School of Medicine


Showing 21-40 of 613 Results

  • Alan Atkins

    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

    Aparna Atluru, MD, MBA

    Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsPhysician Mental Health, Resident Mental Health

  • Rania Awaad, MD

    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.

  • 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 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

    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.

  • Fiona Barwick, PhD, DBSM

    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.

  • Nataly Beck, MD

    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.