School of Medicine
Showing 1-100 of 1,190 Results
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Mohammad Abbasi, PhD
RSE / Data Scientist and Data Manager at Transitional AI lab, Psych/Public Mental Health & Population Sciences
BioI am a Research Software Engineer (RSE) | Data Scientist & Data Manager at the Stanford Translational AI (STAI) Lab. I lead data engineering and AI infrastructure across large-scale neuroscience and healthcare projects, building standards-first, end-to-end pipelines for data collection, curation, preprocessing, and multimodal integration. My work emphasizes reproducibility, scalability, and interoperability through BIDS-style schemas, schema validation, containerized deployments, and CI/CD across heterogeneous computing environments.
I have designed and maintained containerized preprocessing workflows for thousands of subjects across major datasets, automating modality-specific steps such as registration, intensity normalization, bias-field correction, motion/confound estimation, quality control, and downstream metadata exports. I ensure these pipelines are robust, well-documented, versioned, and reusable across projects, sites, and modalities. -
Elias Aboujaoude, MD, MA
Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioDr. Aboujaoude is a Clinical Professor, researcher and writer at Stanford University's Department of Psychiatry, where he is Chief of the Anxiety Disorders Section and Director of the OCD Clinic and the Impulse Control Disorders Clinic. Besides the compulsivity-impulsivity spectrum, his work has focused on the intersection of technology and psychology, with an emphasis on the problematic use of Internet-related technologies, mental health in a post-privacy world, and the potential for telemedicine interventions such as virtual reality and video-based therapy to increase access to care and advance global health. His books include "Virtually You: The Dangerous Powers of the e-Personality" and "Mental Heath in the Digital Age: Grave Dangers, Great Promise". Dr. Aboujaoude also teaches psychology on the main Stanford campus and at UC Berkeley. Scholarly and media platforms that have featured his work include The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Congressional Quarterly, The Harvard Business Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, BBC, PBS, and CNN.
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Aysha Abraibesh
Clinical Rsch Coord Assoc, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - Sleep Medicine
BioAysha Abraibesh, MPA is a clinical research coordinator in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She works primarily on the Stanford Apnea and Insomnia Study (AIR) Study, led by Dr. Rachel Manber (more info can be found at airstudy.stanford.edu)
Aysha earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology (2012) and Master’s in Public Administration (2013) both from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. She has since held multiple positions supporting research studies related to social and behavioral health issues, most recently as a Lead Behavioral Health Interviewer at Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon. -
Daniel A. Abrams
Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsAutism spectrum disorders (ASD) are among the most pervasive neurodevelopmental disorders and are characterized by significant deficits in social communication. A common observation in children with ASD is that affected individuals often “tune out” from social interactions, which likely impacts the development of social, communication, and language skills. My primary research goals are to understand why children with ASD often tune out from the social world and how this impacts social skill and brain development, and to identify remediation strategies that motivate children with ASD to engage in social interactions. The theoretical framework that guides my work is that social impairments in ASD stem from a primary deficit in identifying social stimuli, such as human voices and faces, as rewarding and salient stimuli, thereby precluding children with ASD from engaging with these stimuli.
My program of research has provided important information regarding the brain circuits underlying social deficits in ASD. Importantly, these findings have consistently implicated key structures of the brain’s reward and salience processing systems, and support the hypothesis that impaired reward attribution to social stimuli is a critical aspect of social difficulties in ASD.
My lab is currently conducting three research studies:
Speaker-Listener Coupling and Brain Dynamics During Naturalistic Verbal Communication in Children with Autism
We have a new study investigating how the brain processes and understands speech in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder as well as typically developing children. We are interested in understanding speech comprehension in children through anticipating incoming speech and accumulating speech information over a period of time.
Speaker-Listener Coupling and Brain Dynamics During Naturalistic Verbal Communication in Alzheimer’s Disease
In collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, our new study is exploring how the brain enables us to understand speech, with a focus on both healthy older adults and adults with Alzheimer’s Disease. We also aim to understand how the brain measures seen while we listen and understand a story are linked to language skills in these individuals.
Pivotal Response Treatment for Adolescents with High Functioning Autism Intervention Study
This is a 9-week intervention focusing on key social skills for autistic adolescents, while exploring brain plasticity using fMRI imaging. Your child will receive 1:1 sessions with our clinician, with parent training in clinic. Topics include: Greetings, Departures, Question Asking, Talking the Right Amount, Empathy, Sarcasm, and Eating and Drinking. We also coordinate with the school for additional support and opportunities to practice the targeted social skills in a club of interest. -
Connor Adams
Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioDr. Connor Adams (she/they) is a Clinical Assistant Professor who received her doctorate in psychology from the George Washington University and completed her internship training at Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance. Her clinical and research interests center on therapeutic interventions that support recovery for individuals living with serious mental illness. Dr. Adams grounds her work in a psychodynamic perspective, assisting individuals in understanding why they think, feel, and behave the way they do, in order to increase agency and choice. Dr. Adams has specialized training in comprehensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy and provides treatment for individuals with emotion regulation difficulties. She also has specialized training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis (CBTp). Additionally, Dr. Adams provides individual and group psychotherapy within the psychiatric inpatient treatment setting. She is broadly interested in increasing access to person-centered and recovery-oriented care.
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Leslie Adams
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Public Mental Health) and, by courtesy, of Pediatrics
BioLeslie Adams, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Public Mental Health and Population Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, where she focuses on addressing mental health disparities among people of African descent and marginalized communities. As a behavioral scientist, her research emphasizes the role of structural racism, gender norms, and psychosocial stressors in influencing mental health outcomes. Dr. Adams employs mixed-methods approaches, including ecological momentary assessment and passive data sensing, to explore real-time stressors like racial discrimination and their link to depressive symptoms and suicidality. Prior to her role at Stanford, she served as an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and was a David E. Bell Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies.
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Ehsan Adeli
Assistant Professor (Research) of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Public Mental Health and Populations Sciences) and, by courtesy, of Computer Science and of Biomedical Data Science
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research lies in the intersection of Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Healthcare, Ambient Intelligence, and Computational Neuroscience.
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Steven Adelsheim
Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioSteven Adelsheim, MD is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and Associate Chair for
Community Engagement in Stanford’s Department of Psychiatry, where he directs the Center for
Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing. A national leader in early intervention, Dr. Adelsheim
spearheaded the launch of allcove—a youth-driven, integrated mental health model now
expanding across California. He also co-leads PEPPNET, the national early psychosis clinical
network. His work extends to youth suicide prevention, school mental health systems, and
partnerships with Indigenous communities to strengthen culturally grounded early intervention
for tribal youth. Dr. Adelsheim’s career is grounded in building equitable, accessible mental
health systems for young people nationwide. -
Sarah Adler
Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am interested in the design and delivery of clinical care using, data and technology. I have focused on disordered eating behaviors and obesity.
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W. Stewart Agras
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research is focused on disorders of human feeding including the eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. Ongoing or recently completed studies include: A controlled trial of the implementation of interpersonal psychotherapy for eating disorders and depression on college campuses across the U.S. A multisite controlled study of two types of family therapy for the treatment of adolescent anorexia nervosa. Early prevemtion of overweight and obesity.
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Maryam Ahmadi Shapourabadi
Social Science Research Scholar, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - Sleep Medicine
Current Role at StanfordResearch Scolar
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Raag Airan
Associate Professor of Radiology (Neuroimaging and Neurointervention) and, by courtesy, of Materials Science & Engineering and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur goal is to develop and clinically implement new technologies for high-precision and noninvasive intervention upon the nervous system. Every few millimeters of the brain is functionally distinct, and different parts of the brain may have counteracting responses to therapy. To better match our therapies to neuroscience, we develop techniques that allow intervention upon only the right part of the nervous system at the right time, using technologies like focused ultrasound and nanotechnology.
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Teddy J. Akiki, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Akiki's research focuses on advancing precision psychiatry through computational neuroscience approaches. His work centers on developing transformer-based foundation models for functional neuroimaging that can predict treatment responses and symptom trajectories in psychiatric disorders. Using multimodal connectomics (combining structural, functional, and diffusion MRI), he maps neural circuits underlying stress-related conditions, with particular emphasis on identifying dysconnectivity patterns in PTSD and depression. Dr. Akiki develops novel analytical methods for neuroimaging data, including network-restricted metrics and community detection frameworks optimized for functional time series. His translational work includes neuroimaging-augmented clinical trials of novel therapeutics for treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders, with the goal of implementing data-driven, personalized interventions based on individual neurobiological profiles.
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Amy Alexander
Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsCollege Mental Health, Emotional Support Animals & Service Animals, Women's Health, Mental Health & Well-being in Veterinarians
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Olivia Altamirano, PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsCulturally Sensitive Therapy is a group psychotherapy for people with early psychosis and their families. Study aims are to understand if this treatment is compatible with this population, to assess improvements in family functioning and mental health symptoms, to assess mediating factors (e.g., increased usage of adaptive religious and other cultural beliefs/values), and to assess longevity of improvements. Last, we aim to qualitatively understand participants’ experiences with this treatment.
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James Armontrout
Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioDr. Armontrout is the Program Director of the Stanford Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship. He completed residency training at the Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program, followed by forensic psychiatry fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. He is board certified in Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, and Addiction Medicine.
Before coming to Stanford Dr. Armontrout worked as a staff psychiatrist for the Palo Alto VA Healthcare System at the Trauma Recovery Program, a residential treatment program focusing on PTSD, other trauma-related disorders, and substance use disorders. For a portion of Dr. Armontrout's time with the VA he served as the Medical Director for the Trauma Recovery Program.
In addition to his forensic fellowship activities, Dr. Armontrout currently serves as an attending in the Stanford PTSD clinic and the dual diagnosis clinic. -
Bruce Arnow, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (General Psychiatry and Psychology - Adult)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsCurrent research interests include treatment outcome for major depression, particularly treatment refractory and chronic forms of major depression, as well as mediators and moderators of outcome; the epidemiology of chronic pain and depression; relationships between child maltreatment and adult sequelae, including psychiatric, medical and health care utilization.
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Martijn Arns
Affiliate, Psych/Major Laboratories and Clinical & Translational Neurosciences Incubator
Visiting Scholar, Psych/Major Laboratories and Clinical & Translational Neurosciences IncubatorBioMartijn Arns, PhD, is an applied neuroscientist and entrepreneur with a longstanding focus on brain stimulation, neurofeedback/BCI, and medtech innovation. He is a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, affiliated with the Stanford Brain Stimulation Lab and the Psychedelics and Consciousness Lab headed by Dr. Nolan Williams, dividing his time between Palo Alto and Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
In 2001, he founded the Brainclinics Foundation, a non-profit research institute dedicated to applied neuroscience from the clinic, to the clinic. His research and clinical work span interventional psychiatry, precision and stratified psychiatry, and novel interventions including rTMS for depression and OCD, TMS-induced Heart–Brain Coupling, neurofeedback, and psychedelics.
Dr. Arns has published over 190 scientific papers and holds four patents. He has successfully translated research into practice through multiple spin-off ventures. Beyond research and entrepreneurship, Dr. Arns contributes to the scientific community as associate editor for leading journals, organizer of international conferences, and board member of several professional organizations. He also advises medtech and AI start-ups and established companies, helping to advance translation and implementation in applied neuroscience. -
Muhammad Asim
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am interested in investigating the cell type-specific and neural circuit mechanisms underlying emotional disorders. In particular, I strive to explore the neural mechanisms associated with psychedelic drugs, focusing on how these substances improve mood and exhibit antidepressant-like effects.
#Psychedelics #5HT2AR #striatum #amygdala #Depression&Anxiety -
Alan Atkins
Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Child Development
BioDr. Al Atkins is a psychiatrist providing talk therapy and medical management in English and Spanish.
Dr. Atkins grew up in California and started his mental health career facilitating therapy at a prison in Buenos Aires. He teamed up with his patients and colleagues to build a climbing wall inside the prison, allowing patients to challenge themselves physically and mentally. After medical school at Brown University, Dr. Atkins completed psychiatry residency and founded a research team dedicated to investigating the healing power of walking in nature. After residency, Dr. Atkins traveled to Colorado to complete a two year fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. There, he served as Chief Fellow and pursued specialized therapy training. Dr. Atkins has been awarded the Kimberly Kelsay Curiosity Award for his enthusiasm for learning from his patients and the Catcher in the Rye award for "going the extra mile" for his Spanish-speaking Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) patients. Some career highlights have included teaching meditation neuroscience to doctors in Cambodia and getting to learn from doctors and patients in Kumasi, Ghana.
Contemplative practice, psychotherapy, humor and nature time permeate both Dr. Atkins' clinical and personal interests. His clinical style involves a slow-moving dynamic emphasizing trust, understanding, and diagnostic humility. He takes an integrative and minimalist approach; often prescribing things like morning walks or returning to a favorite hobby before resorting to medications. -
Aparna Atluru, MD, MBA
Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsPhysician Mental Health, Resident Mental Health
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Christopher Wallace Austelle
Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioChristopher Wallace Austelle, MD, is a board-certified psychiatrist and Clinical Assistant Professor investigating circuit-based treatments for mood and anxiety disorders. As a physician-scientist, he examines how neural circuits underlying emotion and cognition are dynamically coupled with the autonomic nervous system to shape interoception, and how disruptions in these integrated systems contribute to depression and anxiety.
With more than a decade of experience in neuromodulation, Dr. Austelle has worked across research and clinical settings using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), accelerated protocols such as Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy (SAINT), transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS), and implanted vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). His research integrates clinical trials, neuroimaging, and psychophysiology to develop targeted, physiology-informed interventions.
Clinically, he specializes in treatment-resistant depression and anxiety disorders, applying evidence-based neuromodulation strategies for individuals who have not responded to standard treatments. -
Rania Awaad, MD
Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsAs the Director of the Muslims and Mental Health Lab, Dr. Awaad is dedicated to creating an academic home for the study of mental health as it relates to the Islamic faith and Muslim populations. The lab aims to provide the intellectual resources to clinicians, researchers, trainees, educators, community and religious leaders working with or studying Muslims.
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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
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 Associate Chair for Patient Services and 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's research focuses primarily in clinical trials of new medications for the treatment of schizophrenia. He further 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 participated in numerous projects investigating the metabolic implications of schizophrenia and of psychiatric medication including the association of antipsychotic medication with weight gain and insulin resistance.
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. -
Stephanie Balters
Instructor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences
BioDr. Stephanie Balters is a neuroscientist, educator, and innovator dedicated to advancing team flourishing and excellence. She directs the Empowerment Neuroscience Lab in Stanford Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, serves as Director of Research at Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE), and is Scientific Lead of the Stanford Belonging Project. Her research employs portable dual-brain neuroimaging (fNIRS hyperscanning) and advanced computational modeling to elucidate the neural and inter-brain signatures of high-impact, purpose-aligned teams. She also develops and tests targeted, evidence-based interventions that measurably strengthen connection, collaboration, and performance. Partnering across Stanford Medicine, the Graduate School of Business, and Stanford Athletics, Dr. Balters translates biomarkers of human connection into simple, repeatable practices that leaders can train and track over time—turning the neuroscience of connection into a practical engine for culture change. She also leads team-innovation workshops at Stanford, creating high-trust spaces that foster authenticity, alignment, and bold, measurable execution. Beyond academia, she serves as a Human Factors Specialist at NATO, converting neuroscience insights into actionable strategies for resilient, high-performing teams.
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Fiona Barwick, PhD, DBSM
Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - Sleep Medicine
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch interests focus on expanding sleep education, improving sleep health, optimizing treatment for circadian rhythm disorders, and adapting treatment for insomnia in populations where developmental, medical, psychiatric and cultural factors intersect.
Current research projects include developing and piloting integrated protocols for treating sleep problems that co-occur with medical conditions such as chronic pain or POTS. Ongoing collaborations include delivery of a CBTI protocol in Mandarin via telehealth to patients at Chongqing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital in China. Past projects include investigation of the link between RLS and the gut microbiome and a survey of student sleep health. -
Nicholas Bassano
Adm Svcs Admstr 1, Psych/Major Laboratories and Clinical & Translational Neurosciences Incubator
Current Role at StanfordClinical Research Coordinator-2
Stanford University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science
Brain Stimulation Lab -
Shania Danielle Bayley
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
BioDr. Shania Bayley is a Postdoctoral Scholar on the Autism Spectrum Disorders track at Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She earned her Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University Maryland, where her training was specialized in child and adolescent psychology with a strong emphasis on neurodevelopmental disorders, trauma-informed care, and early relational health.
She completed her predoctoral internship at WestCoast Children’s Clinic in Oakland, California. Her clinical interests include diagnostic assessment of autism spectrum disorder, parent-child relational dynamics, and attachment-based interventions in marginalized communities. She has received training in psychodiagnostic testing and has experience providing therapy to children, adolescents, and families across school, community, and hospital settings. -
Elizabeth Beam
Resident in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioEllie Beam is a psychiatry resident pursuing research at the intersection of neuroscience, computer science, and language. She completed MD/PhD training at Stanford Medical School with funding from the MSTP and the NRSA fellowship. Her doctoral thesis synthesized the neuroimaging literature into a framework for knowledge of human brain function, published in Nature Neuroscience and forming the basis for a US patent. Her work has been recognized by the Leah J. Dickstein Medical Student Award and Angier B. Duke Memorial Scholarship.
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Sherry Ann Beaudreau
Clinical Professor (Affiliated), Psych/General Psychiatry and Psychology (Adult)
Staff, Psychiatry and Behavioral SciencesBioDr. 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
Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioAs co-founder and co-director of ALMA Clinic, Dr. Nataly Beck is a psychiatrist who is passionate about providing compassionate, evidence-based, culturally sensitive, and language-concordant care to patients, especially including those from the Hispanic or Latin-American community. Originally from Lima, Peru, she immigrated to the US with her family at a young age. After attending the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, she attended Yale School of Medicine and then completed her psychiatry residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. As a Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford, she co-founded ALMA Clinic (formerly known as La Clínica Latina) in 2021 and has been inspired to see the impact that the clinic has had on many Hispanic and Latin-American patients. Dr. Beck is honored to have the opportunity to co-lead the team of providers, graduate and undergraduate students, and others at Stanford Medicine that have the united goal of providing excellent care to patients as well as to advance mental health care in the Hispanic and Latin-American community.
Como cofundadora y codirectora de la Clínica ALMA, la Dra. Nataly Beck es una psiquiatra apasionada por brindar atención compasiva, basada en la evidencia, culturalmente sensible y en el idioma del paciente, especialmente a aquellos de la comunidad hispana o latinoamericana. Originaria de Lima, Perú, emigró a Estados Unidos con su familia a una edad temprana. Tras estudiar en la Universidad de Tennessee-Knoxville, cursó sus estudios de medicina en la Facultad de Medicina de Yale y completó su residencia en psiquiatría en el Centro Médico de la Universidad de Vanderbilt. Como profesora clínica adjunta en Stanford, cofundó la Clínica ALMA (anteriormente conocida como La Clínica Latina) en 2021 y se siente inspirada al ver el impacto que la clínica ha tenido en muchos pacientes hispanos y latinoamericanos. La Dra. Beck se siente honrada de tener la oportunidad de codirigir el equipo de profesionales, estudiantes de posgrado y pregrado, y demás personal de Stanford Medicine, quienes comparten el objetivo de brindar una atención excelente a los pacientes y de promover la salud mental en la comunidad hispana y latinoamericana. -
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.
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Catherine Benedict, PhD
Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - Medical Psychiatry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research focuses on improving cancer survivorship through better understanding of long-term health outcomes and through the development of theoretically driven, evidence-based behavioral interventions to improve adjustment, risk management, and quality of life. To this end, I lead studies aimed to guide and support patient decision-making and self-management after cancer. Much of my work focuses on the experiences of young adults affected by cancer.
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Michele Berk, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavior Sciences (Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Child Development)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe focus of my research is on adolescent suicidal and self-harm behavior. I am currently one of four Principal Investigators of a multisite NIMH-sponsored RCT of DBT for adolescents at high risk for suicide (NCT01528020: Collaborative Adolescent Research on Emotions and Suicide [CARES], PI: Linehan, McCauley, Berk, & Asarnow) aimed at evaluating the efficacy of DBT with adolescents compared to a combined individual and group supportive therapy control condition (IGST).
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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.
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Mahendra T. Bhati
Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Clinical Professor, NeurosurgeryBioDr. 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 in the first controlled clinical trials of TMS and deep brain stimulation (DBS) 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.
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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 at Stanford University School of Medicine. She is a dual Board-certified child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist, specializing 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 served as 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 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. She is often invited to give talks at national, regional and local conferences and organizations.
She values the academic as well as the humanistic aspects of psychiatry. During her psychiatry residency training from 2007 to 2010, she scored between 94th and 98th percentile among US psychiatry resident physicians. She takes a whole-person approach, utilizing active, empathic listening and 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, diagnostic errors, mindfulness, bullying prevention, and compassion and empathy cultivation. -
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.
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 Stanford Children’s Hospital Child INSPIRE early psychosis clinic and the Stanford Health Care INSPIRE clinic and INSPIRE360 Coordinated Specialty Care/Wraparound program. 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 is also a school psychiatrist, providing 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, and Mountain View schools.
Dr. Bhatt’s research interests include Asian American and South Asian youth mental health and prevention of youth suicide. She enjoys teaching and mentoring students and trainees, and currently is a mentor through the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. -
Rebecca Bilden
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
BioRebecca Bilden, PhD, MSc is a T32 Postdoctoral Fellow in Pain and Substance Use at Stanford University School of Medicine, where she conducts research under the mentorship of Drs. Keith Humphreys and Brian Bateman. Dr. Bilden is a health services researcher and decision scientist whose work focuses on improving access to treatment for substance use disorders through evidence-based policy and simulation modeling. By integrating qualitative insights into models, she analyzes system dynamics and develops strategies to improve care delivery within complex healthcare systems.
Dr. Bilden earned her PhD in Health Services Research and Policy from the University of Pittsburgh, an MSc in Applied Data Science and Statistics from the University of Exeter, and a BA in Pure and Applied Mathematics from Boston University. Her current research focuses on evaluating opioid-related policies, improving treatment retention among people with substance use disorders, and expanding access to care in carceral settings. -
Brandon Birckhead MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioDr. Brandon Birckhead is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He works in the Stanford University's Virtual Reality and Immersive Technology Clinic and Stanford Anxiety and Depression Adult Psychological Treatment (ADAPT) clinic.
He was valedictorian for his graduating class of biological sciences at University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Followed by his medical degree at Mayo Clinic Medical School in Rochester Minnesota. He then received a master degree in healthcare delivery science at Cedars-Sinai. During this time he helped develop a set of recommendations for VR therapy clinical trials. He also helped design and implement some of the first remote CBT skills based VR therapy clinical trials for chronic pain. He was also the co-director of virtual medicine conference from 2019-2020. He then completed his psychiatry residency at Johns Hopkins. During his residency he was a consultant to Apple, providing guidance on the Apple Vision Pro. He then spent some time on the Apple Health team as a clinical project manager.
Clinically Dr. Birckhead offers a comprehensive approach to care, integrating evidence-based therapies such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). When appropriate he also provides medication management. He is interested in working with adults with anxiety disorders, PTSD, mood disorders, and OCD. He is committed to a collaborative, personalized treatment process—working closely with each individual to understand their unique challenges and develop a tailored plan to support their mental health and well-being.
