School of Medicine
Showing 1-30 of 30 Results
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Samuel Ricardo Saenz, MD, MPH
Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioDr. Sam Saenz was born in the Bay Area and received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Stanford University. He completed his medical degree at UC Irvine’s Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community, and he also obtained a Master’s in Public Health from UC Berkeley. After serving as chief psychiatry resident during his psychiatry residency at Stanford, he completed a fellowship in public psychiatry at UC San Francisco. His professional interests include fostering the next generation of diverse mental health providers and community advocacy.
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Debra Safer
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (General Psychiatry and Psychology-Adult)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsPrimary research interests include the nature and treatment of eating disorders
(particularly bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder), the development and treatment of obesity, and the development and treatment of problematic eating patterns in patients following bariatric surgery. -
Khalid Salaheldin, MD
Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioDr. Khalid Salaheldin is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, specializing in early psychosis, schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, and interventional psychiatry. He serves as Assistant Medical Director of Stanford's INSPIRE Clinic and contributes to the advancement of INSPIRE 360, expanding comprehensive, coordinated, recovery-oriented care.
His clinical work spans outpatient early psychosis care, inpatient psychiatry, and interventional treatments, including electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). His approach is grounded in compassion, collaboration, and the belief that exceptional psychiatric care begins with understanding the person in front of the diagnosis. He integrates evidence-based treatments with attention to sleep, exercise, nutrition, mindfulness, psychotherapy, physical health, and meaningful relationships, emphasizing individualized care aligned with each patient's goals and values.
This commitment is also deeply personal. Through his experience supporting a relative affected by schizophrenia, Dr. Salaheldin brings a perspective informed by both clinical expertise and a personal understanding of the challenges faced by individuals and families navigating serious mental illness. This connection continues to shape his dedication to compassionate, family-centered care that preserves dignity, fosters hope, and recognizes the humanity beyond every diagnosis.
His academic interests include early psychosis interventions, precision psychiatry, neuromodulation, novel therapeutics, spirituality and mental health, global mental health, mental health policy, and physician well-being. He is particularly interested in translating advances in precision psychiatry and neuroscience into practical, personalized clinical interventions that improve outcomes and expand access to effective care. As a member of the EPICAL State Task Force, he contributes to expanding coordinated specialty care for early psychosis throughout California.
As the Department's Clinical Documentation and Billing/Coding Optimization Lead, Dr. Salaheldin is advancing innovative approaches that integrate documentation, coding education, and clinician well-being. His work aims to reduce administrative burden, meaningfully capture the complexity of clinical care, and give clinicians more time for patients, teaching, scholarship, and their own well-being.
Before joining Stanford, Dr. Salaheldin served as Academic Chief Resident at Northwell Health, where he helped develop an early psychosis consultation-liaison initiative supporting patients and families from their initial emergency department encounter through hospitalization and transition to outpatient care. This experience continues to inspire his commitment to expanding compassionate, coordinated mental health care locally and globally.
At the heart of his work is the belief that recovery extends beyond symptom reduction to restoring possibility, connection, purpose, and hope.
“True compassion means not only feeling another's pain, but also being moved to help relieve it.”
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Katherine Sanborn
Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioDr Katherine Sanborn specializes in the treatment of psychiatric inpatients. She has practiced Psychiatry for more than 15 years. Dr. Sanborn has a special interests in residency education, psychotherapy training, administration and developmental psychopathology.
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Maureen Satyshur
Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioDr. Satyshur is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, as well as interventions for LGBTQ+ individuals.
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Parnika Prashasti Saxena
Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioParnika Saxena is board certified in general and geriatric psychiatry. She completed her residency at St Elizabeth's Medical Center (affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine) in Massachusetts and a clinical geriatric fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles. She also worked as a research fellow in Clinical Psychopharmacology at Mclean Hospital (affiliated with Harvard Medical School) and also completed a psychoanalytic psychotherapy fellowship from the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. Her primary research interests lie in pharmacological and interventional treatments for resistant depression. At Stanford, she works on the inpatient service, outpatient geropsychiatry clinic and the electroconvulsive therapy service. She also serves at the program director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship. In addition to her clinical and research interests, she is passionate about patient advocacy and promoting mental health legislative changes to benefit patient care and has testified in state senate hearings to that end as a physician representative of organizations like the Northern California Psychiatric Association and American Psychiatric Association.
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Salena Schapp
Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioDr. Salena Schapp is a licensed psychologist (PSY29619) and Co-Founder of Beyond Measure. She has experience treating patients across the lifespan, and a particular specialty working with children, adolescents, and families. In her work with children and families, Dr. Schapp is collaborative, compassionate, and playful. She provides a range of psychological services, specializing in treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, behavioral challenges, and trauma. Dr. Schapp is passionate about helping families create a supportive and strong parent-child relationship. She uses evidenced-based approaches to therapy, while individualizing treatment to match each patient’s needs, including cognitive behavioral therapy, family-based therapy, parent management training, parent-child interaction therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy. She practices from a weight-inclusive, Health at Every Size (HAES)® approach, to help individuals improve their relationship to food and their bodies. Dr. Schapp also has extensive experience with group therapy, and enjoys creating a supportive, safe, and helpful group environment. She is an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor for the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, where she runs a support group for psychiatry residents.
Dr. Schapp completed her graduate training in clinical psychology at the PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium, where she focused her studies on children and families. She finished her predoctoral internship training at University of Texas Austin/Dell Children’s Medical Center and her postdoctoral residency at Kaiser Permanente in Redwood City. Dr. Schapp enjoys giving back to the psychological community, and currently serves as the President of the SF Bay Area Chapter of the International Association for Eating Disorder Professionals. She has a strong interest in teaching and supervision, and has provided training opportunities and supervision for trainees at Kaiser Permanente and Beyond Measure. She also enjoys consulting with and teaching other professionals and the community at large through trainings and presentations. -
Alan F. Schatzberg
Kenneth T. Norris, Jr. Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsBiological bases of depressive disorders;, glucocorticoid/dopamine interactions in delusional depression;, pharmacologic treatment of depressive disorders.
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Mariana Schmajuk
Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioMariana Schmajuk received her medical school education at Boston University School of Medicine in 2012. She completed her General Adult Psychiatry Residency program Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York in 2016, serving as Chief Resident with a focus on the early transition from medical school to residency. She went on to complete her Consult-Liaison fellowship at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Columbia University Medical Center in 2017.
Dr. Schmajuk joined Stanford University CLP team in 2017. She is a primary member of the emergency medicine consultations, working collaboratively with a nurse practioner, social worker and residents. Clinically, Dr. Schmajuk focuses on treating patients with terminal neurological disorders and oncological processes. Dr. Schmajuk is the director of the Psychosomatic Continuity clinic where residents and fellows are able to assess and longitudinally treat patients with psychiatric sequela in the context of complex medical illness. She has a particular interest in brief psychotherapeutic interventions. She enjoys teaching medical students about CL psychiatry and interviewing skills. At present, Dr. Schmajuk is using techniques of applied improvisation to educate psychiatry residents and others about the building blocks of communication. She also is an active member of the bioethics committee. -
Shebani Sethi MD, ABOM
Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsImproving metabolic and mental health through dietary metabolic therapies, pharmacological optimization, and other lifestyle interventions in those with severe mental illness, such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, major depression is a major focus of her research. Clinical and academic interests include management of psychiatric disorders with co-morbid obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic dysfunction and/or eating disorders, particularly binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa.
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Ripal Shah
Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioRipal Shah, M.D., M.P.H. is a Clinical Associate Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Before her time at Stanford, she completed an M.P.H. at Harvard University in Health Care Management and Policy, an M.D. from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York with tuition merit scholarship, and a B.S. from Duke University in Economics and Biochemistry. Dr. Shah is board certified in Adult Psychiatry, Addiction Medicine, Obesity Medicine, and Integrative Medicine, and is board-eligible in Longevity Medicine. She specializes clinically in the care of women, high performers, and those seeking non-pharmaceutical approaches to health.
Dr. Shah's clinical expertise are in reproductive psychiatry (pre-conception, pregnancy, postpartum, breastfeeding, fertility, pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), sexual health disorders, menopause), lifestyle and integrative approaches to health (vitamins, supplements, exercise, behavioral change, hypnosis, longevity), and in high performers such as physicians and CEOs. She leads the Longevity Medicine, Weight Management, and Integrative Mental Health programs in the Stanford Center for Integrative Medicine. Dr. Shah is regarded as one of the world's experts in PMDD, and one of very few specifically studying PMDD in women of color.
Her research areas of focus are on women's reproductive psychiatry, evidence-based longevity medicine, ethnicity-dependent variability in mental health access and treatment response, psychedelics, the role of Eastern religions on mental health in the U.S., and how psychological science can help us overcome the loneliness epidemic. Outside of consultations, she specializes in psychotherapy for those struggling with relationships or loss of a partnership; grief or loss of a parent, sibling, child, or spouse; issues related to identity (religious identification, racial/ethnic minority stress, racial trauma, professional transitions, changes in family structure or relational status, sexual orientation); as well as cognitive-behavioral therapy for ADHD and anxiety disorders. She has received specialized training in working with Black and South Asian populations.
While in training at Stanford, Dr. Shah served as Chief Resident and led community partnerships. She consistently ranked #1 in the Stanford residency (and top 1% in the nation) on the annual knowledge-based examination (PRITE). She is a Disaster Mental Health Responder both domestically and internationally, volunteering after wildfires, hurricanes, and earthquakes in over 20 countries. She founded the Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Council (DIAC), now implemented at psychiatry programs across the country, and created the first known Diversity & Health Equity Grand Rounds series. She served as Chair of the Chief Residents’ Council, representing over a thousand physicians to the Stanford Health Care leadership.
Dr. Shah pursued additional training in the fields of Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine. She has been credentialed in TMS, ECT, hypnosis, and ketamine infusions. She completed a Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research, with training from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), and also completed MAPS' program MDMA Assisted Therapy Researcher Training. She is on the MDMA Clinical/Monitoring Team for Stanford's Pilot Study of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-Assisted Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: (MDMA+CBT-4-OCD).
Dr. Shah serves as a clinical advisor for several start-ups and large companies, advises research teams on the clinical use of psychedelics in psychiatry, and often consults with media and tech companies as an industry expert. She has given talks all over the world, from physician-scientist audiences, to C-suite retreats. She has been seen in TIME, Forbes, and the Washington Post, and in 2020 was awarded one of the top 25 rising stars in medicine by Medscape. -
David Smith, M.D.
Academic Staff - Hourly - CSL, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioDr. Smith is a psychiatrist and clinical psychopharmacologist in private practice in Palo Alto, CA, and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. He majored in both biological science and English literature at Cornell University, received his M.D. from UCLA, and completed his psychiatry residency and NIMH research fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine and Hospital.
Dr. Smith is currently co-director of the pre-clerkship curriculum in psychiatry at the Stanford medical school. -
Ethan Solomon
Instructor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioDr. Solomon is an Instructor in the Department and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and a member of the Stanford Precision Neurotherapeutics Lab. He earned his MD and PhD in Bioengineering through the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Pennsylvania, and completed residency training in psychiatry at the Stanford School of Medicine. His research focuses on electrophysiological techniques (stereo-EEG/ECoG, scalp EEG) and brain stimulation technologies (direct electrical stimulation, deep brain stimulation, and transcranial magnetic stimulation) to understand cognitive and perceptual processes in psychiatric illness. Dr. Solomon is a recipient of an NIMH K99 grant to study the use of theta burst stimulation in hippocampal-cortical networks of patients with schizophrenia.
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Natalie Solomon
Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioDr. Solomon is a licensed psychologist, board certified in behavioral sleep medicine, and a clinical associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Solomon conducts research as a member of the Computational Psychiatry, Neuroimaging, Sleep Lab (CoPsyN Sleep Lab) and treats patients in the Sleep Health and Insomnia Program (SHIP). Dr. Solomon specializes in the study and treatment of sleep disorders. Her clinical interests include the intersection of sleep difficulties with overall quality of life and women’s health. Dr. Solomon is also intrigued by what can humans learn from how other animals sleep. Dr. Solomon enjoys treating a variety of sleep difficulties, including insomnia, hypnotic dependence, circadian rhythm disturbances, NREM parasomnias, and nightmares. Dr. Solomon additionally consults, teaches undergrads, graduate students, and continuing studies, supervises postdoctoral fellows, and trains providers to deliver insomnia treatment. Dr. Solomon is the director of the SHIP CBT-I Training Program for Licensed Providers.
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Barbara Sommer
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University Medical Center, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am interested in the clinical investigation of cognitive stresses during younger adulthood that may give rise to frank intellectual impairment with older age. Examples may include specific kinds of chronically taken medications.
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Maria-Christina Stewart
Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioDr. Stewart specializes in the prevention and treatment of eating, obsessive-compulsive, anxiety, and depressive disorders - and the intersection between them. At Stanford she lectures on evidence-based eating disorder treatments for children and adolescents. Dr. Stewart also runs a private practice, writes, consults, lectures, and hosts the 'Meaning Vs Merit' podcast - exploring how to find meaning in our achievement and merit-focused culture.
