People: Dr. Takesha Cooper joins the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine and Renown Health as department chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Takesha Cooper has joined the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine and Renown Health as department chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Cooper comes to the area from the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine where she served for seven years as clinical associate and then full professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, and associate training director for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Cooper previously served as associate medical director for the Riverside University Health System and Riverside County Department of Mental Health providing clinical and operational oversight for four regional psychiatric county clinics, and as an adjunct instructor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine. As a double board-certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist, she also established a successful solo private practice serving patients from diverse backgrounds.

Cooper will be responsible with Steve Shell, vice president of the Stacie Mathewson Behavioral Health & Addiction Institute at Renown Health, for leading the Behavioral Health Program at the institute where a team of nine psychiatrists, nurse practitioners and licensed professionals and counselors provide intensive outpatient treatment, partial hospitalization programs, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Esketamine, hospital-based assessment and medication-assisted treatment to serve those struggling with mental illness and addiction across Northern Nevada, Lake Tahoe and northern California.

Cooper earned her Doctor of Medicine Degree from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and completed her residency at San Mateo County and fellowship at Stanford University. Prior to medical school, she obtained a Master of Science degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UC Riverside and her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UC Santa Barbara.