Meet Kortni Ferguson, MD, MPH

Hello! I’m a psychiatrist in the San Francisco South Bay Area. I pursued a career in medicine due to my genuine love for people and wanting to help alleviate sources of their pain. I ultimately chose the field of psychiatry for a multitude of reasons, but there are two that stand out in my mind. The first being my discovery that my mother had post-traumatic stress disorder in medical school, followed by her sudden death a couple of months later. The second being my exposure to preventative health care and the power of behavioral health interventions in my public health master’s program. My thesis focused on intimate partner violence. Though, upon returning to medical school to complete my last year, I began to pursue research and advocacy works for bereaved medical trainees… an intricately different type of trauma, yet with similar themes to my previous work.

While in psychiatric training, my interests have expanded to psychotherapy, as I love the duality of concrete medicine and nebulous psychology. I’ve found that utilizing them both in practice can be extremely powerful for clients.

My Philosophy

Many of us make thousands of mistakes in our lifetime. I have found that, for most people – myself included, it is challenging to acknowledge those mistakes and/or the truths of our history. This can lead to a wide spectrum of reactions, spanning from feeling haunted by them to being in complete denial of their existence.

I have noticed that people often define their entire being to specific past mistakes, sometimes forgetting how often they have propelled themselves forward, during those very times, to get to this very place today.

I hope to provide support in your trek towards self-acceptance of the various pieces of you, as each piece does not define you completely. What is more important, to me, is what you do with the information you’ve learned about yourself along the way.

I focus on guiding you along the path of self-observation, so that you may be able to identify the patterns of your behavior. This has the potential for self-growth. Self-growth can be extremely painful or frightening at times; though, I believe that it can yield more freedom and self-confidence as time presses forward.

Credit: Illustration by Milli-Jane

Trails

Admittedly, during my psychiatric training, I’ve grown to form an immense love and appreciation for plants. Especially after I started to notice connections between our chlorophyll-generated friends and our lives as human beings. I’ve seen far more often, than not, that life finds a way to persist. We and plants have that in common.

Above, you’ll see an overview of my journey to the point at which we may meet.

Education

Bachelor of Science: University of Central Florida | Molecular & Microbiology

Doctor of Medicine: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Master of Public Health: University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health | Behavioral & Community Health Sciences

Psychiatry Program: Stanford University School of Medicine