Our Residents
The four-year psychiatry residency program is accredited by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education. The program which began in 1999 offers quality experience through a variety of rotations and electives. The electives are designed to enhance the residents' well-rounded education. Upon graduation, many residents have remained in Nevada to practice at public and private sites, others have gone on to fellowship programs or joined the department as faculty.
Current Residents
Tarra Becher, M.D.
Rami Alsaqri, D.O.
- Medical School: Midwestern University Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine
- Undergraduate College: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Undergraduate Degree: Molecular and Cellular Biology
- Scholarship/ Research Interests: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, First Break Psychosis
- Hometown: Champaign, Illinois
- Hobbies: gym, longboarding, learning the piano, Netflix, gaming
Arbury Bolton, M.D.
- Medical School: University of Queensland SOM — Ochsner Clinical School (Brisbane, QLD, Au/New Orleans, La, USA)
- Undergraduate College: University of San Francisco
- Hometown: Auburn, California
- Hobbies: live music, bad 80s bands, stouts on nitro, international travel, road trips, Lake Tahoe, ski/scuba/pilates, opera and Broadway, attempting to pet every dog that crosses my path, procrasti-baking
Abigail Landenberger, D.O.
- Medical School: Lincoln Memorial University - DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine
- Undergraduate College: University of Hawa’i at Mānoa
- Research Interests: Resiliency, substance induced schizophrenia, first break psychosis
- Hometown: Los Angeles, California
- Hobbies: Cooking (and eating) all different types of ethnic foods, playing the harp, volleyball, surfing, hiking, camping with my husband and pup
Landon Hester, M.D.
- Medical School: The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine
- Undergraduate College: Oklahoma Christian University
- Hometown: Edmond, Oklahoma
- Research Interests: Systematic reviews & meta-analyses, Bayesian modeling & machine learning, diagnostic concepts & language, LGBTQ+ health
- Hobbies: Watching movies, listening to music, trying new things, traveling, exploring the city
Carissa Klarich, M.D.
- Medical School: University of North Dakota
- Undergraduate College: Whitman College
- Undergraduate Degree: BA English
- Scholarship/ Research Interests: reproductive psychiatry, collaborative care model/integrated behavioral health, child & adolescent, telemedicine, psychosocial determinants of health, cultural competency
- Hometown: Billings, MT
- Hobbies: Cycling (road, mountain & Zwift); getting outdoors on trails & rivers; coffee; road trips; traveling; live music; film/TV/photography; podcasts; collecting plants; built environment/sustainability; community engagement
Patricia Liu, M.D.
- Medical School: University of Toledo College of Medicine Undergraduate college - University of Toledo
- Undergraduate Degree: Psychology and Chemistry Scholarship
- Research Interests: Community Psychiatry, Child/Adolescent Psychiatry, Diversity/Inclusion
- Hometown: Detroit, MI
- Hobbies: Powerlifting, painting with acrylic and gouache, snowboarding, adventures with friends!
Daniel Miller, M.D.
- Medical School: Creighton University School of Medicine
- Undergraduate College: University of California Santa Cruz
- Undergraduate Degree: Human Biology, B.S.
- Scholarship/ Research Interests: Mental Health Equity, Community Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Crisis Response
- Hometown: San Diego, CA
- Hobbies: Mountain Biking, Snowboarding, Cooking, Gardening, Disc Golfing, and Card & Board Games
Nicole Smith, M.D.
- Medical School: University of Nevada, Reno
- Undergraduate College: University of Nevada, Las Vegas
- Undergraduate Degree: Business Administration
- Scholarship/ Research Interests: Lifestyle Medicine
- Hometown: Reno, NV
- Hobbies: Board games, spending times with family, hiking
Karina Wood, M.D.
- Medical School: UNR Med
- Undergraduate College: Point Loma Nazarene University
- Undergraduate Degree: Biology
- Scholarship/ Research Interests: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Addiction, Lifestyle medicine
- Hometown: Riga, Latvia
- Hobbies: After becoming a mom my favorite hobby is entertaining my daughter and watching her face light up with a smile. I enjoy traveling, being outdoors, hiking, camping, boating, SUPing, kayaking. There are also not many things better than spending an evening with friends playing games, trying out a new restaurant, or attending a theater production.
Duyen Cao, D.O.
- Medical School: Touro University Nevada
- Undergraduate College: University of Utah
- Hometown: Ninh, Vietnam and Salt Lake City, UT
- Professional Interests: Child and adolescent psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, psychotherapy
- Hobbies: Cooking, crocheting, knitting, learning how to sew, trivia, being in the mountains, spending time with my dog
Christopher Chalaka, M.D.
- Medical School: University of Washington School of Medicine
- Undergraduate College: Swarthmore College
- Hometown: Mukilteo, WA
- Professional Interests: Mood disorders, addiction, psilocybin therapy, sports psychiatry (climbing therapy)
- Hobbies: Climbing, mushroom hunting, backpacking, road-trips, pottery, reading, environmental history
Sage Gee, M.D.
- Medical School: Penn State College of Medicine
- Undergraduate College: University of Nevada Reno
- Hometown: Hohhot, Inner Mongolia
- Professional Interests: LGBTQ health, interventional psychiatry, first episode psychosis, integrated psychiatry
- Hobbies: singing, bowling, drawing, organizing (I'm a semi-professional home organizer!), cooking, hiking
Rachael Lambin, M.D.
- Medical School: University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine
- Undergraduate College: University of Nevada Reno
- Hometown: Gardnerville, NV
- Professional Interests: reproductive psychiatry, forensic psychiatry
- Hobbies: Art (I'm an artist and love going to Burning Man), spending time with my family, my pug Ophelia
Andrew Kim, M.D.
- Medical School: University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine
- Undergraduate College: University of Nevada Reno
- Professional Interests: Consult/liaison psychiatry, medical education
- Hobbies: YouTube rabbit holes, exploring the outdoors, avid reader of first and maybe second chapters
Jessica Sanders, M.D.
- Medical School: McGovern Medical School
- Undergraduate College: University of Texas at Austin
- Hometown: Houston, TX
- Professional Interests: inpatient psychiatry, psychotherapy, addiction medicine
- Hobbies: Exploring the city with my family (Reno is a hidden gem of a city!), taking my dog on adventures, reading (memoirs, mostly), spending time with my co-residents