What do you do at USC?

Clinical Teaching

Currently I am the Chief of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Crisis, Emergency and Consultation Service at LAC+USC hospital. I supervise a team of psychiatrists who are learning about child psychiatry as they evaluate child psychiatric emergency cases and/or respond to concerns about psychiatric issues in children on one of USC’s pediatric units. In my role as supervisor, I see cases with my students and help them formulate their assessment and plan for each child.

In addition, I am the Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Trauma Service. This is a program I developed at USC with national grant money for the purpose of providing psychiatric treatment to traumatized children and for training our clinical trainees in evidence-based assessment and treatment of child psychiatric trauma.

At USC I have worked in the adult psychiatric emergency room, covered nights at adult and child inpatient units and was co-chief of an adolescent psychiatry inpatient unit.

Didactic Teaching

I teach a didactic course in psychotherapy, child residents’ monthly Journal Club, and present a monthly clinical case conference jointly to pediatric and child psychiatry trainees.

Direct Patient Care

Currently I provide psychiatric treatment to adult patients in USC’s Men’s AIDS Clinic and to children at USC’s Maternal Child AIDS Clinic where I also consult with the non-medical therapists and am developing longitudinal research on the effects of psychological stress and trauma.