine and completed her psychiatry residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. After her first year as an attending at Yale, she began her work at Stanford where she worked in the INSPIRE Clinic for individuals experiencing psychosis and then co-founded La Clínica Latina. She loves the Bay Area and her interests include salsa dancing, playing piano, and spending time with her family.

  • Meiram Bendat

    Meiram Bendat

    Adjunct Professor, Psych/General Psychiatry and Psychology (Adult)

    BioAs an attorney, psychotherapist, and founder of Psych-Appeal, the first private mental health insurance advocacy law firm in the United States, I investigate and challenge discriminatory barriers to mental health services by managed care organizations. I focus on the design and implementation of mental health parity and standards for medical necessity and network adequacy. I also research regulatory capture by health plans.

  • Wendy J. Bernstein

    Wendy J. Bernstein

    Adjunct Clinical Instructor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    BioSenior Community Psychiatrist, Wellness Equity Alliance, Medical Director, Project ECHO and Telemedicine for Severe Mental Illness Track to support the Mental Health of SGBV survivors in Democratic Republic of Congo project. Past Associate Medical Director at Casa del Sol, specialty mental health clinic of La Clinica de la Raza in Oakland California from 2013 to July 2021. Previously at Kaiser Permanente, Northern California, from 2000 to 2013, and Contra Costa County Older Adults Clinics from 1995-2000. Graduate of McGill University Faculty of Medicine, Montreal, Canada, and Boston University Psychiatry Residency. Interests include global health, community mental health, Latinx and underserved populations, women's health, and elder care.

  • Mahendra T. Bhati

    Mahendra T. Bhati

    Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    BioDr. Bhati is an interventional psychiatrist with expertise in psychiatric diagnosis, psychopharmacology, and neuromodulation. He completed postdoctoral research studying language abnormalities and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) evoked potentials in schizophrenia. He was a principal investigator for the DSM-5 academic field trials, and his research experiences included roles as an investigator in the first controlled clinical trials of deep brain stimulation (DBS) and low-field synchronized TMS for treatment of depression. He was the founding Chief of Interventional Psychiatry at Stanford where he performs consultations and provides pharmacological and neuromodulatory treatments. His current research interests include studying magnetic resonance imaging and augmented reality to target TMS, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) for treatment-resistant depression, DBS for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression, responsive neurostimulation (RNS) for treatment of impulse and fear-related disorders, and focused ultrasound (FUS) for treatment-resistant OCD and depression. Dr. Bhati seeks to train more providers in mental healthcare and founded a clinical fellowship in Interventional Psychiatry at Stanford.

  • Richa Bhatia, MD

    Richa Bhatia, MD

    Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    BioDr. Bhatia is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. She is a dual Board-certified child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist, specializes in treating anxiety disorders. Her work has been cited in Time magazine and Scientific American, and her professional opinions have been quoted in media such as CNBC, The Guardian, U.S. News and World Report, The Wall Street Journal, CBS News Bay Area, WUCF-TV (PBS), and others. Dr. Bhatia is President-Elect of Northern California Psychiatric Society. She is an avid advocate of improving mental health awareness and reducing the stigma surrounding psychiatric conditions and treatments. For her work in this arena, she was awarded the 2021 Jerilyn Ross Clinician Advocate Award by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America and the Marian Butterfield award by the Association of Women Psychiatrists in 2018. Her other roles include serving as Section Editor for Current Opinion in Psychiatry, a Wolters Kluwer journal, for the last 7 years. She also served as Associate Editor of Current Psychiatry for 6 years. Additionally, she is a Compassion Educator and has received Teacher's Training in Compassion Cultivation Training. She is often invited to give talks at national, regional and local conferences and organizations. In addition to the key humanistic aspects of psychiatry, she also enjoys the academic and scientific aspects- during her residency training more than 14 years ago, she scored 94th to 98th percentile among all US psychiatry residents in the Psychiatry Residency In-Training Exams, and was selected as an Academic Chief Resident as a 3rd year resident.

    She takes a whole-person biopsychosocial approach, aimed at understanding the biological, psychological, social, and other factors affecting an individual’s mental health. She integrates medication management (where needed) with psychotherapy. Her psychotherapy approach is informed by various evidence-based psychotherapies such as psychodynamic therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and mindfulness-based, compassion-focused interventions. Dr. Bhatia’s other professional interests include ruling out medical conditions mimicking psychiatric disorders, effects of media and technology use in children and adolescents, mindfulness, bullying prevention, and compassion and empathy cultivation.

  • Apurva Bhatt

    Apurva Bhatt

    Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    BioApurva 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 is the Director of the Child INSPIRE clinic and currently provides clinical care in both the Lucile Packard Stanford 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 as the Psychiatric Provider Team Lead) and nationally (through PEPPNET). 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, Palo Alto, 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.

  • Celeste Birkhofer, PhD, PsyD

    Celeste Birkhofer, PhD, PsyD

    Adjunct Clinical Instructor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    BioDr. Celeste Birkhofer is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Adjunct Clinical Faculty member at Stanford School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Birkhofer teaches didactics and provides clinical supervision to the psychiatry residents, and she has a private practice in Portola Valley. Dr. Birkhofer's interests and special training include contemporary relational psychoanalysis, grief counseling, dialectic behavior therapy (DBT), life coaching, mindfulness, and couples counseling.

  • Daniel Michael Blonigen

    Daniel Michael Blonigen

    Clinical Associate Professor (Affiliated), Psych/General Psychiatry and Psychology (Adult)
    Staff, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    BioDr. Blonigen is an Investigator and an Associate Director at the Center for Innovation to Implementation, VA Palo Alto Health Care System. He is also an Affiliate Investigator with the VA National Center for Homelessness Among Veterans, and a Clinical Associate Professor (Affiliated) in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine. He received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Minnesota and is a former VA Career Development Awardee in Clinical Sciences R&D. He is licensed as a clinical psychologist in the State of California.

    Dr. Blonigen’s research mission is to identify and develop innovations to increase access and engagement in substance use and mental health care for vulnerable populations. In particular, he is interested in testing the effectiveness and implementation potential of mobile health and peer-based interventions for justice-involved and homeless veterans. He is currently leading or co-leading multisite trials of behavioral interventions for justice-involved and homeless veterans. He is also funded by VA HSR&D to tailor smartphone applications for self-management of unhealthy drinking for veteran primary care patients and use of peer specialists to increase patient engagement with these apps.

    In addition to research, Dr. Blonigen is actively involved in mentoring and teaching VA research fellows and Stanford University residents. These roles include serving as a faculty mentor for the Stanford Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program, as well as directing the research training program for clinical psychology interns at VA Palo Alto. He is a member of several VA management and oversight committees and has served as a grant reviewer for national and international funders. He is an invited speaker at national conferences and cyberseminars devoted to substance use and mental health research, and he holds editorial positions for leading addiction, personality, and assessment journals.

  • Jessica Yelena Breland

    Jessica Yelena Breland

    Clinical Assistant Professor (Affiliated), Psych/General Psychiatry and Psychology (Adult)
    Staff, Psych/Public Mental Health & Population Sciences

    BioJessica Breland, MS, PhD is a licensed psychologist and a Core Investigator at the Center for Innovation to Implementation in the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. Dr. Breland received her PhD in psychology from Rutgers and completed her clinical internship at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX.

    Her work focuses on using quantitative and qualitative methods to: 1) assess outcomes related to the implementation of evidenced-based treatments, especially through controlled trials in novel settings (e.g., primary care) or with novel methods (e.g., apps); 2) identify and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health; and 3) enhance care for patients with chronic conditions, such as obesity or diabetes.

  • Nicole Brooks

    Nicole Brooks

    Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    BioDr. Nicole Brooks is a board-certified psychiatrist with added qualification in forensic psychiatry. She specializes in the treatment of mood disorders and serves as a forensic expert in criminal and civil cases. In her role as Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Brooks provides outpatient care in the depression and bipolar disorder clinics. She also serves as the Associate Program Director of the forensic psychiatry fellowship.

  • Lisa Brown

    Lisa Brown

    Adjunct Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    BioLisa M. Brown, Ph.D., ABPP is an Adjunct Clinical Professor and member of the Human Rights in Trauma Mental Health program at Stanford University School of Medicine and Professor and Director of the Peace and Human Rights Lab at Palo Alto University. Her clinical and research focus is on trauma, resilience, human rights, refugees, and aging. As a researcher, she is actively involved in developing and evaluating health programs used nationally and internationally, drafting recommendations aimed at protecting vulnerable individuals and communities, facilitating the participation of key stakeholders, and improving access to resources and services.

    Dr. Brown has been appointed to and has served on numerous local, state, and national boards and commissions. From 2007 to 2014, she served as the Assistant Clinical Director of Disaster Behavioral Health Services, Florida Department of Health where she helped write the state disaster behavioral health response plan, develop regional disaster behavioral health teams, and conduct program evaluations of the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) crisis counseling programs. From 2008 to 2011, Dr. Brown was appointed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary to the Disaster Mental Health Subcommittee of the National Biodefense Science Board Federal Advisory Committee, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this role, she contributed to the development of a national behavioral health response to disasters, terrorism, and pandemics. In 2020, she was appointed to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Coronavirus Commission on Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes.

    Dr. Brown is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 20 and the Gerontological Society of America. She is the former President of the APA Division 20 Adult Development and Aging. She is the recipient of two Fulbright Specialist awards with the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica (2014) and with Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand (2015).

  • Kim Bullock, MD

    Kim Bullock, MD

    Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDirector of Virtual Reality & Immersive Techology (VR-IT) Clinic and Lab.
    Use of technology to understand the interaction of sensation, embodiment, and emotional/ behavioral regulation.
    Virtual reality treatments as a sensory modulating device to treat disorders involving body image, sensation, and control. Exploration of the use of mirrored visual feedback while inhabiting a virtual avatar to treat pain and somatic symptom related disorders.

  • Jonathan Burgess, MD, MPH

    Jonathan Burgess, MD, MPH

    Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    BioJonathan Burgess, MD, MPH is Clinical Assistant Professor in the Lifestyle Psychiatry Clinic at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is passionate about evidence-based lifestyle practices for psychiatric disorders. He has published two academic book chapters on diet and lifestyle interventions for psychiatric disorders. With over 30 publications and oral presentations, he is credited with nine Grand Rounds presentations, is a faculty presenter at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting and Harvard School of Public Health’s national conferences, as well as an invited speaker at major academic hospitals. Dr. Burgess is co-author of the Lifestyle Interventions for Depression module of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine certification course. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, received a Doctor of Medicine from Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, and a Master of Public Health from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.