Professional Background

I am a psychiatrist in private practice in West Hollywood, California. I received my Medical Degree from Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1982. I completed my Psychiatric residency at the combined UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute/West Los Angeles VA Hospital program in 1986. I became a Board Certified psychiatrist in 1988.

My work involves providing outpatient treatment to adults with a wide range of psychiatric and emotional problems. I treat both individuals and couples. As a psychiatrist, I am able to prescribe medication but I have always believed that psychotherapy needed to be an integral part of the work that I do. Given this, many of my patients see me for regular therapy sessions while also receiving medication if medication treatment is indicated. There are also patients I see for psychotherapy who do not need medication at all. If circumstances change so that it makes sense to consider treatment with medication, I am able to integrate this treatment into the ongoing psychotherapy relationship.

Since graduating from my residency, I have been an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA. In this capacity, I supervise psychiatric residents as they learn how to treat patients and prescribe medication. I enjoy being able to contribute to their education while benefiting from the stimulating nature of the teaching experience. I take pride in having won the Psychiatry Department's award for teaching excellence in 1994.

Since 1998 my teaching assignment has been in the Mood Disorders Clinic at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. As an attending psychiatrist in the clinic, I teach residents how to prescribe medication for their patients who come for treatment for a range of mood disorders including bipolar disorder and major depression. Since 2011 I have been teaching Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy to psychotherapists who are interested in learning this approach. For psychotherapists interested in learning about ISTDP, please go to the Supervision and Training page.

A few years ago a patient of mine suggested that I search my name in Google to read some reviews that had been written about me. To my surprise and with gratitude, I learned that former patients had taken the time to write about their experience of working with me. If you would like to read about their perspectives on the therapy they had with me, you can find them at www.insiderpages.com/b/3711064663..