Vanessa Lauzon, MD

Vanessa Lauzon, a native of Southern California, completed her undergraduate education at USC where she majored in Spanish and Biological Sciences. She received her MD from the Keck School of Medicine at USC. During med school, Vanessa demonstrated a strong commitment to the underserved, and began developing her skill set in leadership and organized medicine. She was the National Director of the Medical Education Leadership Institute of the American Medical Student Association and coordinated AMSA’s effort to train medical student fellows to bring important medical education principles to their home institutions. Vanessa was an active volunteer in free clinics and with Healing Hearts Across Borders, a medical humanitarian organization providing healthcare to indigent patients in Tijuana, BC, Mexico. She also designed and fully implemented Keck School of Medicine’s medical Spanish program. Vanessa was a Dean's Scholar and was elected to AOA.

Since arriving in San Diego for residency, Vanessa has continued her involvement with organized medicine and in community outreach. She is the member-in-training representative to our local chapter of the APA, the San Diego Psychiatric Society. At the national level, Vanessa is an APA Public Psychiatry Fellow and sits on the APA Council for Advocacy & Government Relations. Vanessa also volunteers with NAMI San Diego doing community education & outreach with patients and family members. She recently attended the 2010 NAMI California conference, where she presented a workshop on creating collaborations between mental health providers and family members to improve care for people with mental illness.

After completing combined training, Vanessa plans to focus on creating models of comprehensive care for patients with serious persistent mental illness, delivering primary care and psychiatric treatment in a single coordinated setting for this vulnerable underserved population. She hopes to combine teaching, direct clinical care, administration, public policy, and community advocacy in her career.