Title
- Professor of Clinical Pharmacy (Psychopharmacology and Behavioral Health), UCSF School of Pharmacy
Education
- PharmD, UCSF
- PGY1 residency in clinical pharmacy, University of Arizona
- Fellowship in clinical pharmacokinetics, UCSF
Research focus
Dr. Finley's research continues to focus upon the safe and efficacious use of psychotropic medications for mood disorders. To this end, he has recently published original research on the genetic and environmental underpinnings of postpartum depression, as well as epidemiological research on the diagnosis and treatment of postpartum depression. His group is also concluding a pharmacovigilance study analyzing the safety of initiating antidepressants with CYP 2D6 inhibitory potential in patients stabilized on beta-blockers. Other current research endeavors include an analysis of the genetic association between antidepressants and metabolic syndrome in a large national cohort of HIV patients, and a longitudinal study of the psychotropic medications implicated in suicide attempts in the California Poison Control System.
Clinical focus
For the past decade, Dr. Finley has served as a provider in the Medication Alliance Clinic, a collaborative care model for managing depression for primary care and ob/gyn patients enrolled in the UCSF Womens Health Center of Excellence.
Teaching focus
In the UCSF School of Pharmacy, Dr. Finley is the only faculty member devoted to mental health and his content areas range from basic pharmacology to therapeutics to pharmacokinetics to health policy. He also lectures on a regular basis in the School of Nursing (clinical psychopharmacology of depression treatments) and to the medical residents at UCSF and the VA Health System (managing depression in primary care). As an active member of NAMI, he is also involved in educating the general public on psychopharmacological treatments.