Seeta Patel, MD

Seeta Patel, MD graduated from medical school at the University of Louisville. Her psychiatry rotation in medical school reinforced a pre-existing interest in mental health.

Before entering her residency, Dr. Patel shadowed her uncle, an obstetrician working in India. When a patient came in describing depressive symptoms and was referred to a psychiatrist who had a waiting list of several months, Dr. Patel’s interest in global health was sparked and it served as a realization of the immense need for mental health services in rural areas which could be achieved via collaboration with primary care.

During her child psychiatry rotation in residency, she had the opportunity to serve as a consultant to pediatricians and found this collaborative approach to be rewarding; it was her first glimpse into the value of an Integrated Care model. Additionally, during her consultation-liaison experience, she valued the multidisciplinary approach and rich discussions with medical teams.

In addition to Collaborative Care, Dr. Patel’s interests include holistic care and alternative treatments, telepsychiatry, and cross-cultural psychiatry. She is attracted to Collaborative Care because she wants to help those living in underserved areas receive better access to care. Dr. Patel sees herself teaching Integrated Care as well as working alongside other team members as a psychiatric consultant in underserved areas, and incorporating telepsychiatry into her consulting work.

Sara Haack, MD, MPH

Sara Haack, MD, MPH received her Medical Degree from the University of Michigan, completed her residency at the University of Washington (UW), and has an MPH degree from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Haack was first exposed to an integrated care model when she did a rotation working in co-located care in a Native health facility in Anchorage, AK.

She chose to pursue the integrated care fellowship at the UW because she is interested in the question of how to efficiently use limited psychiatric resources. Dr. Haack also enjoys Collaborative Care’s involvement in problem solving and analyzing data in an organized way. Her goals during the fellowship are to strengthen her skills as an integrated care clinician as well as to deepen her understanding of new areas to potentially apply the integrated care model.

After the fellowship, she hopes to take her expertise to locations that are aiming to start new integrated care programs and assist them with that process. Her clinical interests include addictions and trauma. Five years from now she sees herself doing many different things and is open to exciting possibilities, including seeing herself thriving on the ground level of a new or recently started integrated care program.