Mollie Forrester

Mollie received her MSW at the UW School of Social Work and joined the Department in June 2019. Prior to that, she was part of the Social Work Department at Harborview Medical Center for 19 years, starting on inpatient psychiatry and then as an Associate Director of Social Work for the second half of her career.

As the Director of Patient and Family Experience, Mollie works directly with patients and families who are either currently receiving mental health care at one of our UW Medicine hospitals or clinics or may be looking to do so. She helps patients and families connect with appropriate mental health providers and offers information and resources as well as specialized navigation assistance. Mollie also manages our team of Mental Health Navigators who are part of our provider and patient consultation lines, including PAL for Moms, the Psychiatry Consultation Line and the Mental Health CareConnect programs. When she is not at work, Mollie enjoys live music, travel, gardening and spending time with her husband, Dave, and their dog, Louis.

Heather Hughes

Heather Hughes Glansbeek

Heather received her MBA from the University of Washington and has been in the Department for eight years. As Associate Director of Clinical & Education Finance, Heather’s main role is to support the Department’s clinical operations and finances at UWMC, HMC, UWNC, SCCA and SCH as well as through various state and community clinical contracts. She also supports the Department’s education programs’ finances, faculty clinical incentives and process improvement initiatives. In her spare time, Heather, her husband Nate and their dogs Fiddler and Dante enjoy traveling, experiencing various cuisines both locally and abroad, and reading epic fantasy series (she is always open to reading suggestions!).

Alison Laing

Alison grew up in China speaking Mandarin and received her BA from the University of Washington. She has been in the department for five years and has been in her current role since June 2019. In her role, Alison supports our diverse research portfolio and works to ensure the successful running of our research operations. She partners closely with the Assistant Director for Research Operations, Pam Collins, as well as the research operations team. She also provides oversight for department pre-award and works closely with UW School of Medicine ABC services. In her free time, she enjoys what the Pacific Northwest has to offer and traveling when and where she can.

Michelle Lynch

Michelle earned both her BA in Business Administration and Master of Public Administration degrees from the University of Washington. She’s been with the University of Washington for over 20 years and joined the Department in March 2023. She’s looking forward to learning about the vast array of education, research, and clinical programs in the Department and working with the staff, faculty, and leadership teams to improve mental health in our community.

Michelle began her UW career in 2000 as a Policy Development Analyst in the Office of Planning and Budgeting and after a decade in various central administration leadership roles moved into the Administrator position in the Department of Medicine/Division of General Internal Medicine.  Prior to the UW, she was with Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound where she held several roles including Financial Analyst and Fee Schedule Manager.

In her free time, Michelle enjoys spending time with her geologist daughter, traveling, reading, baking, and attending local music events (including singing with a hyper local women’s a cappella group, the Beaconettes).

Becky Sladek

Becky received a Master’s in Science Journalism from Boston University and has more than fifteen years’ experience in marketing and communications, public relations, and advancement with particular expertise in the fields of medicine and mental health. She has led our department communication efforts for the past eight years and before that, led communications in the department’s AIMS Center.

In addition to managing the department’s day-to-day, internal and external communication needs, Becky oversees marketing strategies for large, department-wide initiatives. Becky is also the Administrative Director of the UW Medicine Garvey Institute for Brain Health Solutions. Outside of work, Becky enjoys getting outside, spending time with her family and collecting eggs from her chickens.

Rosemary Whitright

Rosemary is a UW graduate and has been in the department since February 2012. As the Associate Director of Operations and IT, Rosemary’s role is to provide oversight, direction and leadership of all the administrative operations and information technology resources for the Department. Rosemary provides strategic leadership and management of departmental infrastructure projects to include defining and managing scope of schedules, budgets and status reports. In her free time, Rosemary and her family enjoy vacationing and touring Napa and Sonoma wine country.

Athena Wong

Athena was born in China and lived in both Shanghai and Hong Kong. She moved to Seattle in 1988 and fell in love with the city. She graduated from UW and has been working in the department since 1996. As the Associate Director of Education, Athena’s role is to provide oversight, guidance and leadership to our ACGME Fellowships, our Psychiatry Residency Program, our Psychology Internship Program and our Medical Student Clerkship Programs. Athena and her team provide administrative support to the program directors, residents, fellows and teaching faculty as well as assistance to program administrators in Idaho and Montana. In her free time, Athena enjoys spending time with her family, traveling and watching Asian dramas.