Medical Director

“It is exquisitely healthy to practice gratitude and acceptance of where we are at any given moment on the journey.  Real and lasting change comes from the experience of awareness, acceptance and then action.”

   
I am a board-certified psychiatrist who specializes in treating addictions, eating disorders and co-occurring disorders. I currently serve as the medical director at Timberline Knolls, where I am blessed to work with hundreds of remarkable adolescent girls and women.

My knowledge of eating disorders and substance abuse isn’t just limited to my academic and clinical experience, having had my own personal experience as a woman in recovery from an eating disorder and alcoholism. Today, I am able to combine my personal journey with my medical training to help our residents become emotionally strong, responsible problem-solvers, who are inspired to create fulfilling lives for themselves. I believe in and maintain a holistic perspective in the practice of psychiatry, incorporating biological, psycho-social and spiritual approaches into the individually-tailored treatment programs for each of our residents.

I obtained my medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and completed my psychiatry residency training at the University of Chicago Hospitals, where I served as chief resident. During my training, I was part of the multi-disciplinary eating disorders team specializing in treating adolescents with eating disorders and their families.

I am a member of the American Medical Association, Academy for Eating Disorders, the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry and the American Society for Addiction Medicine. I am published in the areas of gender differences in the development of psychopathology, co-occurring eating disorders and self-injury, and the use of medication with family-based therapy for adolescents with anorexia nervosa.  I am on the editorial board of Eating Disorders: the Journal of Treatment and Prevention.

I contribute regularly to news networks, such as ABC News and CNN, other national press such as the Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe and WebMD, and professional magazines such as Addiction Professional and Behavioral Healthcare. I am a monthly columnist for It’s All in the Journey magazine and was recently featured on TLC Discovery Channel’s “My Strange Addiction".