Faculty Spotlights
Anna Sunshine, MD, PhD
I decided to become a psychiatrist after my third-year required psychiatry clerkship at Harborview as a UW MD/PhD student. I enjoyed the extra time afforded to patient interviews and I appreciated the compassionate and practical stance taken when caring for patients. I remember clearly my attending musing how little we understood about how the brain worked compared with our understanding of other organs like the kidney or the heart. My scientist antennae perked up! A vast field of unanswered questions; this could be interesting.
My research background was in the original genetic workhorse: baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) where I studied aneuploidy. I knew I wanted to integrate genetics and genomics tools into addressing open research questions in psychiatry. This meant I needed 1) to identify a psychiatric disorder with a strong genetic basis and 2) learn some cellular neuroscience skills because, unfortunately, yeast don’t have brains. As I explored psychiatry clinical care and research areas, I realized a gap existed between the scientists researching mechanisms underlying schizophrenia and the clinicians caring for patients with this disorder: there were very few people doing both. As a physician-scientist I felt that I might be able to bring something useful to this specific area.
I feel truly lucky to have been able to bring these often-separate areas together within my career over the last 5 years. Excellent co-mentorship by Drs. Jack McClellan, Mary-Claire King and Jessica Young facilitated by a NIMH K08 award has been instrumental in supporting my early career. I have been able to work long-term with patients with schizophrenia as a member of an outpatient recovery treatment team at Harborview. I love my clinical work, appreciate getting to know patients and families over years and I think my experience with the diversity of presentations of schizophrenia informs how I think about researching this disorder. I enroll patients and families for genetics research in schizophrenia and value this different way of connecting with patients and families. Finally, I have learned how to grow neurons from patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells which allows me to model genetic changes found in patients with schizophrenia in the lab. Hopefully, one day, by using genetic information and stem-cell based systems, we will be able to offer more personalized diagnosis, prognosis and treatments for patients with schizophrenia.
Debby Tsuang, MD, MSc
I chose psychiatry as that was one of the most satisfying clinical fields for me. In addition, I felt that there was a lot that could be done in research, aside from clinical trials. Drs. Elaine Peskind and Murray Raskind were instrumental in my decision and development as a clinician scientist and encouraged me to pursue my passion. When I first came to the UW, I wanted to pursue research in genetics of schizophrenia but there was no senior mentor who was suitable. Because of Murray and Elaine, I switched into Alzheimer’s disease, then genetics, and then became interested in the neurodegenerative disorder that had a lot of behavioral disturbances, dementia with Lewy bodies. Of course, I need to mention my father, Dr. Ming Tsuang, a pioneer in schizophrenia and psychiatric genetics research, for his continual mentorship throughout my career.
For the past 14 years, I have been the Director of the VA’s GRECC Memory Disorders Clinic. I see patients one day a week and would say that, not only does it keep me anchored in my clinical roots, it also gives me great research ideas. For example, I was seeing a Veteran who I thought could have early dementia with Lewy bodies but he was not willing to undergo a sleep study to document REM sleep without atonia. So, I thought that if we could have remote monitoring devices, that would help overcome this obstacle. This became the basis of one of my funded grants, passive monitoring of sleep and physical activity in early diagnosis of dementia. It’s wonderful to be able to combine my clinical observations with research projects. I think that I am able to contribute to providing excellent clinical care for my patients, but also to give them hope that their participation in research will advance science and hopefully help people who develop these debilitating disorders in the future.
Since we are not going to live forever, I think that it’s critical that we pass on as much of our knowledge as possible. Trainees are our future, especially in this era that fewer physicians are going into research, I think that we owe it to the generations that have mentored us to pass the torch. This career is not an easy road, but it can be extremely satisfying. It is gratifying to see your ideas result in publications and for others to build on the foundations that you have contributed to.
Nathan Sackett, MD, MS
My path to becoming a clinician scientist began when I was a resident physician completing my adult psychiatry training. I saw patient after patient presenting to psychiatric emergency rooms, inpatient units, medical ER’s, and outpatient clinics struggling with the complexities of addiction. As my understanding of addiction increased, so did my frustrated with our treatments. I increasingly felt that therapy or medications were rarely powerful enough to evoke the change needed at a rate that was useful. Around this time, I began to hear stories of folks using a range of psychedelics in a therapeutic setting and seeing amazing results. So, I did what every good trainee does- I scoured the literature and devoured everything I could find about psychedelics. When I read some of the recent studies, I felt I had to pursue it further.
I tried to find anyone in my department or the university doing working in this area, for which there was none. I started the Psychedelic Interest Group and joined the behavioral pharmacology lab of my mentor, Dr. John Neumaier. Now fast forward a few years – I completed my adult psychiatry residency, finished my work in Dr. Neumeiers Lab, completed my addiction psychiatry fellowship and I joined the faculty at the University of Washington. I joined the faculty at UW with the explicit goal of studying how we may use psychedelics to treat addiction, resulting in today’s meeting and the creation of the Center for Novel Therapeutics in Addiction Psychiatry (NTAP).
NTAP started the first state funded psilocybin clinical trial and we’re about to see our first research participants in-person. It’s been a steep learning curve to learn the complexities of doing psychedelic research, but I believe the work will pay off. I also run the Psychedelic Harm Reduction Clinic and can be directly involved in the care of patients who seek to use these substances. It is extremely rewarding to apply the research I am doing directly to the care of my patients, and have my patients inform my research.
Rebecca Hendrickson, MD, PhD
I have a dream job: I work 25% in the PTSD outpatient clinic and on our DBT team, and 75% running clinical trials focused on the biology and treatment of trauma and PTSD. I love that my clinical work directly and continuously informs my research and visa versa. For example, chronic non-specific somatic symptoms like nausea and chronic pain are present at high rates in PTSD, but we know little about why and whether our treatments address them. Similarly, fear of reactive aggression and anger is a common concern for Veterans with PTSD, but doesn’t necessarily respond as robustly to our usual treatments. To address these, our research work now includes detailed assessments of how changes in cardiovascular autonomic regulation relate to symptom burden in PTSD, and how changes in dopamine and noradrenaline regulation after trauma relate to anger and reactive aggression.
I took a longer route to get here than was probably required. After an MD/PhD program at Washington University in St. Louis I joined the UW residency program. I participated in the research track, but also completed extensive therapy training, and I cut to part time when I had my second kid. After residency I completed a research fellowship in the VA MIRECC. This allowed me to train in clinical research, which is very different from my PhD work (basic neuroscience). Learning to run interventional clinical trials is an increasingly rare but valued skill set; I feel fortunate to be able to include this in my career, and enjoy providing opportunities for residents to participate as well. I work with residents both as a primary research mentor, and, for residents interested in learning a bit more about analyzing and publishing clinical trials data, on analyses of existing data from our recent trials.
Jesse Fann, MD, PhD
Jesse Fann’s path to becoming a clinician scientist has taken several twists and turns. He was an electrical engineering major in college but, after discovering a fascination with neuroscience and medicine, decided to attend medical school, where he became interested in brain and behavior and decided to specialize in psychiatry. In residency at UW, he developed an interest in neuropsychiatry and C-L psychiatry, so decided to embark on a research project during his R4 year under the mentorship of the late Dr. Wayne Katon. Only then did he realize his passion for clinical research, which led to a T32 research fellowship with Dr. Katon and a faculty position in the psychiatry department in 1995. Over the years, Jesse’s ongoing and diverse clinical roles (inpatient, partial hospital, ECT, C-L, outpatient) have informed many research ideas and funded projects. His current role as Director of the Clinician Scientist Training Program brings together his 30 years of clinical, research, teaching, and administrative leadership experience toward helping to develop and support the next generation of clinician scientists.
Trainee Spotlights
Alexis Carnduff, MD
I am currently a Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry fellow at the University of Washington, where I also completed my psychiatry residency and served as the Harborview Medical Center CL and Psychiatric Emergency Services Chief Resident from 2024 to 2025.
Clinically, my work spans diverse, high-acuity settings, including the Harborview Psychiatric Emergency Department, the long-term civil commitment unit at Northwest Hospital, and soon, CL services at Swedish Hospital as a moonlighter. I am passionate about medical education and deeply value opportunities to teach and mentor medical students and psychiatry residents, particularly in the nuanced practice of psychiatry within general medical environments.
My research interests include mood disorders, particularly bipolar disorder, personality disorders, and quality improvement initiatives aimed at optimizing psychiatric care in hospital-based settings. With support from the CSTP Trainee Research Award, I am preparing a manuscript on the translation and cultural adaptation of a measurement-based bipolar disorder care protocol from English to Spanish. This work seeks to expand access to evidence-based assessment and treatment for Spanish-speaking patients, addressing language and cultural barriers that often delay diagnosis and appropriate intervention.
Prior to this project, my experience in research was limited. I viewed the CSTP award as an opportunity to meaningfully engage with the process from conceptualization, to data collection, to dissemination. The mentorship and structured support I received through CSTP demonstrated how scholarly inquiry can yield valuable tools that directly inform clinical practice. It was so valuable and satisfying to see this process from start to finish.
Looking forward, I aim to maintain an academic career that integrates clinical care, research, and teaching. I am particularly committed to fostering the development of future trainees who, similar to me, do not have background in research to instill interest and excitement in an otherwise intimidating area of medicine!
Megan Lee, MD
I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, and studied Biology and Art History at Vanderbilt University, where I first became interested in the intersection of biology and the human experience. After college, I attended the Yale School of Medicine, where my early research focused on the complex relationship between pain and addiction. Working with veterans in a smoking cessation and pain management trial, I became fascinated by how substance use, physical pain, and substance use intertwine—an interest that continues to shape both my research and clinical work today.
Currently, I am a psychiatry resident at the University of Washington on the Research Track, where I care for patients across inpatient, outpatient, and emergency settings. My work focuses on individuals living with addiction and co-occurring psychiatric conditions, and I draw heavily from psychodynamic and trauma-informed approaches in my practice. I am currently completing psychodynamic therapy training through the Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, deepening my understanding of the unconscious processes that influence recovery and resilience.
My research aims to improve how we identify and treat substance use disorders within routine healthcare. I am leading a project examining how changes in alcohol screening scores (AUDIT-C) relate to mental health outcomes over time, supported by grants from the Clinician Scientist Training Program and the Resident & Fellow Physician Union Northwest. I hope to build a career in academic psychiatry that integrates patient care and research—using data-driven insights and psychotherapy to better serve individuals whose struggles with addiction often go unseen or undertreated.