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Diagnoses and treats clients across the lifespan. Registered and qualified prescriber and psychotherapist specializing in child and adolescent and addiction. Proficient in medication management and individual, couples, family, and group therapy.

I provide a safe environment coupled with active listening to establish a trusting rapport with my clients. I use evidence based practice to treat the identified diagnosis and meet my client's specific needs. I attended school at California State University Long Beach. I have been practicing as a nurse practitioner, in several settings, for 5 years. I have 30 years of clinical experience and was first trained in healthcare at LAC/USC level 1 trauma center allowing me to develop efficient assessment skills, effective critical thinking and a compassionate bedside manor. I encourage patients and families to participate in their treatment plan.

Thomas Dixon, M.D., Ph.D. is a psychiatrist graduated from the UCSD Psychiatry Residency, Research Track. He has an interest in neuromodulation and has been involved in TMS clinical trials as well as basic research in ketamine effects on neurons. He completed the Tufts Medical Scientist Training Program where he received his medical doctorate as well as a Ph.D. in Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology. His Ph.D. involved recreating the human neuromuscular junction with multiple cell types in 3D bio-fabricated structures in the lab. Beyond science and medicine, he is passionate about the outdoors, cinema, Boston sports teams, and environmental policy.

I am dual board certified child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist. I see clients from age 12 and up. People come to treatment for all sorts of reasons — anxiety, depression, trauma, difficulty functioning at work or school, family conflict, challenges in relationships, low self-esteem, or simply a desire to learn more about themselves. As a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist with expertise in both medication management and psychotherapy, I can help patients develop a treatment plan that meets their needs. My style is guided by warmth and flexibility, with the goals of helping patients build insight and reduce symptoms. I create individualized treatment plans, assessing patients' goals, unique life experiences, and biological risk factors. While medication is useful in some cases, I am dedicated to helping my patients achieve lasting change through therapy as well.

Karen Mendez, MD, is a board-certified adult psychiatrist and board-eligible child and adolescent psychiatrist at Adelpha Psychiatric Group in Encino, California.

Dr. Mendez graduated from UCLA with a degree in Psychobiology. She spent four years working at the UCLA Early Childhood Partial Hospitalization Program, providing evaluations, assessments, and multidisciplinary therapy for children with neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. She empowered children with cognitive, academic, social, and self-care skills through one-on-one discrete trial training, direct instruction, response pivotal training, and applied behavioral analysis.

Dr. Mendez obtained her medical degree at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and stayed at UCLA to complete a psychiatry residency and child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship, serving as the Program Chief Fellow. During her fellowship, she completed the national curriculum in reproductive psychiatry and became a certified facilitator of the Circle of Security International Early Intervention Program for Parents and Children (an attachment-based, reflective parenting program).

Dr. Mendez has specialized training in mood disorders, reproductive psychiatry, anxiety disorders, ADHD, trauma-related disorders, and neurodevelopmental disorders. With a holistic approach, she utilizes evidence-based psychopharmacology and various psychotherapy modalities, including interpersonal psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), focused family therapy, and psychodynamic psychotherapy.

Dr. Mendez is a native of Lima, Peru, and fluent in Spanish.

Conisha Cooper, MD, is a board-certified adult psychiatrist at Adelpha Psychiatric Group in Encino, California. 

Dr. Cooper graduated from Wellesley College with a degree in Psychology. After college, she joined the Harvard University Lab for Developmental Studies, where she was involved in research on developmental cognition, before transitioning to the Harvard University Center for Primary Care to study healthcare quality improvement. She later pursued medical training at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where she was inducted in the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. She went on to complete Psychiatry Residency at UCLA-Resnick Neuropsychiatric Institute.

Dr. Cooper takes a holistic approach to treating psychiatric illness. In addition to thoughtful medication management, she employs various psychotherapeutic modalities including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, Inter-analytic Couples Therapy, Intensive Short Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, and Emotion Focused Psychotherapy. She also prioritizes use of mindfulness and the patient’s own spiritual practice into treatment, when possible.

Outside of treating patients, Dr. Cooper enjoys getting outdoors with her dogs, hiking and writing poetry.

 

Benjamin Bloxham, MD, is a board-certified adult psychiatrist at Adelpha Psychiatric Group in Encino, California. 

Dr. Bloxham graduated with honors from New York University with a bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies. At NYU, he spent a year in London studying Psychology and Biology. He then attended medical school at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. There, he conducted bioinformatics research, spent a month volunteering in a hospital in rural Guatemala, and starred in two musicals. He pursued Psychiatry Residency training at UCLA-Resnick Neuropsychiatric Institute and West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, where he mentored junior residents as Chief Resident of the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit. His background lends itself to taking an interest in understanding his patient’s life story to tailor effective treatments to address their concerns.

Dr. Bloxham has experience treating patients by combining medications and psychotherapy for complex psychiatric problems, including Mood and Anxiety Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders, Trauma, and Stressor-Related Disorders, Psychotic Disorders, ADHD, interpersonal issues, and grief. He has specialty training in Reproductive Psychiatry (including assessment and treatment of premenstrual dysphoric disorder, infertility-associated mood/anxiety changes, postpartum depression/anxiety/OCD, and counseling patients taking medication who plan to become pregnant).

He is certified as an Interpersonal Psychotherapist and has specialized training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (including Exposure with Response Prevention for OCD). He is especially interested in reducing the stigma that often surrounds mental illness in general, including within religious/faith communities.​

Glenna Smith, MD, is a board-certified adult psychiatrist and board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist at Adelpha Psychiatric Group in Encino, California. 

Dr. Smith has long been devoted to a career working with children and families, since her school-aged days volunteering in a medical clinic for immigrant populations. With this goal in mind, Dr. Smith pursued her undergraduate degree at Columbia University, studying Psychology and Hispanic Studies, before attending medical school at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. She subsequently completed residency in adult psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, where she promoted wellness across medical education, participating in medical student teaching and wellness curriculum development within training programs. She then completed a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at UCLA, where she served as chief fellow of the child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit and the resident psychotherapy clinic. She stayed on at UCLA as an associate physician at the UCLA Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Clinic (CHAMP) after fellowship.
 
Dr. Smith has specialized training in psychopharmacology and psychotherapy for anxiety disorders, mood disorders, eating disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, and beyond. She has experience with a breadth of therapeutic techniques including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Family Focused Therapy, and psychodynamic psychotherapy. Dr. Smith is fluent in Spanish. 
 
Dr. Smith spends her time outside of work on adventures with her anxious rescue Dachshund, Ruby. 

Sungeun Melanie Lee, MD, PhD, is a board-certified adult psychiatrist at Adelpha Psychiatric Group in Encino, California. 

Dr. Lee graduated from Harvey Mudd College with a bachelor’s degree in Biology and a minor in Piano. After college, she pursued her medical training and research training through Keck School of Medicine and Caltech’s joint MD/PhD program. Dr. Lee studied the relationship between gut microbes and host inflammation as part of her thesis project, which was featured in Nature. She went on to pursue Psychiatry Residency training at UCLA-Resnick Neuropsychiatric Institute. Dr. Lee combines her research interest in the gut microbiome and her expertise in psychiatric illnesses and continues to be actively involved in research studies at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.

Dr. Lee has experience treating patients with medication management, psychotherapy, and other interventional treatments, such as TMS, for a wide range of psychiatric issues, including depression, anxiety disorders, OCD, PTSD, ADHD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, addiction, and insomnia. Dr. Lee has training in Interpersonal Psychotherapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) and Psychodynamic psychotherapy to treat depression, anxiety disorders, interpersonal difficulties and OCD. Dr. Lee is fluent in Korean.

Kara Tabor-Furmark, MD, is a board-certified adult psychiatrist and board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist at Adelpha Psychiatric Group in Encino, California.  

Dr. Tabor-Furmark graduated with honors from Harvard University, dual majoring in cognitive neuroscience and Spanish language. She attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine before pursuing her adult psychiatry residency and child and adolescent fellowship at UCLA.

As part of her training, Dr. Tabor-Furmark spent time in specialty clinics focusing on neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, bipolar spectrum disorders, and anxiety/OCD/tic disorder, among others. While in fellowship, she worked at a non-profit organization offering mental health services to foster youth and families. She received the UCLA Gertrude Rogers Greenblatt Award in Child Psychiatry, given to one fellow annually noted for their “deeply humane commitment to children and families requiring psychiatric care.” She also completed the Max Gray Mood Disorders Fellowship at UCLA and worked as an associate physician at the UCLA Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Clinic for several years. 

Dr. Tabor-Furmark strongly believes in a multi-disciplinary, holistic approach to patient care and is excited to be part of the team at Adelpha. After growing up in Hawaii, she could not be happier to have escaped the East Coast cold for sunny Los Angeles. She enjoys spending her free time with friends and family, playing with her dogs, traveling, yoga, running, and spending as much time in the ocean as possible. 

Victoria Huang, MD, is a board-certified adult psychiatrist at Adelpha Psychiatric Group in Encino, California.

Dr. Huang graduated with honors from Northwestern University with a degree in Cognitive Science. She then attended medical school at the University of California, Irvine, before pursuing her residency training at UCLA. She was the chief resident of UCLA’s Interpersonal Psychotherapy Clinic and the West Los Angeles VA’s Schizophrenia Inpatient Treatment Unit.

Dr. Huang has expertise working with patients with various mood, thought, and anxiety disorders. However, she specializes in reproductive psychiatric treatments and the treatment of PTSD, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Dr. Huang is well-versed in several evidence-based psychotherapies (e.g., Interpersonal Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Prolonged Exposure), medication management, and neuromodulation, specifically transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

Dr. Huang is an active member of the Psychiatric Clinical Faculty Association at UCLA providing lectures and professional mentorship to psychiatry residents. She previously volunteered in the UCLA Interpersonal Psycho-therapy Clinic providing direct clinical supervision for 10 years.