About
Desert Breeze Mental Health
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Our Story - Adam Colbert, MD
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Though Dr Colbert’s path to becoming a psychiatrist was hardly straightforward, his varied life experiences have all contributed to his underlying commitment to service and equality. Raised in a number of states (Texas, Ohio, Missouri, California) and countries (Belgium), he graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee in 2007 with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Anthropology. Even though the initial plan was a career working with animals, and despite an eye-opening experience working at a zoo, he quickly realized that his most fulfilling career path was one where he could help people. He chose to return to school to attend the University of Arizona’s School of Nursing Accelerated BSN program in 2008, before working as a Registered Nurse at the then-named University Medical Center (UMC) in Tucson on a cardiac care unit.
Seeking a new challenge and a new role on the healthcare team, Dr Colbert attended medical school at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson from 2012-2016, where he was a part of the Rural Health Professions Program, allowing him to rotate through various rural clinical sites including the Navajo Reservation in Northeast Arizona and the San Xavier Tohono O’Odham Reservation outside of Tucson. He was also heavily involved in community service, garnered several academic awards (including the 2016 Merck Manual Award for Academic Excellence), and was inducted into the medical honor society Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) in 2015. His most prized medical school accomplishment, however, was being inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS), which “recognizes students, residents, and faculty who are exemplars of patient care and who serve as role models, mentors, and leaders in medicine. GHHS members are peer nominated, chosen as the ones that others say they want taking care of their own family”.
Dr Colbert's medical residency saw him travel across the country to Charlottesville, Virginia to train in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia. Here he was able to train in a variety of clinical settings, including acute care inpatient, emergency department, psychiatric consultation, crisis stabilization unit, telemedicine, and both adult and pediatric outpatient clinics. Not forgetting his original and continued love for animals, he even spent 6 months working with Service Dogs of Virginia, learning about the service dog training and placement, and lending his mental health expertise to the recipient selection process (Charlottesville Weekly article - Service Dogs). In his final year of training, he helped create a telemedicine clinic partnering with the non-profit group Strength in Peers, providing accessible psychiatric care to those struggling with a history of substance abuse, recent incarceration, or homelessness (Virginia Mercury article featuring our Telemedicine Clinic). He was selected as Chief Resident in his final year, putting him at the helm of resident well-being and education, and was the grateful recipient of several departmental awards, including the Second Year Leadership Award in 2018 (“chosen by peers to recognize a resident who combines effective team management, scholarly inquiry and camaraderie in the service of patients and colleagues”), and the Humanitarian Award in 2020.
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