Co-occurring diagnoses, with Dr. James Hammel and Shobhna Srivastava - Lunch & Learn
When a person has a combination of two or more diagnoses or disabilities, they are considered to have co-occurring conditions. Autistic individuals often meet criteria for at least one additional psychiatric disorder. The National Institute of Health reports that ninety-one percent of children and thirty-one percent of adults were also diagnosed with one or more co-occurring diagnoses using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI).
James Hammel, MD, MA, MSc, FAPA, FACLP is an autistic clinician who received his pre-medical education at Stanford University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and with bachelor's and master's degrees in Psychology. He earned his M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School. He was named the Association of American Medical College's first Nickens Scholar. He was a US-UK Fulbright Scholar at Oxford University, where he received an additional graduate degree (Master's of Science in Medical Sciences, By Research).
Doctor Hammel completed Internship at Stanford and Residency at Harvard, serving as Chief Resident. He fellowship-trained in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at Mount Sinai. Prior to starting his psychiatry private practice in Seattle, he worked as an outpatient and consultation-liaison psychiatrist on both coasts. Dr. Hammel is medically licensed in WA, HI, OR, AZ, NY, and MA.
Bilingual in English and Spanish, Dr. Hammel has won awards from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Society for Liaison Psychiatry, the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, and Harvard Medical School. He has conducted research nationally and internationally and authored peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. He has been an Assistant Professor at Mount Sinai, Albert Einstein, and Western University of Health Sciences.
Shobhna Srivastava, BCBA, LBAT, M.Phil - Ms. Shobhna Srivastava is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and a Clinical Psychologist. She obtained her Master of Philosophy degree, from the Institute of Behaviour and Allied Sciences, India and BCBA coursework from the University of Washington.
Prior to working as a BCBA, she worked as a Clinical Psychologist in India for close to a decade. Her work involved Individual therapy sessions, with Adults and Children on outpatient basis.
She performs behavior assessments, develops treatment plans, evaluates efficacy of treatment plans regularly, suggesting modifications for improving outcomes. She provides family coaching on providing supportive and educational environments to clients.
She currently works with schools and supports neurodivergent children. Her professional passions include working with early learners, implementing ABA principles in individual and group settings, teaching important life skills, and mentoring Registered Behavior Technicians (RBT).
