PHYSICIAN SPOTLIGHT
Katherine Gallardo, MD, shares her focus on helping adults with ADHD and why she loves being a psychiatrist. Q: Share with us your medical journey in psychiatry. A: At an early age I figured out that I liked helping others and sharing kindness and wanted to do that in my career. In college, I discovered psychiatry would be a great way to merge my interest in medicine and the mind. Medical School rotations and volunteering at hospice further helped me cultivate an interest in psychiatry. Ironically, being more outgoing helped me learn how to talk to people and listen better. I was fortunate to match into an amazing residency program in Boston where I learned evidenced-based medicine working in many large hospitals and had a variety of clinic experiences including learning psychotherapy under the guidance of excellent supervisors. The countless hours of preparation were well worth it as I now greatly enjoy my work at the boutique clinic Choulet Performance Psychiatry, where I see patients for both medication management and psychotherapy.
and grad students and I love watching and supporting them in their achievements and growth. Staying grounded in curiosity and non-judgment helps me ask more thoughtful questions to better understand my patients.
Q: You’re a younger psychiatrist, can you share some of the advantages that may give you with patients?
Q: You focus on adults with ADHD, tell us more about that.
A: Being on the younger side does indeed help me keep up with my younger patients, and to that end I would say that I am still very young at heart. This energy serves me well as I see adult patients of all ages (18 and up) at Choulet Performance Psychiatry. My area of expertise is working with adults with ADHD, and that’s where my “young” energy can serve especially well. I would gently remind everyone that plenty of adults above the age of 40 have come to me after a loved one recommended, they be assessed for ADHD and I’ve been able to help them as well. My comfort and experience with ADHD come from working at the Harvard University Health Service during the last year of residency. That experience also helped me get more comfortable with the general issues of both undergrad
A: ADHD is a diagnosis that many adults and especially women may not have gotten growing up. What tends to get attention (and appropriately so) is highly disruptive behavior in young boys. What does NOT get attention is daydreaming and procrastinating because these symptoms are more subtle and don’t present immediate problems in the moment. Unfortunately, life gets more complicated as people age. For adults with ADHD there tends to be a certain tipping point where they are expected to perform in the same way as those without ADHD and it becomes overwhelming. That’s typically when adults will come see me and ask for help. The ADHD brain does not
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Learn more about Dr. Gallardo at arizonaphysician.com/ps-katherine-gallardo-md