Psychiatry Residency Program Leadership

Residency Training Director

Michael McCarthy, MD, PhD

The Program Director, Dr. Michael McCarthy is a Professor of Psychiatry at UCSD, Staff Psychiatrist at the VA San Diego. He has been on the faculty at UCSD since 2011 and involved in Residency leadership and teaching since 2017, both in the Psychiatry Categorical Program and Research Track. He was appointed to the role of Program Director in 2023. Dr McCarthy is an accomplished leader, educator, and teacher, with years of experience supervising and guiding the development of a diverse set of medical students, residents, and fellows. He is an advocate for trainees and takes a practical approach to learning, focusing on the ways that cutting-edge science and best clinical practices can be applied to patient care, research, and improving lives. Dr. McCarthy has clinical interests in bipolar disorder, depression, sleep, and psychopharmacology. He cares for patients and supervises residents in the VA Treatment Refractory Mood Disorders Program. He is the Principal Investigator of the Translational Chronobiology Research Program, a federally funded laboratory that investigates the genetic, molecular, and cellular underpinnings of psychiatric disorders and their interactions with the circadian clock. Using stem-cell technology and genomics, the goal of his research program is to develop disease biomarkers for use in diagnosis and personalized medicine. In his free time, Dr. McCarthy enjoys spending time with his family, swimming, hiking, skiing, and the many other outdoor experiences offered by San Diego and Southern California.

Associate Training Director

Ashley Clark, MD

Dr. Clark is a board-certified psychiatrist who works in the Women's Reproductive Mental Health Clinic and specializes in perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Dr. Clark attended the University of Vermont, College of Medicine for her medical degree and then completed her internship and residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. During her final year of residency, she served as chief resident and also completed an outpatient program devoted to assessing and treating women with psychiatric conditions associated with hormonal challenges and reproductive life events at the Women's Life Center at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Since completing her residency training in psychiatry, Dr. Clark has worked as a staff psychiatrist at the Naval Medical Center San Diego where she was an Assistant Residency Training Director. She currently works supervising PGY3 and PGY4 residents during their general outpatient rotations in Hillcrest and the Women's Reproductive Mental Health Clinic in La Jolla.

Associate Training Director

Isabel Domingues, MD

Dr. Domingues, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist who specializes in treating young adults with early psychosis. She also has clinical expertise in identifying young adults at high risk of developing a psychotic disorder or in the "prodromal" (early) phase. She completed residency training in Psychiatry at UC San Diego Health and was Chief Resident at the outpatient clinic in Hillcrest. She earned a medical degree from Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, in Portugal. She is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and enjoys working with the Latino population.

Site Director, VAMC

Sanjai Rao, MD

Dr. Rao is a graduate of the University of California San Diego Medical School. He continued his residency training at UC San Diego in Psychiatry where he served as chief resident, and is currently an inpatient and consult-liaison attending at the VA Medical Center. He has a strong interest in education and coordinates large parts of the residency curriculum. Dr. Rao currently serves as both an Associate Training Director and the Site Director at the VA Medical Center.

Program Administrator

Tracy Riley, B.S., C-TAGME

Ms. Riley joined the UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry as the Residency Training Coordinator in 1999 and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and is a certified member of the Training Administrators of Graduate Medical Education. Her experience with residency training began in 1994 as Coordinator for the UC San Diego Child Psychiatry Residency Program located at Children's Hospital-San Diego. Ms. Riley has served as a member of the Administrators Steering Committee and Information Committee for the American Association of Directors of Residency Training. She also served as a Psychiatry Certification Task Force member for The American Graduate Medical Education Certification Board.

Program Administrator

Keisha Moore, B.A.

Keisha Moore is a seasoned Program Administrator at the UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry, boasting over 14 years of experience in higher education. In 2016, she transitioned into medical education, serving as the 4th-year Clerkship Coordinator at UC Riverside, where her contributions were instrumental in guiding the inaugural graduating class through their program. Holding a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences with a specialization in Communication, Sociology, and Sports Management from Washington State University, Keisha brings a multifaceted skill set to her role. Her dedication to facilitating academic success and her wealth of experience make her an invaluable asset to any institution.