Who are you? – Dr. Cassandra Villatoro-Bank, D.O., Known as “Dr. Bank”
What is your specialty? – Child, Adolescent, Adult Psychiatry
How long have you been practicing? – 6+ years
What do you love about your job? – I truly appreciate my very expansive patient base from children to the elderly as it allows me to further my education, research and study various treatment modalities available now or in the past for numerous mental health conditions. One has to appreciate the complex relationship between genetics, family history, trauma, substance use, relationships, family dynamics, cultural ties, medical and emotional conditions and formulate into a diagnosis and develop a treatment plan. I like to educate patients to fully understand their own mental health needs and treatment modalities. I strive to serve those in need from relief of their chronic mental health symptoms leading them to a more fulfilled life.
How long have you been a member of InCrowd and what is your favorite part about participating in our research? Since August 2018. Favorite part of participating in InCrowd research is the personal self reflection that one experiences when reading various articles and or answering questionnaires.
What made you decide to become a Psychiatrist? From a very young age I was fascinated with an individual’s journey, trial and tribulations. Having grown up in Latin America it was quite uncommon to discuss an individual’s “medical health history” and most certainly never discussed a person’s mental health condition. Upon living in America my interest grew in understanding and comparing psychosocial settings, individuals personal trauma, resiliency and culture-bound syndrome(s) amongst a diverse population. It was during my medical school rotation at an inpatient psychiatric hospital that I knew psychiatry was for me. During rotation, I listened intently to many patients’ tragic and traumatizing histories, I then began to question how some individuals suffered from recurrent PTSD symptoms while others were quite resilient. I was fascinated with the field of psychiatry; striving to make safe and non-judgemental meetings with patients as he or she would bare their soul and their lifes’ scars with me. It was humbling and I felt honored with the patient’s level of comfort as we strived to remediate, discuss and treat their mental health symptoms affecting their daily life.
What is one thing you want other health care professionals to know about InCrowd or participating in paid research? I have gained insight to future psychiatric treatment modalities via paid research that have been applicable to my psychiatric practice. My participation in research has given me insight and foreshadowing of my patient’s requests for new treatments in a changing market.
How do you fit InCrowd MicroSurveys into your busy schedule? Do you use our SMS notification feature? I find it a welcomed academic break from my regular routine seeing patients and often will participate in Microsurveys during my short lunch break. Yes, I do use the SMS notification feature.
How do you redeem your rewards (PayPal or Tango) and how do you spend your earned rewards? I accumulate my rewards and spend the earned rewards on office staff coffee breaks improving morale.
What is one thing you’d like to tell your younger self when you were in residency? During residency ask many questions of your attendings; glean as much knowledge as one can and voluntarily manage complex patients increasing one’s academic, medical, psychiatric knowledge.
Interested in joining? Register with InCrowd here.
