Philosophy of Care

Dr. Scher treats patients suffering from medical and surgical illnesses in a variety of inpatient and outpatient settings, and he believes in an empathic and compassionate approach to patient care. Dr. Scher leads the emergency psychiatry team, and works with a large team of emergency physicians, psychiatrists, nurses, clinical social workers and case managers to stabilize patients who present to the emergency department.

Clinical Interests

Dr. Scher serves as the director of emergency psychiatric services at UC Davis Medical Center and he directs behavioral health integration services across the university’s ambulatory care network. Dr. Scher also serves as the medical director for Government and Community Relations at UC Davis Health.

He also supervises medical students, residents, fellows and allied-health professionals in a variety of settings within UC Davis Health, including its consultation-liaison psychiatry service, emergency psychiatry service, primary care network, and within the ambulatory case management team.

Research/Academic Interests

Dr. Scher collaborates with the UC Davis ambulatory care leadership team to integrate behavioral health programs in primary care services. This team has implemented validated screening measures and a stepped-treatment model to improve patient outcomes. The stepped program includes electronic consultations, ambulatory case management services, the collaborative care model (CoCM) for common psychiatric conditions, telepsychiatry services and embedded psychiatric consultants. Dr. Scher is the principal investigator for two studies related to mental health integration within primary care (funded by Archstone Foundation and UC Davis Practice Management Board), and he serves as a co-investigator on a number of research and implementation grants related to service integration and neuropsychiatry (funded by AHRQ, CDC, CIRM).

Division

Psychiatry