About

I am a psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and the cofounder and CEO of Acacia Clinics, a mental health practice in Silicon Valley specializing in advanced brain stimulation for difficult to treat brain conditions like depression and PTSD.

Clinical work

At Acacia, we bring the latest neuroscience out of the lab and into clinical practice. I specialize in accelerated (<1 week) treatments for complex and "hopeless" cases and get remarkable results. To our knowledge, our team has treated more people with accelerated navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) (e.g. SAINT and HOPE-TMS protocols) than anyone, academic centers like Stanford and Harvard included.

Our approach combines fMRI-guided brain targeting with evidence-based psychotherapy, medication management, and attention to the whole person — sleep, nutrition, exercise, meaning. We were among the first independent clinics in the country to offer accelerated TMS protocols outside of research settings, and we were the first to provide commercial SAINT therapy developed by Magnus Medical.

If you are a patient exploring treatment options, visit Acacia Clinics and drop us a line. If you are a physician interested in referring a patient, see information for referring providers.

Research

I trained in medicine and psychiatry at Stanford where I worked in the labs of Amit Etkin and Nolan Williams studying neural circuit disruptions in psychiatric disorders and the development of targeted brain stimulation therapies. I was part of the research team that developed Stanford Neuromodulation Therapy (SNT/SAINT), the first FDA-cleared TMS protocol individualized to a patient's own brain connectivity. I subsequently served as Clinical Assistant Professor in the Stanford Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

My research has been published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, Nature Neuroscience, Neuropsychopharmacology, and the International Philosophical Quarterly, among other journals. I have collaborated with Roy Baumeister and Brad Wright on research into self-control in everyday life; Shan Siddiqi, Noah Phillip, and Michael Fox on finding a circuit to treat PTSD; Jeff Schwartz on the philosophy of the self. I currently serve as Site Principal Investigator on an active NIH-funded study building a causal wiring diagram of transdiagnostic brain functions (methods paper; NIH grant page).

I am a founding member of the Brain Stimulation Society and hold over 2,200 citations on Google Scholar. Full publication list and active grants are on my research page.

Acacia's platform

Beyond direct patient care, Acacia has developed a clinical and operational platform for delivering advanced brain stimulation at scale - including protocols, training systems, quality measurement, and fMRI-guided targeting infrastructure. We are working with large healthcare systems to bring these capabilities to their patients. If you represent a health system, academic medical center, or clinical organization interested in partnership, please contact us.

Education and public engagement

I have given over 100 public talks on neuroscience, mental health, and human flourishing including two TEDx presentations and lectures at Stanford, Cornell, Columbia, UCLA, and Arizona State. My book, The Opposite of Depression, was published by Tyndale House in 2024. I love talking, so talk to my team if you want to schedule me for a talk.

Writing and ideas

I also write about consciousness, technology, and human flourishing: questions I encounter every day in clinical practice. I believe that the most important questions of our time sit at the intersection of neuroscience, philosophy, and what it means to be a person. That work lives at Ghost & Machine and sometimes I write for Psychology Today.

Other Background

I am a board-certified psychiatrist by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. I earned my MD and completed my psychiatry residency at Stanford University (2014, residency through 2018). While exploring what to do with my life, I learned to think like an engineer, earning a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UCLA (2008, cum laude). Before medicine, I led healthcare development in rural Kenya with Nuru International and founded a global health nonprofit, the Fellowship for International Service and Health.