Dr. Sarah Graff is a UCSF and Harvard trained psychiatrist with extensive experience in psychotherapy and medication management.

Since people seek treatment for a variety of reasons – some for relief from disabling conditions like depression or anxiety or addiction, others to explore personal issues such as loss or failure – Dr. Graff believes that treatment must be not only state of the art but personalized. She evaluates all aspects of a patient’s functioning, and is committed to working with both family members and other health care providers to provide the very best care.

Dr. Graff earned her undergraduate degree summa cum laude in Classics at Princeton University. After receiving a Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities, she did graduate study in Classics at Harvard and completed her MA in Greek at Stanford. Her study of the language, literature and archaeology of antiquity reflects Dr. Graff’s lifelong interest in understanding other cultures and human experience.

Her desire to help individuals in a tangible way led Dr. Graff to medical school at UCSF. There she was a nominee of the prestigious Gold-Headed Cane Society, and was selected as the American Medical Association Foundation Rock Sleyster Scholar. Following her Internship in Psychiatry at UCSF, Dr. Graff pursued residency training at the Cambridge Health Alliance, a training site of Harvard Medical School. This highly competitive training program is distinguished by its commitment to teaching a complete range of psychotherapies, from analytic to cognitive, as well as evidence based psychopharmacology. Dr. Graff was selected as Chief Resident of acute services during her final year of residency. She was also chosen as the APA Aventis Women’s Leadership Fellow, as a Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry Fellow, and as an American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry Stepping Stones Program Participant.

Since training, Dr. Graff has worked extensively in psychotherapy and psychopharmacology with adult, geriatric, and forensic patients. This treatment has been provided in outpatient settings, crisis stabilization units, partial hospital programs, inpatient psychiatric units, and as a consultant to inpatient medical units. Dr. Graff’s clinical expertise is complemented by her interest in organizational management and hospital administration. In a previous role as a hospital Medical Director and Chair, she was recognized with a Medical Staff Leadership Award and a Patient Care Nursing Collaborative Award.

Dr. Graff brings her broad experience in science and the humanities to every new evaluation and, more importantly, to every conversation with her patients. However, she believes that excellent training and state of the art knowledge are only part of the doctor-patient relationship. What Dr. Graff prizes most highly is clear communication, collaboration, and attention to an individual’s unique concerns, in order to improve the lives of her patients.