Daniel D. Sewell, M.D.
Clinical Professor
200 West Arbor Drive
San Diego, CA 92103-8631
Phone #: 619-543-3772
FAX #: 619-543-7337
E-mail: dsewell@ucsd.edu

Biography
Dr. Sewell was born and raised in Des Moines, IA. He attended public schools and graduated in the top 3% of his high school class. He spent four years at Grinnell College in Grinnell, IA where he graduated with honors with a BA in Biology. He attended medical school at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA. At graduation, he was given an award for student service. He completed the first two years of his psychiatry residency at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM. He completed his psychiatry residency at the University of California, San Diego and was awarded the Chairman’s prize for research excellence during the psychiatry residency. Following residency, he completed a fellowship in geriatric psychiatry at UCSD.

Research Focus
Dr. Sewell’s current research interests include: 1) the use of the neuropsychological test, the Clock Drawing Test (CDT), to distinguish older patients with major depression from older patients with major depression and early dementia; 2) unrecognized medical illness as the cause of behavioral disturbance in patients with dementia; 3) the use of aroma therapy to reduce agitation in patients with dementia; 4) sex, aging, and dementia, 5) metoclopramide-associated tardive dyskinesia; and 6) the use of atypical antipsychotic medications in older patients.

Clinical Focus
He spent approximately 75% of his clinical hours working with patients admitted to the Senior Behavioral Health Inpatient Unit at UCSD Hillcrest Medical Center. About half of the inpatients are experiencing severe behavioral disturbance as a complication of dementia and about half are experiencing problems with depression or anxiety but do not have dementia. Occasionally, he treats older patients with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. He works closely with a multi-disciplinary team that includes a geriatric internist, neuropsychologist, social worker, occupational therapist, and nurses. His work frequently includes family therapy. About 25% of his clinical time is spent providing outpatient medication management and long-term psychotherapy for adults of all ages.

Selected Publications

• Sewell DD, Kodsi A, Caligiuri M, Jeste DV: Metoclopramide and Tardive Dyskinesia. Biological Psychiatry 36:630-632, 1994.
• Sewell DD: Paranoid Disorders. In Geriatrics review Syllabus, Book I. DB Reuben, TT Yoshikawa, RW Besdine (ed.) New York, NY: Plenum, 1996.
• Sewell DD: Schizophrenia and HIV. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 22(3): 465-473, 1996.
• Ashley RV, Gladsjo A, Olson R, Judd LL, Sewell DD, Rockwell E, Jeste DV: Changes in Psychiatric Diagnoses from Admission to Discharge: Review of the Charts of 159 Patients Consecutively Admitted to a Geriatric Psychiatric Inpatient Unit. Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego and the VA San Diego Healthcare System. General Hospital Psychiatry 23:3-7, 2001.
• Woo BKP, Daly JW, Allen EC, Jeste DV, Sewell DD: Unrecognized Medical Disorders in Older Psychiatric Inpatients in a Senior Behavioral Health Unit in a University Hospital in San Diego. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, (in press).