About Me

I am a native Georgian, born and raised in the town of Valdosta. Not venturing too far from home, I attended both college and medical school in my home state of Georgia. In 1994, Atlanta became my home when I came to Emory University to complete my psychiatric residency. Following this, I began my postgraduate career in medicine as a psychiatrist with Kaiser Permanente in 1997.For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be a physician. There was never a time that I can remember that I imagined anything else for myself. Although there were no medical professionals in my family, the universal principles of helping others, working hard and possessing compassion and empathy towards others were central in my upbringing. My parents were unwavering in their encouragement and support of my aspirations.However, it was not until my psychiatry rotation in medical school that I realized the specialty of psychiatry was my calling. Around this time, there were significant and exciting advancements occurring within the biological realm of psychiatry. This resulted in me having an even greater appreciation and understanding of the overlap of biological science, human behavior and emotion.

About my practice

My clinical practice consists of both outpatient general adult psychiatry, as well as hospital-based consultation psychiatry. In my role as a psychiatrist in the outpatient setting of Kaiser Permanente, I perform diagnostic evaluations as well as psychopharmacologic treatment and management of adult psychiatric disorders. I work in collaboration with a full staff of licensed mental health professionals including psychologists, licensed professional counselors, licensed clinical social workers and psychiatric clinical nurse specialists. In the medical hospital setting, I serve as a consultant providing psychiatric evaluation and treatment for medically-ill hospitalized patients. Frequently in this setting, I am consulted when there are overlapping medical and psychiatric concerns present. This may include the assessment of psychiatric signs or symptoms with an underlying medical etiology or the evaluation and management of psychiatric conditions that may be impacting the medical condition, course or treatment of a hospitalized individual.

How I thrive

I do my best to be mindful of and maintain a healthy balance between work and play. Since work is such a big part of our lives, I believe that having a career that is not only challenging, but also exciting, enjoyable and rewarding, is essential to life satisfaction. I believe I have found this in my work at Kaiser Permanente.Outside of work, I enjoy traveling, puttering about in my yard and garden, spending time with my two "children" of the canine-type (Ripley and Cody, both terriers), cooking and watching a good movie or sitcom, when time permits. I also try to exercise two to three times each week at the gym.