Dr. Nichole Goodsmith is currently a VA scholar and a psychiatrist at the VA Women’s Health Center. She obtained her BA in Biochemistry from Columbia University before spending three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Burkina Faso, West Africa. She then completed joint MD-PhD degrees at Cornell University, with doctoral studies focused on Mycobacterium tuberculosis pathogenesis. Her interests in public health and the structural and social determinants of health eventually led her from infectious diseases to psychiatry, and from basic science to health services research. Dr. Goodsmith has a strong interest in program development, having developed and directed a range of programs throughout her training, from a social services referral center at Harlem Hospital as an undergraduate, to comprehensive residency tracks in Community Psychiatry and Global Mental Health for UCLA psychiatry residents. She has been recognized for her work with several awards including the American College of Psychiatrists Laughlin Fellowship and the American Psychiatric Association Public Psychiatry Fellowship. Prior to NCSP, she completed adult psychiatry residency at the UCLA Semel Institute, where she was Chief Resident of Community and Global Psychiatry.

Career Interests: Dr. Goodsmith is interested in improving equity and access to high-quality mental health care for vulnerable and historically marginalized populations. She plans for a career that will combine mental health services development, research, and policy impacting under-resourced populations in the United States and globally.

Research Interests: As a Scholar, Dr. Goodsmith is interested in studying the unique needs of women with serious mental illness, and developing systems-level interventions to address those needs. She has a particular interest in implementation science and qualitative approaches.