Bio


Ripal Shah, M.D., M.P.H. is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. She specializes clinically in reproductive psychiatry (the Women's Wellness Clinic - pre-conception, pregnancy, postpartum, breastfeeding, fertility, pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), reproductive and sexual health disorders), lifestyle and integrative approaches to health (the Stanford Center for Integrative Medicine - vitamins, supplements, exercise, behavioral modifications, hypnosis), and in physician wellness (the WellConnect program - serving Stanford resident/fellow/faculty physicians). 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, integrative approaches to mental health, diversity & inclusion program development, ethnicity-dependent variability in mental health access and treatment response, psychedelics, spirituality, and minority stress. Outside of consultations, she specializes in psychotherapy for minority populations, particularly those struggling with 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.

While in training at Stanford, she served as Chief Resident and led Community Partnerships and Diversity & Inclusion efforts. 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, most recently in California after the wildfires, in Florida after Hurricane Irma and Maria, and in Kathmandu following the Nepal earthquake. She founded and led the Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Council (DIAC) for psychiatry faculty and residents which is now a model organization for training programs across the country, built and then graduated from a Diversity & Health Equity track in the residency training program, 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. 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, and a B.S. from Duke University in Economics and Biochemistry.

She is board certified in Adult Psychiatry, Addiction Medicine, and Obesity Medicine, and board-eligible in Integrative Medicine. She pursued additional training in the fields of Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine, which has informed her evidence-based approach to integrative medicine. She is credentialed as one of very few physicians in the country able to bill for TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation), ECT (electroconvulsive therapy), 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). She advises several companies and research teams on the clinical use of psychedelics in psychiatry, and often consults with media and tech companies as an industry expert. 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.

Clinical Focus


  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Racial Trauma
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
  • ADHD and Anxiety Disorders
  • Pregnancy and Lactation Psychiatry
  • Infertility Mental Health
  • Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD)
  • Integrative Medicine
  • Psychiatry
  • Psychedelics

Academic Appointments


  • Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Honors & Awards


  • Chief Resident, Stanford University, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
  • International Clinical Fellowship, Stanford Center for Global Health Innovation

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations


  • Diversity Leadership Fellow, American Psychiatric Association (2017 - 2019)
  • Chair, Chief Residents' Council (2017 - 2018)
  • Executive Board, Graduate Medical Education Diversity Committee (2017 - Present)

Professional Education


  • Board Certification: American Board of Preventive Medicine, Addiction Medicine (2021)
  • Board Certification: American Board of Obesity Medicine, Obesity Medicine (2021)
  • Fellowship: Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine AHIM (2021) CA
  • Board Certification, American Board of Preventive Medicine, Addiction Medicine (2021)
  • Board Certification: American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Psychiatry (2018)
  • Medical Education: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (2013) NY
  • Residency: Stanford University Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (2018) CA
  • M.P.H., Harvard University, Healthcare Management and Policy
  • M.D., Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Medicine
  • B.S., Duke University, Economics and Biochemistry

All Publications


  • Community Mental Health Supervision Serving the Underserved SUPERVISION IN PSYCHIATRIC PRACTICE: PRACTICAL APPROACHES ACROSS VENUES AND PROVIDERS Shah, R., McGlynn, L. M., DeGolia, S. G., Corcoran, K. M. 2019: 227–32
  • Supervising Cross-Cultural Topics in a Clinical Setting SUPERVISION IN PSYCHIATRIC PRACTICE: PRACTICAL APPROACHES ACROSS VENUES AND PROVIDERS Shah, R., DeGolia, S. G., Corcoran, K. M. 2019: 337–43
  • Cultural Issues Within the Supervisory Relationship SUPERVISION IN PSYCHIATRIC PRACTICE: PRACTICAL APPROACHES ACROSS VENUES AND PROVIDERS Bandstra, B. S., Shah, R., Tan, M., DeGolia, S. G., Corcoran, K. M. 2019: 293–97
  • Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning Students STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH: A GUIDE FOR PSYCHIATRISTS, PSYCHOLOGISTS, AND LEADERS SERVING IN HIGHER EDUCATION Shah, R., Eshel, N., McGlynn, L., Roberts, L. W. 2018: 411–24
  • Intrinsic and Antipsychotic Drug-Induced Metabolic Dysfunction in Schizophrenia FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE Freyberg, Z., Aslanoglou, D., Shah, R., Ballon, J. S. 2017; 11: 432

    Abstract

    For decades, there have been observations demonstrating significant metabolic disturbances in people with schizophrenia including clinically relevant weight gain, hypertension, and disturbances in glucose and lipid homeostasis. Many of these findings pre-date the use of antipsychotic drugs (APDs) which on their own are also strongly associated with metabolic side effects. The combination of APD-induced metabolic changes and common adverse environmental factors associated with schizophrenia have made it difficult to determine the specific contributions of each to the overall metabolic picture. Data from drug-naïve patients, both from the pre-APD era and more recently, suggest that there may be an intrinsic metabolic risk associated with schizophrenia. Nevertheless, these findings remain controversial due to significant clinical variability in both psychiatric and metabolic symptoms throughout patients' disease courses. Here, we provide an extensive review of classic and more recent literature describing the metabolic phenotype associated with schizophrenia. We also suggest potential mechanistic links between signaling pathways associated with schizophrenia and metabolic dysfunction. We propose that, beyond its symptomatology in the central nervous system, schizophrenia is also characterized by pathophysiology in other organ systems directly related to metabolic control.

    View details for DOI 10.3389/fnins.2017.00432

    View details for Web of Science ID 000406598400001

    View details for PubMedID 28804444

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5532378