Sharone Abramowitz, MD, FAIHM, FASAM

[courses/subjects] Enhancing Motivation for Change
Motivational Interviewing

Dr. Abramowitz has devoted her career to helping people heal and helping healers become more empathic. She’s passionate about training medical clinicians, who work with the most vulnerable and underserved patient populations.

She has many years of experience in a private practice of psychiatry and psychotherapy.  She is an American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology certified psychiatrist, and am certified by the American Board of Preventive Medicine in Addiction Medicine.

Her UCLA BA was in political science & feminist studies. She attended the UC Davis School of Medicine & completed an internal medicine internship at Mt. Zion-UCSF, followed by a UCSF psychiatry residency. More recently, she completed the 2 year AIHM integrative medicine fellowship and serves as faculty with the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine.

She has been a senior faculty member, and the Behavioral and Addiction Medicine Director, for a UCSF-affiliated internal medicine residency in a safety-net hospital that served highly diverse patients. She  supervised residents and taught patient-physician communication skills, such as empathy and cross-cultural sensitivity, and behavioral health. She is a long time trainer in a health communication approach that is based on empathy and respect for autonomy and has had the privilege of teaching hundreds of clinicians from many institutions.

Dr. Abramowitz founded and directed the nation’s first premedical student health coach project, where she paired students with primary care docs and had them help low-income patients to improve their health.  She has spent many years volunteering at the California Society of Addiction Medicine, where she currently serves on their Board as president. She’s also the founder of: AbramowitzHealthyCommunicating.com