|expertise in mental healthcare, social science research, and social justice advocacy|
I am a PhD candidate in sociology in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. My research draws on feminist qualitative methods to study the organization of healthcare, particularly in reproductive and mental health, with specific attention to the social, structural, and cultural conditions that shape treatment recommendations and access to care. My most recent project explores how behavioral health is integrated in perinatal healthcare settings, drawing on my training in both clinical social work and medical sociology. My work bridges the research and practice divide with the explicit goals of improving people’s well-being and healthcare experiences by contributing to the development of anti-oppressive solutions for accessible and equitable healthcare. My broad research interests center on patient and clinician relationships and clinical decision-making in stigmatized or otherwise marginalized healthcare contexts, and my work critically addresses the mental/physical health binary.
As a mental health clinician with nearly 20 years of experience, I have provided care in hospitals, primary care, community mental health, and private practice, with a focus on reproductive life experiences. My interest at the intersection of reproduction and mental health stems from life-shaping, early career work in the neonatal intensive care and labor and delivery units of a large hospital. I maintain a small, telehealth-based private practice, though the majority of my work involves research, consultation, and student education in sociology and health professions.
My writing has been published in scholarly journals, The Nation, and Parapraxis.
I am a restless wanderlust who hails from the Upper Midwest. You can find me in the Pacific Northwest, primarily Portland, Ore.