Sarin Pakhdikian, D.O.
Candidate for 2023 Resident-Fellow Member Trustee-Elect (RFMTE)
A Message from the Candidate
Biography
Dr. Pakhdikian is currently a psychiatry resident at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She previously held the role of President for the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) PsychSIGN, the national psychiatry student interest group network, from 2021-2022. She had been involved with PsychSIGN since 2018, where she was initially a member and transitioned into Region 6 Chair for California in 2019, and was later elected as President-Elect in 2020.
Dr. Pakhdikian completed her medical school training at the Western University of Health Sciences, College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, where she complimented her education with acceptance to the Biomedical and Clinical Research Track. She graduated with the Clinical Specialty Award for Psychiatry, the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Medical Student Research, and the 2022 Student Researcher of the Year. Her work has focused on various components of behavioral medicine. She worked with a select team of researchers to study medical student interest in psychotherapy and to better understand factors that influence the choice of psychiatry as a specialty. Dr. Pakhdikian was a founding member of a research team organized by the Regional Research Committee Mentorship Program at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Department of Psychiatry. Their team worked at defining and validating nature-based and wilderness therapy outcomes in incarcerated populations, specifically children and adolescents.
Dr. Pakhdikian was also a co-investigator on a project funded by the APA’s Helping Hands Grant. This initiative allowed their team to provide free, quality mental health services to underserved populations in San Bernardino County, California. She was also the recipient of a Student Summer Research Grant from the Western University of Health Sciences, where she focused her work on assessing depression and anxiety in women of reproductive age. As a premedical student, she worked at the University of California, San Francisco in the Department of Psychiatry, Substance Abuse Research Program, assisting on an R21 NIH/NIDA funded grant to develop and implement a cross-sectional study in HIV and Hepatitis care coordination in methadone treatment clinics.
Dr. Pakhdikian has always valued community and has led initiatives as a Sexual Assault Counselor for a rape crisis hotline, a Behavioral Medicine Co-Director for a local health fair, and mentored various individuals through the Rise and Raise Mentorship Program as they pursued medicine. She continues to explore ways to give back to the community with her understanding and growing knowledge in the field of psychiatry.
Education
- Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, School of Social Ecology
- Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Western University of Health Sciences, College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific
- Psychiatry Residency, Kirk Kerkorian University of Nevada, Las Vegas, School of Medicine
Awards and Honors
- Resident of the Month, July, Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV (2022)
- Clinical Specialty Award, Psychiatry, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA (2022)
- Student Researcher of the Year Award, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA (2022)
- Provost’s Award for Excellence in Medical Student Research, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA (2022)
- John Renner Award, American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (2020)
- TOUCH Gold Award (2020)
- Student Summer Research Grant, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA (2019)
- Translating Osteopathic Understanding into Community Health (TOUCH) Silver Award (2019)
- Helping Hands Grant, American Psychiatric Association (2018)
Endorsements
- Gregory P. Brown, M.D.
Professor and Residency Training Director
University of Nevada, Las Vegas - David Baron, D.O., MSEd
Professor of Psychiatry
Chair, Center for Mental Health and Sports, WesternU of Health Sciences
Chair, Caucus on Global Psychiatry, APA - Waguih IsHak, M.D.
Professor and Clinical Chief of Psychiatry
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences
Cedars-Sinai Health System - Alan Atkins, M.D.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellow
University of Colorado/Children's Hospital Colorado - Benjamin Woo, M.D.
Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, UCLA - Robert M. McCarron, D.O.
Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Director of Education, Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute
Director, UCI Train New Trainers Primary Care Psychiatry Fellowship
University of California, Irvine School of Medicine