EDUCATION & TRAINING
I grew up in Oklahoma City and attended college at Princeton University, where I studied Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and francophone African literature. I went to medical school at the University of Virginia, followed by psychiatry residency at Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program in Boston, MA, where I was a chief resident. I am board-certified in adult psychiatry.
TEACHING
In addition to seeing patients, I teach ISTDP to psychiatry residents at the University of Virginia and the University of Texas.
AWARDS & HONORS
C. Richard Bowman Scholarship Award - Clinical excellence, integrity, enthusiasm, and compassion, based on performance in third year clinical clerkships. Considered the highest clinical award at UVa School of Medicine.
Gold Humanism Honor Society
Leslie Kilham Johnson Memorial Prize - Best Ecology and Evolutionary Biology thesis by a female student.
EXPERIENCE
While in residency, I worked in a wide variety of settings: inpatient units, medical hospitals, day programs, addiction units, and the outpatient clinic. I received training in psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), exposure and response prevention (ERP), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).
After completing residency, I worked for a year as a psychiatrist for the Department of Mental Health at a state psychiatric hospital. After leaving that position and until moving to Austin at the end of 2019, I worked at Atrius Health, a multispecialty group practice in the Boston area. At Atrius, in addition to seeing patients, I was the chair of the Quality Assurance Committee for the Behavioral Health Department. I also had a psychotherapy practice.
I have been in practice in Austin since moving here in the beginning of 2020.
PUBLICATIONS
Lalone K, Alfson E, Gitlin D. “Renal and Metabolic Disorders,” in Depression in Medical Illness, AJ Barsky, Ed. McGraw-Hill, 2016.
Meyer F, Alfson E, Peteet J, Yung R, Braun I. “Cancer,” in Depression in Medical Illness, AJ Barsky, Ed. McGraw-Hill, 2016.
Awosika OO, Lyons JL, Ciarlini P, Phillips RE, Alfson ED, Johnson EL, Koo S, Marty F, Drew C, Zaki S, Folkerth RD, Klein JP. Fatal Adenovirus encephalomyeloradiculitis in an umbilical cord stem cell transplant recipient. Neurology 2013; 80(18):1715-1717.
Blackhall LJ, Alfson ED, Barclay JS. Screening for Substance Abuse and Diversion in Virginia Hospices. J Palliat Med 2013; 16(3):237-242.
Alfson ED, Awosika O, Singhal T, Fricchione GL. Lysis of catatonic withdrawal in a bone-marrow transplant recipient with adenovirus limbic encephalitis. Psychosomatics 2013; 54(2):192-195.
Yarlagadda A, Taylor JH Jr, Hampe CS, Alfson E, Clayton AH. GAD65 Antibodies, Chronic Psychosis, and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Innov Clin Neurosci 2011; 8(8):34-36.
Yarlagadda A, Alfson ED, Clayton AH. The blood brain barrier and the role of cytokines in neuropsychiatry. Psychiatry Edgmont 2009; 6(11):18-22.
Alfson ED. Care of the Soul. Veritas: A University of Virginia School of Medicine Literary Arts Magazine. Spring 2009:4-5.
Gill SA, Alfson ED, Hau MH. Context matters: female aggression and testosterone in a year-round territorial neotropical songbird (Thryothorus leucotis). Proc R Soc Lond, B. 2007; 274:2187–2194.
Alfson ED. Functions and Endocrine Mechanisms Underlying Territorial Aggression in Both Sexes of a Duetting Tropical Bird, the Buff-Breasted Wren. Princeton University senior thesis, 2005.