About Me
I am a psychoanalyst and board-certified psychiatrist with expertise in psychotherapy and medication management for adults. My approach emphasizes depth psychotherapy as the foundation of treatment, complemented by thoughtful and conservative use of medication when appropriate. I bring a transcultural, multiracial perspective to my work—shaped by my own experience navigating between cultures, languages, and identities—and am particularly interested in how personal history and social context together shape our inner lives.
Education & Training
I earned my undergraduate degree from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and received my medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. In 2015, I completed my psychiatry residency at the UC Davis School of Medicine.
I remain committed to ongoing advanced training to provide optimal care for my patients. In 2016, I completed a two-year psychoanalytic training program through SFCP (San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis). I subsequently pursued formal psychoanalytic training at PINC (Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California), which I completed in 2026. I also completed the Group Therapy Training Program at TPI (The Psychotherapy Institute) in Berkeley in 2025.
In 2026, I received the Muriel Dimen Prize for my paper Borders, Bad Objects, and Psychoanalysis, forthcoming in Psychoanalytic Psychology. The prize honors interdisciplinary contributions to psychoanalytic scholarship, particularly in the study of gender and sexuality.
Clinical Experience
I have been in private practice since 2015, providing individualized, depth-oriented care to adults. I have extensive experience working with complex trauma, particularly the long-term effects of early relational disruptions and developmental trauma.
From 2015 to 2021, I also served as Medical Director of Adult Outpatient Services at Sutter Center for Psychiatry, overseeing clinical care and supporting multidisciplinary teams.
Treatment Approach
Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic psychotherapy is the foundation of my work. This orientation emphasizes understanding one's unconscious beliefs and motivations, attending to the feelings and dynamics that arise within the therapist–patient relationship, and exploring how current patterns developed over time.
Much of what brings people to therapy—a sense that something is off, recurring difficulties in relationships, feeling stuck or driven in ways that don't quite make sense—has roots that aren't immediately visible. We all develop ways of understanding ourselves and the world that made sense in the contexts in which they formed; over time, those adaptations can quietly shape how we move through life. Social and cultural forces—including race, class, gender, and family history—are part of those contexts too, shaping our inner lives in ways that more traditional psychological frameworks often leave unexamined. In my work, I integrate these frameworks—intrapsychic, relational, and sociocultural—toward a fuller, more honest understanding of how we came to be who we are. When that understanding deepens, people often find greater self-knowledge, authenticity, and agency in their lives.
I can also prescribe medication when needed to support the therapeutic work; however, I take a thoughtful and conservative approach to doing so. While medications can be helpful, they are often less effective on their own—particularly when symptoms stem from relational patterns, sociocultural factors, or stressors that are better understood through the work itself. Focusing on symptoms without attending to their roots can inadvertently limit meaningful growth and change. As such, I do not see patients for medication management alone.
For patients whose needs are better served by other approaches—whether medication management, group therapy, or modalities such as exposure therapy—I am glad to provide referrals to colleagues whose work is centered on those approaches.
I am a psychoanalyst and board-certified psychiatrist with expertise in psychotherapy and medication management for adults. My approach emphasizes depth psychotherapy as the foundation of treatment, complemented by thoughtful and conservative use of medication when appropriate. I bring a transcultural, multiracial perspective to my work—shaped by my own experience navigating between cultures, languages, and identities—and am particularly interested in how personal history and social context together shape our inner lives.
Education & Training
I earned my undergraduate degree from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and received my medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. In 2015, I completed my psychiatry residency at the UC Davis School of Medicine.
I remain committed to ongoing advanced training to provide optimal care for my patients. In 2016, I completed a two-year psychoanalytic training program through SFCP (San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis). I subsequently pursued formal psychoanalytic training at PINC (Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California), which I completed in 2026. I also completed the Group Therapy Training Program at TPI (The Psychotherapy Institute) in Berkeley in 2025.
In 2026, I received the Muriel Dimen Prize for my paper Borders, Bad Objects, and Psychoanalysis, forthcoming in Psychoanalytic Psychology. The prize honors interdisciplinary contributions to psychoanalytic scholarship, particularly in the study of gender and sexuality.
Clinical Experience
I have been in private practice since 2015, providing individualized, depth-oriented care to adults. I have extensive experience working with complex trauma, particularly the long-term effects of early relational disruptions and developmental trauma.
From 2015 to 2021, I also served as Medical Director of Adult Outpatient Services at Sutter Center for Psychiatry, overseeing clinical care and supporting multidisciplinary teams.
Treatment Approach
Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic psychotherapy is the foundation of my work. This orientation emphasizes understanding one's unconscious beliefs and motivations, attending to the feelings and dynamics that arise within the therapist–patient relationship, and exploring how current patterns developed over time.
Much of what brings people to therapy—a sense that something is off, recurring difficulties in relationships, feeling stuck or driven in ways that don't quite make sense—has roots that aren't immediately visible. We all develop ways of understanding ourselves and the world that made sense in the contexts in which they formed; over time, those adaptations can quietly shape how we move through life. Social and cultural forces—including race, class, gender, and family history—are part of those contexts too, shaping our inner lives in ways that more traditional psychological frameworks often leave unexamined. In my work, I integrate these frameworks—intrapsychic, relational, and sociocultural—toward a fuller, more honest understanding of how we came to be who we are. When that understanding deepens, people often find greater self-knowledge, authenticity, and agency in their lives.
I can also prescribe medication when needed to support the therapeutic work; however, I take a thoughtful and conservative approach to doing so. While medications can be helpful, they are often less effective on their own—particularly when symptoms stem from relational patterns, sociocultural factors, or stressors that are better understood through the work itself. Focusing on symptoms without attending to their roots can inadvertently limit meaningful growth and change. As such, I do not see patients for medication management alone.
For patients whose needs are better served by other approaches—whether medication management, group therapy, or modalities such as exposure therapy—I am glad to provide referrals to colleagues whose work is centered on those approaches.
