and Ashley was amazing during that time .
Throughout the program , they placed a strong focus on education and resident didactics . In his final year , he was a Chief Resident , which really affirmed his interest in teaching .
“ After residency , I knew I wanted to practice and see patients , but also be involved in education for residents and medical students . I was in Lexington for a decade , but Louisville was an opportunity to try something new and grow more .”
In addition to the professional opportunities here , the idea of coming to Louisville was enticing to the Cards fan . In 2022 , they moved , and he started at UofL Health and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences .
While he primarily sees patients in the outpatient clinic downtown , he also shares his time with precepting residents and with various roles with the University of Louisville School of Medicine , including serving on the Student Promotions Committee . He also works through the university with Wellspring on their crisis stabilization program and their Assertive Community Treatment ( ACT ) team . Being involved in these other organizations and outreach efforts , he ’ s seeing firsthand the evolution of mental health care over the last several years .
“ Classically , there has been a lot of stigma around mental health and mental health treatment . Not to say that ’ s gone by any means , but it is improving ,” he said . “ It ’ s been interesting to see how social media has had an impact on it , too . Not a day will pass without a patient coming in and saying they were watching a TikTok video
or Instagram Reel talking about depression , anxiety or ADHD or something else and that they identified with it and that ’ s why they decided to look for treatment . It ’ s been interesting to see how people are figuring out that maybe they do need help with something .”
Also reflected in the growth of understanding mental health , more and more research is showing how closely linked psychiatric and physical health are , and he is a big advocate for integrating psychiatry into other areas of medicine .
“ That ’ s a big reason I wanted be in academic medicine because you get to rub elbows with people like the medicine physicians , neurologists , cardiologists and all these other specialists and you get to be involved in treating the whole person . One thing we ’ re looking into with our residency program is how to integrate some collaborative care principles , where psychiatry is integrated into primary care .”
He enjoys getting to know his patients well , beyond just their presenting symptoms . He said psychiatry drew him in because he could talk with them and better understand them hearing about their struggles and successes .
“ I really love that we see patients from all walks of life . I can have a CEO from some big business one minute and a homeless person without a dollar to their name the next . With that comes very different problems and trauma histories ,” he said . “ You truly have to come into work every day with the idea that you ’ re going to do everything you can to help , but remember that there are some
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