I completed medical school at the University of Texas Medical

ranch in Galveston in 2014, then completed my residency in

psychiatry there in 2018.  I have been board-certified by the

American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology since 2018. 

In medical school, I received the Jimmy Doyle Dickens Memorial

Award after finishing with the highest grade in the first course of

our freshman year (I was told I was the first woman to ever do so in

the history of the school, which was founded in 1891). In my 3rd

year of medical school, I was inducted into the nationally recognized

Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, which is reserved for

those with the “highest academic achievement”.  I was recognized

for “gifted teaching, supporting the ideals of humanism, and

promoting service to others”.  Also in my 3rd year, I was inducted

into the nationally recognized Gold Humanism Honor Society, which

“champions humanism in healthcare, defined as compassionate,

collaborative, and scientifically excellent care”.  I graduated Summa

Cum Laude from medical school, in the top 2% of my graduating class.

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In addition to the already rigorous work in residency, I was an Ambassador for the program gifted with the opportunity to recruit for the UTMB psychiatry residency program.  I chose to supplement my education by moonlighting at a 60 bed inpatient unit with addiction, acute adult, geriatric and adolescent beds, in addition to a private practice clinic and an adult inpatient chemical dependence rehabilitation center.  I served as a resident faculty at the community clinic run by medical students providing care exclusively to the indigent population of Galveston.  I served as the outpatient co-chief of the program and implemented day-before-appointment call reminders as a quality improvement project which improved the clinic no-show rate significantly.  I was the only resident who attempted original research.  In my free time, I spent several years developing a protocol for researching PTSD prevention using SSRIs at Shriners Hospital for Children, a world-class burn hospital.

 

I have continued to pursue academics throughout my career.  I enjoy attending the Neuroscience Education Institute’s Congress and Synapse and Psych Congress’ annual meeting.  Last year I attended the National Commission on Correctional Health Care Psychiatric Meeting.  I do this to learn and implement evidence-based practices into patient care.

 

I opened my own solo-private practice clinic straight out of residency in July 2018.  I have heard that in an ideal world there would be 1 psychiatrist per 10,000 people.  However, myself included, there are only 2 psychiatrists caring in Victoria County, which has close to 100,000 residents.  I understand that there is only 1 other psychiatrist in all of the surrounding counties.  This area is greatly in need.  One of my favorite quotes from Sir William Osler is “to study the phenomenon of disease without books is to sail an uncharted sea, while to study books without patients is not to go to sea at all”.  I have felt honored to serve this community in such an important way.     

 

I have also served the community in other ways.  For example, I worked as the psychiatrist at the Victoria County Jail which is a 550 bed correctional facility for 3.5 years.  Before I worked there, the facility used a telepsychiatry company and I have been told that I have helped to vastly improve the care of the inmates. 

 

I highly value education for others.  I have educated the community as a panelist and speaker at several community-sponsored Opiate Crisis Town Halls.  I also strongly believe in educating fellow physicians.  I am associate faculty at 4 medical schools, educating several medical students per year.  I am associate faculty and highly supportive of the family medicine residency in Victoria.  Every year, the 8 second year physicians rotate with me and I host quarterly case discussions with the residents.  My hope is that in doing so, patients in the community and elsewhere will have better psychiatric and overall humanistic care.  I have an open-door policy to any physician, giving my cell phone out freely, and enjoy getting case calls from the residents and chatting with fellow physicians. 

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