About Me

As a board-certified general pediatrician, child abuse pediatrician, and integrative medicine specialist, I bring a multidisciplinary, whole-family approach to trauma, toxic stress, healing, and well-being.

As a coach, I partner with you on your parenting goals, help you connect with your internal healing wisdom, and provide concrete tools and resources for you to build a safe, supportive, nurturing relationship with your child. 

Over the course of my career:

• I have been the Medical Director of the Clinical Innovations and Research Team within Center for Youth Wellness, and co-founder of the National Committee on Asthma and Toxic Stress.

• I am currently a lead researcher on “Systems-based, Multidisciplinary Assessment of Adversity and Toxic Stress for Individualized Care (The SYSTEMAATIC Project),” an ACEs and Precision Medicine research project through the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine (CIAPM). I provide expertise on biomarkers and interventions for toxic stress.

• Along with experts in the field and with the ACEs Aware Community Council, I co-created the “Stress Busters: Clinical Strategies for Preventing and Mitigating Toxic Stress,” a free, on-line course to help health care professionals develop their clinical response to childhood adversity and toxic stress through a comprehensive exploration of seven evidence-based, stress management strategies, called stress busters: 

  • supportive relationships, 

  • sleep, 

  • nutrition, 

  • physical activity, 

  • mindfulness, 

  • nature, and 

  • mental health. 

• We also co-developed the ACEs Aware Stress Busters Resource Webpage, sharing tools and resources to prevent and heal toxic stress for all of us.  

I am currently:

• A caregiver coach

• An advisor with the California Aces Aware Initiative and Safe Spaces

• Clinician at GetzWell Personalized Medicine clinic in San Francisco,

• An Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine

• Chief Medical Officer with Stronger Brains Inc.

My diverse roles highlight my dedication to conducting translational research, providing patient-centered, individualized, multidisciplinary clinical care to address health issues resulting from child abuse and toxic stress, and supporting caregivers to build safe, stable, nurturing relationships with their children.