J. Scott Anderson, MD

Program Director

Dr. Anderson received his medical degree from Indiana University Medical School in Indianapolis, Indiana, and completed his residency training in psychiatry at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. He is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and has been a practicing psychiatrist at TriStar Centennial Medical Center since 2014.

Alexandre Koumtchev, MD

Associate Program Director

Dr. Koumtchev is the associate program director and psychiatry Department, Chairman. Dr. Koumtchev will work directly with the program director to support the mission, vision, and aims of the residency program for its residents. He will supervise and mentor residents as well as serve on the Program Evaluation Committee.

Vedavyasa Biliyar, MD

Dr. Biliyar is a psychodynamically oriented child and adolescent psychiatrist specializing in family crisis intervention for teenagers. He teaches developmental and cultural perspectives and family dynamics in presentations of illness behavior. Under his guidance, residents learn to understand childhood trauma in teenagers and how it manifests as adult psychopathology.

Alan Lynch, MD

Dr. Lynch is teaching faculty for the addiction medicine rotation. He will utilize his experience in addiction medicine psychiatry for resident education, didactics, research, and scholarly activity. Residents will learn about the evaluation and management of patients with substance use disorders, alcohol dependence, and other addiction disorders, including dual diagnosis.

Jaymie Avenido, MD

Dr. Avenido is core faculty on consultation and liaison psychiatry. She manages the psychiatric care of patients admitted to our 11 bed me/psych unit located in Centennial Medical Center as well as psychiatric consultations throughout the campus. She will provide residents with experience and teaching on how to manage acute psychiatric needs for patient’s admitted to medical or surgical services. Residents will learn how to diagnose and treat a variety of illnesses including delirium, severe depression and detoxification. Residents will also learn to assess patients for possible psychiatric admission after stabilization of their medical needs.

Adrian A. Jarquin-Valdivia, MD

Self-described as a Universal Citizen, and with 7+ billion brothers and sisters, Dr Jarquin-Valdivia (Dr JV or Dr Valdivia) is originally from Nicaragua, he went to medical school in Honduras. He completed full Internal Medicine training at UTSouthwestern and University of Utah, to later train in Neurology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. His fellowship at UCSF was in Neurocritical Care, Critical Care, and Stroke. He also holds board certifications in Neuroimaging and Neurosonology. Among his interests are patient safety, standardization of care, early knowledge and technology adoption, and kindness and respect for all living things.

Luigi Cardella, MD

Dr. Cardella is our consultation/liaison and forensic psychiatry faculty. On his rotation, senior residents manage a broad range of routine consultation requests in inpatient, outpatient, and emergency settings. Senior residents lead the consult/liaison team, supervise scheduling, cross-coverage, assignment of patients, and assist faculty in providing supervision to other learners.

Robert C. Yates, MD

Dr. Yates is core faculty on inpatient psychiatry. His experience in psychiatry, as well as electroconvulsive therapy, be vital to the residents’ experience. Residents will develop skills in the use of psychotropic drug treatment, selection of patients for somatic therapies (such as ECT), and learn about commitment procedures.

Olivia Gawrych, MD

Dr. Gawrych is on inpatient psychiatry. She joined us in September of 2022 from UCF-COM/North Florida. Her experience in psychiatry, as well as electroconvulsive therapy, is vital to the residents’ experience.

Current Residents

Class of 2021-2022

  • Pilar Bare, DO
  • Manpreet Bindra, DO
  • Gerard Corsi, MD
  • John Lundeen, MD
  • Ashley Mahajan, DO
  • Brendan McClafferty, DO
  • Steven Sprenger, MD

Class of 2022-2023

  • Michael Arnett, MD
  • Kimberly Bond, MD
  • Michelle Duncan, MD
  • Haris Ghayur, MD
  • Spencer Ilstrup, MD
  • Conner Johnson, MD
  • Sarah Marks, MD
  • Donya Razinoubakht, MD

Class of 2023-2024

  • Shivan Berwari, MD
  • Nicholas Hansen, MD
  • Reagan Major, DO
  • Kaitlyn Kasemodel, MD
  • Benjamin Minor, MD
  • Sydnee Sosa, MD
  • Eileen Yee, MD
  • Marie Yrastorza, MD