I am a clinical psychologist with research interests in the treatment of alcohol and substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health conditions.
My research focuses on understanding how to improve access to evidence-based treatments and understanding why and how patients benefit from treatment. I am particularly interested in research measurement-based care — i.e., the use of standardized measures to monitor treatment progress and inform clinical decision-making.
Broad areas of interest include:
Alcohol and drug use disorder treatment, including the effectiveness of digital and behavioral interventions, mechanisms of behavioral change, and social and environmental determinants of change.
Technology to support behavioral change, including patient- and clinician-facing tools that support clinical decision-making, treatment adherence, and treatment progress monitoring.
Applied statistical analysis, including methods for analyzing longitudinal data, clinical trials data, multilevel data, missing data, psychometric analysis, and data visualization.
I am a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and the Director of the Division of Population Health. I am also a Core Investigator at the HSR&D Center for Innovation for Veteran-Centered and Value-Driven Care at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System, and the Director of the VA Virtual Care QUERI Program.
For the last 35 years, my research has focused on access to care. I have published a framework for conceptualizing access to care in the digital age that incorporates virtual care technologies. I have conducted clinical trials to test the effectiveness of virtual care technologies to facilitate the delivery of evidence-based mental health services in rural primary care clinics. I have also conducted implementation trials to test the effectiveness of strategies to promote the uptake of virtual care technologies by primary care patients and providers. My research has been supported by NIMH, NIAAA, PCORI, and VA HSR/QUERI.
My clinical work and research are focused on helping youth with ADHD and their families be resilient and successful. Specifically, I am interested in creating and disseminating behavioral treatments for ADHD and disruptive behavior that are accessible and engaging for families. I enjoy consulting and training with providers in a variety of settings, including integrated primary care, to offer treatments that provide immediate help to their patients. My current research focuses on improving family relationships and health outcomes for youth with ADHD, including preventing risk behaviors and improving active and healthy lifestyles.
Having always been interested in wholistic care, I completed a Med-Psych residency with board certification in both Internal Medicine and Psychiatry. My career has focused on integrating care to improve access to those who suffer from mental disorders. I have experience in developing, implementing, leading, and evaluating integrated Primary Care Mental Health programs. This work led to the development and national implementation of integrated care known in the VA as Primary Care Mental Health Integration (PCMHI).
At VA Puget Sound, I led a team that implemented and developed the first PCMHI program which has been rated as one of the top 10. It was through this integrated PCMHI work that I realized rural populations lacked access to mental health care and I became interested in how the emerging digital technologies could be leveraged to provide care. With the goal to improve mental health care for this population, I developed, implemented, and led the first Telemental Health Service at VA Puget Sound known as Promoting Access to Telemental Health (PATH). This program focused on implementing digital health into routine mental health care, evaluation of implementation efforts, and digital health curriculum design. PATH has been fully implemented into VA Puget Sound Mental Health Service Line.
As a researcher, I have served as a principal and co-investigator on numerous research projects that focused on the development and implementation PCMHI and Care Manager programs. More recently, my research has focused on evaluation and implementation of telemental health programs. Current work focuses on improving virtual integrated care in rural VA clinics, integrated care curricular design, evaluating mental health service delivery for the national VA Telehealth Clinical Resource Hubs, and supporting the UW Behavioral Health Institute to develop Digital Health Training programs. In addition, I am proud to serve as a Captain in the United States Navy Reserve and I am an Operation Iraqi Freedom Veteran.
I am a board certified psychiatrist and work at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. I am a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. I obtained a fellowship in consultation-liaison psychiatry, a specialty that focuses on providing psychiatric care for people with complex medical conditions. My primary clinical focus is people with cancer.
I love my work. Being ill is a vulnerable time and my goal is to ease suffering and provide a sense of connection and understanding for all I work with. I believe in working collaboratively with patients and families. We work together to identify what the goals of treatment are. I have expertise in diagnosis, psychopharmacology and psychotherapy and adapt my recommendations to best serve the goals of the person before me.
I am also passionate about education. I am the site director at Fred Hutch Cancer Center for our Psycho-oncology Fellowship Program. I supervise Cl fellows, addiction fellows, psychiatry residents and provide education to social workers and psychology trainees.
I am a consultation-liaison psychiatrist and health services researcher in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Rehabilitation Medicine and Epidemiology. I am also Medical Director of the Department of Psychosocial Oncology at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.
My research interests are in psychiatric epidemiology, health services research, psychiatric oncology, and neuropsychiatry. In my clinical practice, I use a comprehensive, multifaceted approach that may include medications or counseling to help patients achieve their goals. My primary interest is helping people who are coping with medical illness. I am particularly interested in developing better approaches to delivering person-centered psychiatric care to these populations.
I have pursued a career at the intersection of mental health and primary care, training in both family medicine and addiction psychiatry. I currently practice in various integrated care settings as a consulting psychiatrist and in the outpatient adult psychiatry clinic. I am the co-medical director for the University of Washington Psychiatry and Addiction Case Conference (UW PACC), a weekly online learning collaborative to help community providers across the state improve their psychiatric and addiction clinical skills. My area of interest is focused on improving addiction and psychiatric treatment to primary care settings. I also spend a significant amount of time training both family medicine and psychiatry trainees and fellows on integrated treatments for substance use disorders.
I am a board-certified Consult-Liaison psychiatrist at UW Medical Center – Montlake and the General Internal Medicine Clinic, as well as a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
When working with patients, my goal is to understand their life history and personalities in addition to their medical and psychiatric conditions. I am also involved in teaching UW medical students as well as practicing mental health providers across the state.
I earned my M.D. from the University of Florida, Gainesville, then completed residency at the University of Michigan and a fellowship at Northwestern University. My interests include treatment of psychiatric conditions in medically ill patients, collaborative care, quality improvement, delirium, and medical education.
Thank you for your interest in learning more about me! My name is Dr. Ruth Varkovitzky (she/her) and I am a licensed clinical psychologist. I use a culturally sensitive evidence based approach in my clinical work; combining the best science while tailoring therapy to each individual. In the spirit of providing the highest quality of care possible, I am board certified in Behavioral and Cognitive Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology.
I specialize in providing therapy for trauma and sleep disorders, such as PTSD and insomnia. In addition, I offer a variety of treatments to address problems with depression, anxiety, and OCD. Supporting folks with these challenges is my passion; it’s an honor to work alongside my clients and see them heal and grow.
Public service has always been part of my journey, including collaboration with shelters for survivors of domestic violence, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and the Washington State Board of Psychologist Examiners. In addition to my passion for clinical work, I’ve enjoyed contributing to psychological science through academic and media publications. I established my private practice Renewal Psychology to offer my services to clients in Washington as well as the many state members of the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT).
I am a licensed clinical psychologist in Washington State. I am the Director of the University of Washington School of Medicine’s Psychology Internship Program which is accredited by the American Psychological Association’s Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation. And, I conduct research on health and risk behaviors across the lifespan. Specifically, I have conducted research in the areas of college student alcohol use, young adult gambling behavior, and co-morbidity of substance use and mental health/risk behaviors (i.e. risky sexual behaviors). I have extensive experience working with college students/young adults, military/veteran, and minority/diverse populations. I am also interested in mental health issues including depression, anxiety, and PTSD. I maintain an active clinical practice in the areas of mental health issues with patients diagnosed with hematological and oncological illness and have clinical responsibilities at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. I also provide clinical supervision for psychology residents and psychology practicum students at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center as well. Overall, my professional aspirations are to improve the public health through empirically-supported psychological interventions and providing mentorship to diverse trainees to expand the reach of psychology.
