harmi Patel Rao is the president for the local San Diego regional chapter of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. I grew up all over the United States but have been in San Diego since 2003 and completed my residency and fellowship at UCSD. I have developed an expertise in Early Childhood Mental Health and co-occurrence between developmental delays and mental health concerns. In pursuit of these interests, I have had 11 years of direct clinical care in our county’s System of Care. I then became the Supervising Psychiatrist for Juvenile Forensics within the San Diego County Behavioral Health Services, Children Youth and Families for two years.
I am a Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor for UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry and enjoy teaching medical students and psychiatry trainees. I am married and we have two boys, ages 9 and 12, who are smart and curious and keep us on our toes!