Portfolio
This page is intended as a brief summary of my interests and expertise for potential employers. You're also warmly invited to explore my CV and list of scientific publications, or to read more about the experiences which brought me to this career, if your time permits.
My Story in Brief
Although my undergraduate and initial graduate training is in molecular biology (BS) and systems neuroscience (PhD), and I've spent the past two decades as a research neuroscientist, my experiences as a caregiver to a parent with Alzheimer's disease forced me to reevaluate my life. I felt a calling to help others more directly: to bring my experiences and expertise to families struggling with the difficult questions in life, help clinicians and families function as a more effective team, and to facilitate holistic healing — body, brain, mind, and spirit — through evidence-based practices.
I have a passion for integrated healthcare and have been rigorously trained for service in primary care behavioral health. I bring a deeply humanistic, compassionate approach to my work and strive to address patients' existential needs while maintaining a foundation in social, systemic-relational, and neuroscientific theory.
Expertise
Throughout my career as a neuroscientist, I've had the opportunity to develop expertise in a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders — Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, ADHD, stroke, chronic pain, and brain injury. I've also been able to contribute to research in the biological basis of cognitive neuroscience, including a systemic understanding of the neural effects of mindfulness meditation and its mediating effects on clinician burnout. I hold a master's degree in data science and have applied sophisticated statistical and machine learning methods in my research. Just as importantly, I've had the good fortune to have interacted with some of the most respected physicians, anthropologists, physicists, and other clinicians and researchers, and I've served as a STEM/STEAM teacher to K-5 students as well as an instructor for undergraduate and graduate students, and a physics consultant on a public broadcasting series for high school students. So I've learned to adapt my communication and interactional styles to meet the needs, interests, and experiences of diverse audiences.
As a psychotherapist, my principal interests lie in (a) family therapy in support of caregivers and patients facing chronic or terminal illness, and (b) systemic treatment of complex presentations such as comorbid ASD and schizophrenia (multiplex developmental disorder), treatment-resistant depression, and somatoform disorders.
Approach to Therapy
I've been a lot of things in my life — scientist, teacher, toymaker; dad, partner, son, friend. And I've experienced great joy and profound grief. I bring all that to bear in my therapeutic practice, and strive to be present with each and every individual with compassion and intentionality.
It's my belief that treating a client or patient means treating their whole personhood: not only their life stresses, traumas, or mental health concerns, but also their connection with their dreams, emotions, and body, and with the people they know, hate, admire, like, and love. I'm deeply guided by the existentialist principle that every hardship is an opportunity to free ourselves from the bonds that have held us back in life.
And so I try to learn about every aspect of a person's world — their thought processes, relational patterns, deep symbology — and work within that context to understand them, deepen their understanding of themselves. I might use CBT or MBCT in one case and IFS in another, and the depth differs, of course, between the therapy room and a behavioral health consult, but in every case it's the patient or client who guides my approach, not the other way around. And in every case I'm guided by my dedication to the idea that we're all on a path of living, dying, being, and becoming.
Hopes, Dreams, and Personal Interests
My wife is a masters-level nurse currently completing her curriculum to become a mental health nurse practitioner. Suffice it to say, we share an enthusiasm for compassionate, patient-centered mental healthcare. Our dream is to relocate to Bellingham, Washington, work at an FQHC facility for several years, and eventually go into private practice together. We love the outdoors, and my ideal scenario is to have our practice in an area with a nature trail so as to provide our patients with the option of conducting "walking therapy."
In the meantime, I devote my (precious few!) free hours to self-care — running, boxing, and weightlifting, and family outdoor activities like kayaking, hiking, and Jeeping. I also play the piano and guitar, serve as an analytics consultant in biomedical research, and am working on a book for caregivers to family members with dementia.
