I have always been interested in healing and in understanding the mind.  After graduating  from  Smith College with a B.A. in Psychology, I attended medical school at Tufts University School of Medicine.   I then completed Psychiatry residency at Harvard Medical School where I found the most satisfaction in direct patient care.  My focus was in  community mental health and in treating the severely mentally ill,  a population that I felt was underserved.   I spent most of my clinic hours during residency at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and  Boston Healthcare for the Homeless treating conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, addictions and borderline personality disorder .   I also worked in the Harvard Indochinese Psychiatry Clinic (now known as the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma) caring for victims of war trauma. 

After completing my residency in 1999, I moved to the  Sacramento area to raise a family. I worked in the outpatient clinic at Kaiser Permanente for several years .  Here, I became very  proficient in the medication management of depression and  anxiety disorders such as PTSD, OCD, and panic disorder by prescribing for a large caseload. 

In 2004 I left the Permanente Medical Group to open my private practice.  Although I found satisfaction in supporting my clients through their difficulties, I also became progressively more disillusioned with conventional medicine.    In 2009 I decided to take a sabbatical to devote time to myself and my family.

​I am thrilled to have re-opened my practice as of 2014, and I am looking forward to treating my clients with the most current knowledge in the field of mental health.  I am excited that the medical field  is in the midst of a revolution-- a paradigm shift from a  problem-specific  disease model to a more integrative one as we begin to acknowledge how the mind, body, spirit and community all interact to affect our health.  Rather than treating symptoms, we must focus on the root cause of illness.  I have witnessed over my years of practice that although  medications can be very powerful and beneficial, especially in the acute situation,  they also have their limitations and that successful long-term treatment and healing must encompass a wider scope of treatment options.

My passion to find a more comprehensive approach to preventing and treating mental illness led me to complete the 2-year Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the Andrew Weil Center For Integrative Medicine  (AWCIM) in 2018.  In addition,   I am a 2021 graduate of the Nine Gates Mystery School, an immersive instruction in transpersonal psychology and ancient contemplative traditions. I have also spent time learning from traditional healers in the Yucatan and South America and have special interest in psychedelic assisted therapies,  realizing its great potential as an emerging treatment modality.   I am very excited to be able to bring this knowledge into my practice, to continue lifelong learning and to be a part of this evolution in  healthcare!