Medical School: University of London
Residency: University of Washington Psychiatry Training Program, Spokane Track
I was born in Zambia, and raised in England. I lived in a small village in East Anglia, true pig and beet farming country, with land as flat as a pancake. I spent summers running wild in the fields, and winters ice skating on the endless network of drainage canals. I moved to London when I was 11, and went to medical school in the heart of the city, at University College Hospital Medical School. I started psychiatry residency training in the Royal Free psychiatry training scheme, but later moved to New Zealand and then to America to complete residency in the University of Washington Psychiatry Residency, Spokane Advanced Clinician Track. I have been drawn to psychiatry since I first read Sylvia Plath, but what sealed the deal was a truly lucky experience in medical school, where I trained in a pilot psychotherapy scheme, and was able to treat a patient for 18 months, under group supervision with a master psychodynamic therapy psychiatrist. I love psychiatry, and I’ve never seriously considered another field in medicine. My clinical passions are practicing intensive short term dynamic psychotherapy (my best teachers and ongoing mentors still teach in this program!), and collaborative care consultation in the primary care setting. I’m passionate about population based care (I do come from England after all!). I’ve been involved in psychiatry education since 2008, when I started working as the clinical interaction seminar course leader with our previous UW track program. I’ve been the program director of this program since we wrote the initial application for its creation. I actually never thought I would end up in Spokane long term when I first arrived here, but I really enjoy the quality of life I have here. I love the geology of the area, the easy access to the outdoors, and the short commute I have to work, despite living in the country (In London it can take an hour to go half a mile).
I think we have the most amazing group of faculty – I don’t know how we got this lucky, but it sure has been fun to learn from and work with psychiatry attendings who are so smart, different, and supportive of one another. The most rewarding thing about working in this program is seeing the personal and professional development of residents; seeing their confidence and mastery grow. I love the size of our program, small enough to really get to know each other, but with enough clinical training experiences and off site attendings, that you get to spread your wings and ultimately find the right work or fellowship fit for your next steps post residency.
Medical School: University of Kansas
Residency: University of Washington Psychiatry Training Program, Spokane Track
I was born in Kansas City, Kansas, but raised in rural Winfield, Kansas smack dab in tornado alley. I spent my childhood swimming and biking. At the age of eight I rode nearly across the whole state of Kansas with my father. My ride was featured in several local papers as we passed through small towns! I was truly fortunate to get such an incredible education from the State of Kansas. I will be forever indebted. I got a phenomenal start with my fifth grade teacher, Ms. Gardner and her Heart Unit curriculum. She inspired three of the kids in my class alone to go to medical school!! Ultimately, I got a degree in Social Work from University of Kansas in Lawrence. (You may have heard of our basketball team). I first thought about psychiatry as a career path when I was working as a care manager for patients with severe mental illness. I struggled to arrange primary care for my patients which I didn’t think was fair (and I still don’t). This fueled my decision to go back to medical school. I attended University of Kansas Medical School and spent my third and fourth year of medical training in Wichita, Kansas. My training in Wichita was unbelievable. I delivered 8 babies in one night!! I’m telling you, my Kansas education was incredible. I landed at the University of Washington Spokane Tract for residency. I’ve lived in Spokane ever since. I like to call Spokane Wichita West. Despite my enduring love of Kansas, Spokane has been an incredible place to live and I don’t have to drive through the night to ski anymore.
I’m particularly interested in Bi-directional medical and behavioral health integration, addictions psychiatry, mental health disparity work, motivational interviewing and quality improvement. I LOVE WORKING FOR PROVIDENCE PSYCHIATRY RESIDENCY. I’ve never worked for an organization that is so mission driven and supportive of psychiatric services. I’m especially impressed how responsive administration is to community and resident needs. This has been the perfect place for me to “pay forward” all the great training and experiences that were given to me!!
Medical School: Creighton University
Residency: Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Fellowship: Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Rick was raised by his grandparents in Fox Lake, IL, a small town an hour northwest of Chicago. The first in his family to attend college, he attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI. He kept it Jesuit by attending Creighton University in Omaha, NE, where a brilliant and hilarious C/L psychiatry attending demonstrated how much fun it could be to bounce around the hospital helping colleagues manage medically complicated psychiatric presentations. At Vanderbilt he served as a chief resident prior to completing a fellowship in consultation-liaison psychiatry. Areas of interest within psychiatry include delirium, catatonia, transplant psychiatry, and alcohol withdrawal management. While he misses Nashville’s hot chicken and music scene, he couldn’t be happier to now call Spokane home. He spends his clinical time attending on the C-L psychiatry service at Sacred Heart Medical Center and could not imagine a more supportive program for both faculty and residents. Outside the hospital, he enjoys spending time with family and meeting new craft beers or Walla Walla wines while cheering on non-championship caliber sports teams including Vanderbilt football, Marquette basketball, Chicago Bears, and Everton FC.
Medical School: University of Washington School of Medicine
Residency: Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Fellowship: Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic
of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Dr. Erik Loraas was born in Tacoma, WA and raised in University Place, WA. He earned a BS in biology and a BA in religion at Pacific Lutheran University. He earned his medical degree at the University of Washington in Seattle and completed his residency and child and adolescent fellowship at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (now Western Psychiatric Hospital) at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He served as house staff president, earned the Academic Administrator Clinician Educator (AACE) certificate for his work on demoralization, and served as Chief Resident of psychotherapy training. He was thrilled to join Psychiatry Residency Spokane after graduation and continues to describe his position as his “dream job.” Much of his clinical work is at an adolescent partial hospital and intensive outpatient program at Holy Family Hospital. Areas of interest within psychiatry include early development, attachment theory and disorders, psychodynamic psychotherapy (he is grateful for the opportunity to learn intensive short term dynamic therapy from Spokane’s amazing faculty), history and philosophy of psychiatry, clinical neuroscience, and teaching. Outside of work, Dr. Loraas enjoys time with his amazing wife, his growing pack of animals, tending to his orchard and rose gardens, baking, building LEGO, expanding his electronic music library, and playing tennis.
Medical School: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Residency: Western Psychiatric Hospital, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Fellowship: Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic
of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Dr. Jane Phelps-Tschang joined the faculty in fall 2019. Originally born in Taiwan, she had lived in a number of places — including Baltimore, New York, London, and Pittsburgh, before arriving in Spokane. Having long been interested in inner world of human thoughts and emotions, Dr. Phelps had a prior life as art historian before psychiatry. She received her BA (cum laude) in History of Art and Architecture from Brown University and MA (with honors) in Contemporary Art Criticism from the University of London, and had worked at both The Smithsonian Institute and The Museum of Modern Art prior to medical school. Dr. Phelps completed medical school at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and postgraduate training in both Adult Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Western Psychiatric Hospital, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She also completed a fellowship in Public Service Psychiatry, as well as advanced training in psychodynamic psychotherapy at the Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Center. Academically, Dr. Phelps is interested in medical student and resident clinical education. She is excited to have joined this wonderful, thoughtful and energetic group of psychiatric faculty in Spokane, and looks forward to the opportunity to grow the child psychiatric training portion of the residency. From a clinical perspective, Dr. Phelps-Tschang is interested in anxiety/OCD, trauma informed care, family work, and community psychiatry. She also has a special interest in improving children’s emotional literacy through the use of story books.
Medical School: Sanford School of Medicine at the University of South Dakota
Residency: University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
Dr. Anisha Boetel grew up in the beautiful Black Hills in Rapid City, South Dakota. She studied Chemistry, Mathematics, and Biology at Carroll College in Helena, MT, and returned to South Dakota for medical school at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine. She had no idea she would fall in love with and pursue Psychiatry until she experienced her longitudinal Psychiatry clerkship during her 3rd year of medical school. Anisha attended residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and completed two years of combined training in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry and in her third year of residency decided to transition to categorical Psychiatry to better align with her career goals. After visiting Spokane during her college years, and with the geographical region reminding her of home, she decided to practice with Providence as she valued the mission of the hospital and serving the underserved. She enjoys and is passionate about her role as a clinical educator and is involved in teaching residents and medical students on the inpatient, outpatient, emergency, and consult-liaison teaching services. She is particularly interested in the med/psych interface and truly enjoys practicing in the residency program as the collegiality amongst the faculty and residents is unique and unrivaled. In addition to her career, Anisha enjoys the great outdoors, traveling, attending concerts, and spending time with friends and family.
Medical School: Western University of Health and Science, Pomona, California
Residency: University of Arizona
Fellowship: Child and Adolescent Fellowship Nationwide Children's Hospital, Forensic
Fellowship University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
I am from Middle-Ohio and descend on both sides from people who came to
Ohio no later than the early 1800s, including my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather,
one of those Hessian soldiers who celebrated a little too much on Christmas
in 1776 then got captured the next day by George Washington, the Continental
Army having crossed the Delaware River in the night.
I was a mid-life career switcher. Law school was more fun than medical
school, but being a psychiatrist has been a greater adventure than lawyering
ever was. I have practiced in varied settings including community mental
health, inpatient, prison, state forensic hospital NGRI unit (Not Guilty
by Reason of Insanity), private practice, and the Veterans Administration.
I wanted to work here because I perceived that I was joining a faculty
comprised of persons of good will. Subsequent experience proved my early
assessment correct. I am thankful to have joined a program with a palpable
spirit of optimism.
My professional interests include improving pediatric inpatient and emergency
psychiatric consultation services, identifying the thinking-tools a psychiatrist
should use to help patients ill-served by consensus guidelines, and identification
and treatment of ADHD across the life span. Personal interests include
Byzantine, Neo-Coptic, and Ethiopian Iconography and, from time to time,
perusing Soviet defector literature.
My current preoccupation is trying to implement as a human and as a psychiatrist
the imperative of Alexander Solzhenitsyn to “Live not by lies” (https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/live-not-by-lies).
Medical School: Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine
Residency: Brown University Butler Hospital
I grew up in Downers Grove, IL, a suburb about twenty miles outside Chicago, and stayed in the Midwest for college and medical school. I met my husband in undergrad at Notre Dame and visited Spokane, his hometown, for the first time about ten years ago. We are so excited to be settling into this lovely town that someone recently described to me as “the Midwest of the west.” I loved my four freezing years in Minnesota for medical school at Mayo Clinic, whose motto of “the needs of the patient come first” continues to guide me at work. We moved to Rhode Island for residency at Brown, where I had wonderful mentors and a great time serving as chief resident. I will always miss living so near the ocean and the many quirks of our nation’s smallest state. I started to develop an interest in perinatal psychiatry in medical school, which grew during residency while working in a perinatal day hospital, outpatient clinic, and consult service. I’m thrilled to be able to continue to work in this field with PRS and join a group of people that are passionate about taking excellent care of patients. In my free time, I have my hands full with a very high energy toddler and I also love to cook, read fiction, and re-watch my favorite episodes of The Office.
Medical School: Kansas City University
Residency: Psychiatry Residency Spokane
I was born and raised in Sacramento, CA. I attended college initially at UC, Santa Cruz and transferred to American University in Washington, DC where I graduated with a BA in psychology and minor in chemistry. Between college and medical school I lived abroad doing ovarian cancer research in London, UK. I attended medical school at Kansas City University and returned to the west coast for residency here in Spokane. After graduating from training I decided to stay with the residency program as faculty. I work primarily doing ECT and Consult Liaison psychiatry in the hospital. My particular areas of interest within psychiatry are addictions, psychosis, and interventional psychiatry. I have many interests outside of medicine including cooking (I would love to go to culinary school in retirement), gardening, and hanging out with my elderly bulldog. I also love to explore the many outdoor activities that Spokane has to offer. My partner and I often go hiking and paddleboarding in the summer. In the winter we like to snowshoe and ski.
Medical School: University of Washington - Spokane track
Residency: Psychiatry Residency Spokane
Born and raised in Spokane, WA., Dr. Caitlin Klamper was excited to return to her hometown upon the completion of her undergraduate degree at University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ. As part of University of Washington’s WWAMI program, Caitlin was able to complete a majority of her medical education in the Spokane region, including her general psychiatry clerkship and later as a SUB-I on the consult-liaison service at Sacred Heart. During her time with her clerkship, Dr. Klamper quickly recognized her strong passion for providing mental health care to the underserved, which led her to pursue a career in psychiatry. She was immediately drawn to the smaller community program atmosphere and particularly enjoyed working with the down-to-earth faculty who were all dedicated to the process of developing the program to level of success that it boasts today. As it would turn out, 4 years with the program wasn’t long enough, which is why she was thrilled to have the opportunity to join the faculty starting in December, 2021. Her specific interests within psychiatry include addiction medicine, consult-liaison psychiatry and more recently, cardiac transplant psychiatry. Caitlin is thrilled about her role working with residents and medical students while also being able to maintain direct patient care in a field that she loves.
Outside of work, Caitlin can usually be found chasing around her toddler, two dogs, or her husband. She loves spending time on the lake or river during the summer months and someday hopes to relearn how to ski (probably around the same time as her daughter). She also loves spending time with friends and rooting for the Seahawks or any other players on her fantasy football team.
Medical School: University of Colorado School of Medicine
Residency: University of Colorado School of Medicine, Psychiatry Residency Program
Dr. Lucas Salg is originally from Madison, WI, but grew up in Denver, CO. Lucas received a B.A. in English from the University of Colorado in 2004 and worked in the newspaper and marketing industries while playing drums for various bands. He decided to pursue a career in medicine after dragging his adolescence out as long as possible. Lucas completed both medical school and psychiatry residency at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and served as Chief Resident in Psychiatry during 2018-19. Lucas completed additional training in multiple modalities of psychotherapy through UCSOM’s Psychotherapy Scholars track. His primary areas of interest within the field are psychodynamic psychotherapy, outpatient psychiatry, ADHD, personality disorders, working with health care professionals, and teaching medical students. When not at work, Lucas enjoys spending time with his family and two dogs; he also enjoys listening to and playing music (anything loud or weird, preferably both), learning about cosmology, collecting vinyl, puzzles of all types and board games.
Medical School: University of California, San Diego
Residency: University of Washington Psychiatry Training Program, Seattle
Dr. John Wurzel III was born in Tucson, AZ and raised mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area. During undergrad, he studied ecology and comparative ancient military history at Brown University in Providence, RI. He attended medical school at University of California San Diego, underwent residency training in Seattle through the University of Washington, and joined the PRS in 2016. He’s passionate about teaching and is the site director for medical student clerkships through PRS. John enjoys a variety of pursuits in the field of psychiatry, including working on therapeutic interviewing techniques, consult-liaison work, and collaborative care. He is also a member of the Spokane Urban Ethics Committee. He recently founded an Addiction Medicine Consultation Service at Sacred Heart Medical Center. Outside of work, he loves to travel, spend time with his family (including an unnecessary number of pets), play games, work on his property, woodwork, and write. He’s built one large gazebo and a few tables, framed lots of paintings, taught himself to fall trees (or fell, depending on where you are from), and managed to write three-and-a-half sci-fi novels and a book on communications skills (but none have been published). If you are looking for strong opinions on the local food scene (or pretty much anything else), he’s a good person to consult. His favorite part of the Psychiatry Residency Spokane is the amazing people that he gets to work with on a daily basis, but the warm cookies in the cafeteria are pretty good too.
Medical School: University of California, San Diego
Residency: University of Washington Psychiatry Training Program, Seattle
Dr. Kelly Wurzel was born in San Francisco, California, and raised in a coastal small town in rural Northern California. The town is so small that there are no stop lights, and internet and cell phone service are spotty at best. She pursued undergrad at the University of California, Berkeley obtaining a BS in Molecular Environmental Biology with an emphasis in Human Health, while also pursuing Italian studies and traveling abroad to Italy. She participated in the Biology Scholars Program and focused on tutoring biology and physics, and completing an undergraduate research project involving cystic fibrosis cells and the innate immune response. She attended medical school at the University of California San Diego, while spending her free time volunteering at the student run free clinic and traveling to India to learn about healthcare in resource poor areas. She completed psychiatric residency at the University of Washington in Seattle, served as chief resident for inpatient and consult-liaison psychiatry at the UWMC, and then moved to Spokane to be involved in developing a wonderful and exciting new psychiatry residency program. In Spokane, she particularly enjoys patient care, teaching, organizing the residents didactics schedule, and working with residents on the inpatient, emergency, and consult-liaison teaching services, as well as providing supervision for residents on their ECT/TMS elective rotation. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family, dogs, cats, international travel, hiking, gardening, and cooking.
Medical School: St George University School of Medicine
Residency: Psychiatry Residency Spokane
Sean was born in Columbia, Maryland, but has bounced around a lot since then. He attended the University of Dallas where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry. Sean then attended St. George’s University School of Medicine, where he saw medicine practiced in many different hospitals and diverse locations (Grenada, New York, and New Jersey). Sean completed his residency here in Spokane at Psychiatry Residency Spokane. After completing a fellowship in Consult Liaison Psychiatry at the University of Maryland, he is back in Spokane having fun with his old teachers/now colleagues.
Sean first discovered his love for psychiatry during his consult liaison rotation as a 3rd-year medical student. His fascination with the dynamic interplay between mental and physical health has only grown over the years. For Sean, the most rewarding moment in medicine is seeing our words and care directly alleviate another human’s suffering. He is excited to hone his skills in CL psychiatry, pass on his excitement to others, and continue to learn the best care for patients.
