Katherine Michaelsen

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.

Sarah Kopelovich

Personal Statement

I am a clinical psychologist with specialized training in serious mental illness and forensic psychology. I specialize in evidence-based treatments for schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders. My clinical work and research converges on individual-, family-, and systems-level supports to optimize mental health care in both community and residential settings and reduce the likelihood of criminal justice system engagement among individuals with serious mental illness.

Jennifer Piel

Personal Statement

As a clinical and forensic psychiatrist, my professional roles include being the Director of the UW Center for Mental Health, Policy, and the Law; Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry; and a Staff Psychiatrist at the VA Puget Sound.  I hold multiple board certifications: Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, Brain Injury Medicine, and Sports and Performance Psychiatry. In addition to my medical training, I earned my law degree from the University of Washington. As a member of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL), I serve on the Ethics, Research, and Resident Education Committees and I twice earned AAPL’s Young Investigator Award. I am the Legal Digest Editor for the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. I have served as an expert witness or consultant in legal cases involving criminal and civil competencies; criminal responsibility; malpractice; personal injury; sexual and gender harassment; and fitness for duty, among others. I teach courses in forensic mental health at the University of Washington and speak locally and nationally on topics related to psychiatry and the law.