Dr. Sandel-Fernandez’s research is focused on predicting impulsive and risk behaviors as they occur in people’s daily lives. She has conducted numerous studies using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and self-monitoring data from therapy to build person-specific models of symptom dynamics including self-harm, substance use, and suicide attempts.
Dr. Sandel-Fernandez often takes an idiographic (person-specific) analysis approach to answer the question of when in time a person is most at risk for engaging in behaviors they would like to avoid, based on their context, emotions, and personal triggers. Her career goal is to improve treatment outcomes by tailoring evidence-based care to people’s diverse symptom experiences.
I recently joined the faculty at UW and am the new program director for the general residency program. I am excited to be here! I have been working in graduate medical education and have been a program director for over 14 years. Although my major focus is graduate medical education, I am also passionate about patient safety, quality improvement, and healthcare risk management. Additionally, I have a background in basic research with expertise in virology, microbiology, and immunology.
I am a bilingual, bicultural psychiatrist with interests in cultural psychiatry, psychotherapy, trauma-informed care, and improving quality of care and safety for our patients/families that receive care in a language other than English and other underserved communities.
I joined the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry faculty at the University of Washington in Fall of 2022 after completing my Child and Adolescent Psychiatry training here at the University of Washington at Seattle Children’s Hospital and General Psychiatry SUNY Upstate Medical University, with emphasis in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Trauma Focused- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
I enjoy collaborating with patients and viewing their concerns through a holistic lens. I believe that transparent, integrated care is the most effective way to arrive at an accurate case conceptualization and treatment plan. My background in the neurosciences and medical psychiatry has offered me a comprehensive understanding of the biologic basis of psychiatric illness and the strength of the mind-body connection. My practice has span clinical, academic and research realms and afforded me opportunities to work with treatment-resistant depression, neuromodulation therapies, medical complexities and patients impacted by hormonal changes related to puberty, pregnancy, gender transitions and menopause. I enjoy learning from my patients and remain humbled by their resilience.
Koriann Cox, Ph.D. graduated from Northeastern University and is licensed in the state of Washington. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in co-occurring addiction and mental health and has a range of clinical experience with a variety of concerns including depression, anxiety, trauma, reproductive mental health, and substance and behavioral addictions. Dr. Cox’s strengths-focused approach emphasizes the mutual development of goals for therapy and ongoing collaboration between herself, the patient, and the care team. Dr. Cox uses a number of therapeutic modalities including but not limited to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Cognitive Processing Therapy.
Dr. Blayney’s research aims to understand the risks for and consequences of sexual victimization. More specifically, this work centers around how social contexts influence sexual victimization risk as well as variation in post-victimization recovery, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, alcohol use, and sexual risk behaviors.
I am a perinatal and addiction psychiatrist and Acting Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. My main area of interest and expertise is substance use disorders in the perinatal period as well as women’s mental health more generally. I am also passionate about doing my part to address inequities in healthcare.
Dr. Jaffe’s research is focused on responding to the public health problem of sexual assault and co-occurring alcohol misuse by improving understanding of survivors’ experiences and promoting recovery through novel interventions.
Taking an ecological perspective, Dr. Jaffe considers individual factors (e.g., cognitions, stress response), microsystems (e.g., interpersonal interactions, social networks), macrosystems (e.g., societal norms), and chronosystems (e.g., changes over time) that affect survivors’ recovery after sexual assault. Across these systems, she seeks to design and improve clinical interventions that support survivors’ recovery, mitigate post-assault alcohol misuse, and reduce distress.
Personal Statement
I work full-time at the VA, with half my time allotted in the specialty mental health clinic and the other half in the women’s primary care clinic. My current areas of interest are education, forensic psychiatry, and women’s mental health.
