Committee Chair Bios
Dalia Balsamo, M.D.
Chair, Membership Committee
Dr. Dalia Balsamo was born in Turin, Italy, and raised in Paris, France. She is quadruple board certified in Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, and Addiction Medicine. She completed a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction in Cognitive Science and Neuroscience at the University of Virginia. She graduated from the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine with Areas of Concentration in Medical Humanities and Neuroscience. She completed her psychiatry residency at the University of Miami, her child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center, and her forensic psychiatry at the Yale Law and Psychiatry Division. She hold a certificate in psychodynamic psychotherapy from the Florida Psychoanalytic institute. She is an alumna of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma.
Dr. Balsamo is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, Riverside. She mentors and supervises medical students, residents, and fellows. She previously served as the Associate Training Director for the UCR Psychiatry Residency Program and as a faculty advisor for the Medical Students for Immigrant Justice Interest Group. She is currently the TAY Outpatient Site Director for the UCR CAP Fellowship, and serves on the UCR SOM Clinical Appointments and Advancement Committee. She is also the Associate Medical Director for TAY, LGTBQ+, and Juvenile Justice at the Riverside University Health System, and serves as the Chair of the Medical Staff Well-Being Committee.
Dr. Balsamo has received the UCR CAP Fellowship Teacher of the Year Award and the UCR Psychiatry Residency Teaching Award. She is also a former recipient of the AACAP Psychodynamic Faculty Training and Mentorship Initiative. She is a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Society of Addiction Medicine. She has served on various professional committees at APA, AACAP, AAPL, and ASAM. She has published and has given numerous presentations on gender and sexuality, refugee care, juvenile justice, and physician well-being.
Roula Creighton, M.D.
Chair, Social Committee
As Dr. Creighton is also Immediate Past OCPS President, please see Officer Bio page for her bio.
David Davis, M.D.
Co-Chair, Investment Committee
Dr. David Davis has been practicing psychiatry in Orange County for 43 years, and specifically in Newport Beach for 21 years. This means that he has seen just about everything and knows what works.
Dr. Davis differentiates himself from other psychiatrists in a number of ways. He keeps his patients on track, and he does not waste time, reducing overall treatment costs. In the initial evaluation, he tries to discover the root cause of the problem which can often provide significant relief, as well as optimism about improving.
Dr. Davis has many years of training in psychodynamic psychotherapy, which makes him a master of uncovering and understanding the unconscious mental life, such as interpreting dreams.
Dr. Davis is recognized as a premier psychiatrist and was honored to have received The Orange County Magazine – Physicians of Excellence Award for Psychiatry in 2005, 2015, and 2016. Dr. Davis is not only a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology, but he is also a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a designation granted to only a small percentage of psychiatrists.
Dr. Davis has extensive experience in all classes of psychotropic medication management. He utilizes the newest, cutting-edge technologies, such as “GeneSight” and “MYnd Analytics,” to assist him in choosing the medication most likely to work best for his patients. These are much more accurate approaches to prescribing medications than primarily relying on clinical symptoms.
In conclusion, Dr. Davis provides excellence and expertise in both psychotherapy and medication management. He wants to help people to lead happy and fulfilling lives. As a free bonus, he often uses humor to give his patients an easier and more relaxed way to look at their life challenges (valid while supplies last)!
Douglas Kahn, M.D.
Co-Chair, Investment Committee
As Dr. Kahn is also a Councilor for OCPS, please see Officer Bio page for his bio.
Anthony M. Kassir, M.D.
Information Technology Committee
Anthony M. Kassir, M.D. is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and Faculty of the California Institute for Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy.
Dr. Kassir was raised in Coronado, California; Dubai; and Saudi Arabia. He attended high schools in Coronado and Switzerland. Following his undergraduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he majored in Biology and minored in Jazz Harmony and Arranging, he worked for a year as a chemist at a biotech company in La Jolla, California. Subsequently he began his medical and postgraduate training at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Kassir completed his residency in 1999 as Chief Resident at UCI Medical Center’s Neuropsychiatric Institute. Since completing his residency, Dr. Kassir has maintained a private practice in Orange County, California. His practice is located in the city of Newport Beach. His specialties include Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy. With other faculty members of the California Institute for Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy, he has provided Continuing Medical Education instruction in the technique of ISTDP to physician audiences.
Dr. Kassir has served the Orange County Psychiatric Society since 1998 in a variety of positions including as Executive Council Secretary, Councilor, and his current position, Chair of the Information Technology Committee.
Dr. Kassir engaged in various pursuits over the years including music composition and live performances with rock and jazz bands in Boston and California. Other pursuits have included performance juggling, mountaineering and skiing in the Swiss Alps, and everything Apple and Macintosh.
You are invited visit Dr. Kassir's website at www.drkassirmd.com
Nathan Lavid, M.D.
Ethics Committee
Dr. Lavid is a clinical and forensic psychiatrist. He has been on the Ethics Committee for the OCPS since 2003. He received his bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and medical degree from the University of Kansas. He interned and completed his psychiatry residency in the Departments of Medicine, Neurology, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of California, Irvine. He then completed a fellowship in forensic psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Law & Behavioral Sciences at University of Southern California, where he was on Faculty as Clinical Instructor at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He is licensed to practice medicine in the states of California and New York, Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and Psychiatric Expert for the Medical Board of California. He worked on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a Field Trials Collaborating Physician Investigator. A former Review Editor for Frontiers in Forensic Psychiatry, he has authored two books, and multiple book chapters and professional articles in psychiatry. He lives in Long Beach, California.
John Luo, M.D.
Education Committee
John Luo, M.D. is the Director of Psychiatry Residency Training and Health Sciences Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCI School of Medicine. He also serves as Director of Emergency & Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at the UCI Medical Center. Dr. Luo is an internationally recognized educator and expert on behavioral health informatics. He has presented at numerous conferences, written books and articles on technology use in mental health, and he has been recognized locally and nationally for excellence in teaching.
Thomas Okamoto, M.D.
Government Affairs Committee
As Dr. Okamoto is also a Councilor for OCPS, please see Officers Bio page for his bio.
Alexis Seegan, M.D.
Government Affairs Committee
Dr. Seegan is OCPS President. Please see Officers Bio page for her bio.
Alex Wang, M.D.
Information Technology Committee
Alex Wang, MD MBA, is a current psychiatry resident at the University of California Irvine Medical Center. He grew up in San Diego, CA and obtained his undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of California, Davis. He completed his medical school training at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine while simultaneously completing his business degree at the Paul Merage School of Business. He received the Outstanding Graduating Student Performance in Psychiatry Award before beginning his residency training at the UC Irvine Medical Center. He has published multiple papers on various topics such as financial literacy and clinical informatics. His interests lie in utilizing information technology to improve the delivery of mental health services while reducing the financial costs for patients and health organizations.