Kristina Purganan, DO, Assistant Professor (Clinical), earned her medical degree at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, CA. She completed her Psychiatry residency at the University of Cincinnati where she served as inpatient chief resident and then went on to pursue a fellowship in Geriatric Psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati/Cincinnati VA Medical Center. She also completed an ECT fellowship at Duke University. Dr. Purganan is dually board-certified in Adult Psychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry by the ABPN.
After completing her training, she stayed on at the University of Cincinnati as an inpatient attending on the geriatric psychiatry unit, consultation & liaison, and ECT services. Prior to joining our faculty, she moved back to her hometown of Seattle, WA and worked at CHI-Franciscan Health to develop and implement the collaborative care model in their outpatient clinics. Dr. Purganan is delighted to be a part of the Psychiatry department and the clinical faculty at the University of Utah Huntsman Mental Health Institute.
Dr. Purganan serves as Medical Director of the Geriatric Psychiatric Clinic where she provides evaluation, consultation, and treatment for older adults with a variety of mental health concerns including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and dementia. She started the clinic to address the expanding needs of the aging community and the lack of effective mental health care available to older adults that takes into consideration their unique physical, emotional, and social needs. She enjoys working with patients with complex neurological and medical co-morbidities. Dr. Purganan also sees older adults at the Neurobehavior HOME Program, providing psychiatric care to aging patients with cognitive, intellectual, and/or social functioning impairments resulting from neurodevelopmental problems such as genetic disorders, birth trauma, autism spectrum disorders, and brain injuries.
Her academic interests include psychopharmacologic treatments in the elderly, neuropsychiatry of dementia, increasing access to mental health care, improving quality of dementia care for patients and their caregivers, women and minority mental health, advocacy and education.
