I am a licensed clinical psychologist in the University of Washington’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, working in adult inpatient care within the Center for Behavioral Health & Learning. I bring specialized training in serious mental illness, inpatient psychiatric care, serving populations with comorbid substance use and/or medical complexity, and enjoy working collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams to optimize patient-centered care. I also bring a global public health background in improving service delivery and access in low-resource settings across Africa and Asia.
I graduated with a PsyD in clinical psychology from the University of Denver, after completing my pre-doctoral internship at Mt. Sinai/Elmhurst Hospital in New York. During this internship, I completed rotations in the adult inpatient unit, the child partial hospitalization program, psychiatric emergency room services, and the consultation-liaison psychiatric service, serving a patient population that is among the most ethnically and culturally diverse in the world. I am dedicated to providing high quality, empathetic, and innovative interventions to our inpatient population.
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.
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.
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.
I am a child and adolescent psychiatrist committed to improving outcomes for young people who face complex difficulties and systemic barriers. As a clinician, I aim to establish meaningful therapeutic relationships with young people and those supporting them, while also working to advocate for public policy and health systems that improve access to quality mental healthcare.
My main role includes providing inpatient care to older adolescents at the Child Study and Treatment Center through the Behavioral Health Administration, Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, and acting as training lead for psychiatry at this site. My clinical interests include the transition from adolescence to adulthood, the emergence of mood disorder and psychosis, early intervention for personality disorder, and developmental disabilities. I have academic interest in medical education, health service development, and the social determinants of mental health.
I am a consult psychiatrist and clinical instructor at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center. I work with people undergoing active cancer care. I previously practiced in the VA outpatient mental health clinic with veterans with mood disorders, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and chronic and serious mental illness. I recently worked as a consult psychiatrist with the Swedish Primary Care Clinics, address a wide variety of concerns in a collaborative behavioral health care setting. I enjoy being a part of medical education, both learning and teaching. However, patient care always comes first.
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.
My research broadly aims to better understand the etiology of depression and risk behaviors such as suicide and substance use across development, and translate findings to inform prevention and intervention strategies for youth and families. My work focuses on partnering with communities and primary care clinics to improve access to and use of effective mental health services.
My current projects include studies focused on adapting and evaluating suicide prevention intervention and implementation strategies for use with adolescents and their families in primary care and outpatient medical settings, including developing and adapting brief, just-in-time, and digital interventions to expand access to services.
In addition to research, I am also a clinical psychologist in the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program and the Crisis Care Clinic at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
I am an Acting Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. I received my MD, MPH from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and completed my adult residency at the University of Washington where I was chief resident. I then went on to complete a fellowship in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at the University of Washington. I am currently on faculty at Harborview Medical Center on the inpatient psychiatry unit and inpatient psychiatry consult service. I have a longstanding interest in the intersection between medicine and psychiatry and in working with people who suffer from serious mental illness and treatment-resistant conditions. I have clinical interests in ECT, psychopharmacology, co-morbid medical conditions, and adjunctive psychotherapies. I value caring for the whole person through thorough and accurate diagnosis, treating co-morbid medical conditions, and minimizing medications when possible. I have teaching interests in reducing stigma surrounding serious mental illness and educating residents and medical students about psychiatric care.
