Profile: Amanda Focht, MD

Amanda Focht, MD graduated with a BA in English Literature from Columbia University and went on to work as a photographer in New York City prior to deciding to go to medical school. While completing prerequisites for medical school, she lived in the Bay Area and enjoyed working with an FQHC in Berkeley to improve access to care. Dr. Focht went on to medical school at Mount Sinai in New York City, where she also completed her residency and fellowship training in geriatric psychiatry. Dr. Focht is currently the Medical Director of the Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic at UW as well as a psychiatric consultant at the UW Shoreline Clinic. She got started in integrated care at a previous institution as the administrative lead in developing a plan for an integrated care clinic. Then, when Dr. Focht came to UW in 2014, she had the opportunity to be a consulting psychiatrist at Shoreline and loved it. She feels her most important work is trying to increase access to behavioral health. In five years, she hopes that Collaborative Care has developed an evidence-based understanding of the appropriate use of specialty care within an integrated care system.