Profile: Ryan Kimmel, MD

Ryan Kimmel, MD attended Medical School at the University of Washington and did his residency at the University of California, San Diego. During his residency, he enjoyed seeing hospitalized and medically complex patients. After his residency, he worked in a community hospital for two years before coming back to academics. In the past, he has seen outpatients through the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and in a medication management clinic at the UWMC’s Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic. Dr. Kimmel is currently the Medical Director of Hospital Psychiatry at the UW. He sees patients on the UWMC’s Inpatient Psychiatry Unit, as well as on the general Medical, Surgical, and Oncology wards. Dr. Kimmel’s clinical interests include psychopharmacology as well as quality improvement. He cites his most important work as the at-the-bedside teaching he does with residents and the psychopharmacology didactics he delivers to a range of mental health professionals. He admires the resilience his patients show in the face of serious psychiatric and medical co-morbidity and enjoys helping them get through tough situations. Five years from now, Dr. Kimmel hopes that Collaborative Care is able to help more people in community hospital settings who have little local access to psychiatric consultants.