Treating the Mind, Restoring Hope
Tháng 10 30, 2026
How Dr. Alice Thompson found her calling in Central Health’s medical respite program
In 2021, during Dr. Alice Thompson’s fourth year at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a big opportunity arrived on her doorstep: a visiting medical school rotation in psychiatry with Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin.
“I was already really interested in the (field),” Dr. Thompson said. “Then I came down here and I loved it. I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m in.’”
Thus began her long-term connection to Travis County.
Just a year later, Dr. Thompson began residency at Dell Med in psychiatry. In 2025, another opportunity beckoned when she began a medical observership with Central Health. Soon, rotating one day a week alongside providers and staff in Central Health’s new medical respite program, she began to realize that community health care was her passion.
Those moments proved to be workforce development in action.
By 2026, Dr. Thompson began her tenure as a psychiatrist in medical respite with Central Health.
“For me, it’s about being the type of health care provider who can not only address medical needs but can also improve quality of life—or even provide some small meaning to life,” Dr. Thompson said.
A History of Service
A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Dr. Thompson grew up in a physician’s household. Her father, Kenneth, is a psychiatrist and her mother, Andrea, a geriatrician. Dr. Thompson has fond memories of her parents’ work and believes—maybe with the gift of hindsight—that this is where her career first began.
“My dad would take me to meet his patients on the street,” she said. “He provided a lot of work for unhoused people in Pittsburgh back in the 90s.”
After earning an undergraduate degree at Bates College in Maine and later working on political campaigns as a field organizer in Washington, DC, Dr. Thompson moved back to Pittsburgh and became a community organizer for a health care union. It didn’t take long for the health care seed to grow. “I grew up in this environment,” she said. “We were a very community health-driven family.”
Next came a post-baccalaureate at the University of Pittsburgh and medical school in Scranton, where she co-founded Visible Hands Collective, a form of Integrative Community Therapy that first originated in Brazil, alongside her father. “I kind of came home, so to speak,” she said of the health care field.
A Mission-Driven Pursuit
In 2020, Dr. Thompson first met Central Health director of behavioral health Dr. Ashley Trust at Dell Med while Dr. Trust was an attending physician, the lead preceptor of the community psychiatry rotation, and the lead psychiatrist at Integral Care.
Through Dell Med’s partnership with Integral Care, the local mental health authority, Dr. Thompson rotated with Dr. Trust during clinical visits to an apartment complex that housed chronically homeless residents in Travis County.
“In that rotation I got to do house visits, which was incredible and really my first experience working as the primary provider for my patients who are experiencing homelessness,” she said.
The moment planted a real joy in the work.
“It was such a powerful experience to see that type of work and how that type of rapport and trust building could impact someone’s life,” Dr. Thompson said.
Learning New Specialties
When the medical observership followed in 2025, Dr. Thompson’s relationship with Central Health continued. This time, though, she redirected her focus alongside Dr. Audrey Kuang and psychiatrist Dr. Kevin Grabski with the medical respite team.
“It was really great having her join us,” said Dr. Kuang, who is the director of high risk populations at Central Health. “One, because it was great to have a psychiatry presence on-site, but also because she got to see what our environment was like. She got to learn, but she also jumped in and taught our team a few things about how to recognize different mental health conditions.”
While Dr. Thompson’s residency provided rotations in different methodologies and patient populations—from the private sector and state communities, to federal populations and Department of Veterans Affairs patients—her interests kept coming back to community health and to the very care her father once provided in Pittsburgh.
“Alice has always been such a fierce advocate for all people, and it’s been wonderful to see her apply that passion to her work as a psychiatrist,” Dr. Trust said. “I knew she would be an asset wherever she practiced, so I’m especially honored she chose to work alongside us at Central Health.”
Moving on to Central Health
When Dr. Thompson joined Central Health in August 2026, she began working with medical respite and teamed with Dr. Grabski to handle patient referrals in the clinic.
Sometimes, she says, the problems her patients face are similar: lack of housing, lack of food, and lack of support. Ultimately, though, her approach shapes her care.
“I think part of my work every day is to undo all of their trauma to whatever degree I can,” Dr. Thompson said. “Maybe that’s something small, like just being someone who will listen to them. Or it can be big, like providing medications that make it possible for them to take care of their everyday needs.”
Each patient leads unique, lived-in experiences, so Dr. Thompson’s care is tailored for each specific journey.
Above all, her goal is simple.
“I think every psychiatrist’s job is to give people hope,” she said.