PROFILE:

​

Heather completed medical school at the University of Utah, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine in Salt Lake City, UT. She then completed internship in Internal Medicine at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Oregon.  

 

Heather returned to the University of Utah to complete Psychiatry Residency at the University Neuropsychiatric Institute, now Huntsman Mental Health Institute, in Salt Lake City, Utah.  

 

During residency Heather was certified in Global Mental Health, Complementary Medicine practices, & Traumatology with emphasis on veteran trauma & sexual violence.  

 

Also during training, she pursued advanced psychotherapy certifications and was trained in Acceptance & Commitment Therapy by Vijay Shankar, PsyD who supported creation of I Thrive Incorporated, the 501c3 nonprofit organization Heather created serving survivors of trauma and sexual violence.  

 

In support of Heather’s work in traumatology and global mental health, she pursued complimentary & integrated medicine trainings abroad including advanced trainings in Eastern wisdom, tantric spirituality, yoga, meditation, and breath-work in both Thailand and India. She volunteered to provide PTSD group therapy to veterans and was published twice in mindfulness with the Salt Lake City Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center PTSD & Whole Health programs in addition to previous publications with the University of Utah Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and the University of Utah School of Medicine Medical Humanities Journal, ‘Rubor.’  

 

Post residency Heather has worked with her nonprofit and as an inpatient medical director where she has supervised teams of therapists, social workers, and APRNs to provide inpatient hospital cares to psychiatric patients. She is presently serving as medical director and inpatient attending psychiatrist for the New Leaf Behavioral Health Unit at Bingham Memorial Hospital, Idaho’s largest critical access hospital, via on-site and tele-psychiatry services.  

 

Heather resides in her home state of Utah in downtown Salt Lake City where she continues as executive director of her 501c3 nonprofit, I Thrive Incorporated. Heather is currently enrolled in the California Institute of Integral Studies Psychedelic Therapies and Research certificate program and is pursuing mentorship in Integrated Medicine by a practicing Integrated Medicine Psychiatrist. She is currently working with our local governing and licensing bodies to ensure the safe implementation of the legal psychedelic sciences in Utah and beyond and will be studying with the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma this spring.

​

​

-----

​

What is Heather up to now?

Heather Curtis MD completed the Harvard Program for Refugee Trauma online certificate program May 2023. She completed 6 months of study with the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2022 and continued her leave in 2023. Dr. Curtis completed her statements for the Utah Division of Professional Licensing regarding her suggestions to improve patient safety within the emerging psychedelic sciences in 2023. Bingham Memorial Hospital closed the New Leaf Behavioral Health Unit October 2023. Heather intends to complete her Integrative Psychiatry career mentorship program summer 2024 and is exploring employment opportunities while taking this time away from hospital employed practice to study, travel, integrate, and network.