I work at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in the outpatient clinic. I primarily practice from an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) perspective. The cancer experience can be emotional. I find deep purpose in supporting patients to improve their quality of life and coping strategies as they face one of life’s most challenging experiences. I like to work with patients on identifying their values and then guide them towards action even when experiencing treatment challenges or uncertainty about the future. My research interests are in stress and health, particularly in the relation of cancer-related PTSD symptoms and pain on health outcomes among cancer survivors. I also have training in telepsychology, rural mental health, substance use, and mental health integration in primary care clinics through a HRSA funded grant in graduate school and internship training at a federally qualified health center (FQHC). On fellowship, I provided inpatient consultation liaison psychotherapy. My hobbies include running, swimming, yoga, and baking.
Treatment: Exposure therapies
Jay Davidson
As a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Child Study and Treatment Center, I am deeply inspired by the resilience of the youth we serve and by the collaborative spirit of our multidisciplinary teams. My work is grounded in curiosity, compassion, and respect for the complex systems that shape young people’s lives. My approach integrates evidence-based psychopharmacology with developmental and trauma-informed care, while always centering around the individual’s unique story and strengths. I value the relational and systemic dimensions of psychiatry: the interplay between family, community, and policy that influences recovery and growth. The multidisciplinary, relational model at CSTC reflects these values and continues to shape how I think about psychiatry: not only as a science, but as a deeply human endeavor.
Katherine Seldin
Dr. Katherine Seldin is a faculty member and licensed clinical psychologist in the University of Washington’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Before joining this department, Dr. Seldin completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Washington, residency at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and fellowship at the University of Ilinois Chicago.
Dr. Seldin specializes in delivering evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapies (CBTs), including mindfulness-based and exposure-based psychotherapies such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). Her research interests include mood disorders, sleep, digital intervention, emotional impulsivity, and ecological momentary assessment methodology.
Rie Sharky
Rie Sharky, MD, is a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Child Study and Treatment Center through the Behavioral Health Administration of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. There she provides inpatient psychiatric care across developmental stages, with particular interest in working with the youngest youth and extensive experience caring for older children, adolescents, and transitional-age youth. She enjoys working with individuals of all ages and their families, especially in the context of complex medication regimens and significant psychosocial and systemic challenges.
Dr. Sharky is committed to improving outcomes for young people facing complex mental health needs and structural barriers to care. Her clinical approach emphasizes the development of meaningful, collaborative therapeutic relationships with youth and the caregivers and systems that support them.
Connor McCabe
As a clinical and quantitative psychologist, my work bridges statistical practice and psychological theory to better identify for whom, under what conditions, and why substance-related health disparities are greatest across development. My substantive research seeks to understand how individual differences in stress and developing self-regulation shape substance use and disorder from adolescence through young adulthood, and how these associations explain substance use disparities among sexual and gender minoritized communities. Stemming from this work, my methodological research is centered on improving the analysis and interpretation of nonlinear effects spanning parametric and non-parametric methodologies.
Lily Assaad
I am a faculty member and licensed clinical psychologist in the University of Washington’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Before joining this department, I completed my Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Purdue University, residency at the University of Washington, and fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.
My research interests primarily center around romantic relationship functioning and personality disorder (PD) measurement. My line of PD research centers around how the use of a trait-based, dimensional approach to assessing and measuring PDs may increase construct validity, reliability, and diagnostic accuracy relating to PDs. My romantic relationship research centers around how romantic relationship functioning and interpersonal behaviors are associated with psychopathology diagnoses and symptoms.
As a clinician, I specialize in treating suicidality and self-harm using comprehensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy; in treating PTSD using Cognitive Processing Therapy and Prolonged Exposure; and in treating anxiety-related disorders using exposure therapies like Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD and Exposure for Social Anxiety. I am also passionate about providing couples’ therapy.
Adam Kuczynski
I am a clinical psychologist with specialized training in serious mental illness and inpatient psychiatric care. I earned my PhD from the University of Washington in 2023 after completing my pre-doctoral internship at the same institution, training in serious mental illness and inpatient care at Harborview Medical Center and psycho-oncology at Fred Hutch Cancer Center. My research focuses on developing novel technologies to support patients with serious mental illness, improve the provision of psychological interventions in the inpatient setting, and more efficiently and effectively train future generations of mental health clinicians. I also work as a psychologist on UW’s long-term civil commitment inpatient psychiatry program.
Sheena Friesen
Sheena Friesen, PhD (she/her), is the attending psychologist for the Child Program on the inpatient Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. She has clinical expertise in disruptive behavior disorders, comprehensive assessment, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Exposure Therapies, Parent Training, and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Dr. Friesen’s research interests broadly focus on advancing knowledge of least restrictive interventions in acute and complex care contexts, trauma-informed care, and interventions designed to address children’s disruptive behavior problems. She has collaborated on and co-led efforts to design and implement a multi-tiered, Modified Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (M-PBIS) model of care aimed at increasing positive behavior interventions, reducing restraint and PRN use, and ameliorating racial gaps in care delivery.
Dr. Friesen received her Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. She completed her pre-doctoral internship training at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Kennedy Krieger Institute and went on to complete her postdoctoral fellowship in acute care and clinical psychology at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Miriam Rubenson
Connor Gallik
Dr. Connor Gallik, PhD, is the attending psychologist for the Adolescent Program on the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Acting Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at University of Washington.
Prior to joining the staff and faculty at Seattle Children’s/UW, Dr. Gallik completed his graduate education at the University of Connecticut with an emphasis in child and adolescent clinical psychology. He completed his clinical internship at Pacific University’s Psychology and Comprehensive Health Clinic and went on to complete a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical psychology at Seattle Children’s Hospital with an emphasis in DBT and inpatient care.
His research focuses on understanding factors related to the mental health and wellbeing of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) TGD youth and evidence-based practice on inpatient units. Clinically, he is interested in working with children, adolescents, and their families, with a focus on TGD youth. Dr. Gallik also provides training in TGD affirming care for mental health and medical professionals and speaks to community audiences about supporting transgender youth.
