Meet Dr. Kai MacDonald | Kai MacDonald, MD | Office located in San Diego

Qualifications and Expertise:

Though I have focused my professional practice in psychiatry, I have received training in both Psychiatry and Family Practice, and have considerable training in brain-based medication treatment (psychopharmacology), general medical issues (I served as the assistant director of the consult-liaison psychiatry service at UCSD), and psychotherapy (I have extensive training in short-term dynamic therapy). In the mental health field, I have particular experience in addiction (as medical director of an outpatient substance abuse program), mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and ADD/ADHD. I have extensive experience as a QME (qualified medical examiner) for fitness for duty examinations, and have served as an expert witness in forensic psychiatry. I am a board certified Addiction Psychiatrist. 

Ketamine, Oxytocin, and Brain-Based Illness

Furthermore, at the University of California, San Diego, I have participated as an investigator in dozens of clinical research trials in adult ADHD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and anxiety.

I have years of experience treating patients with ketamine, wrote a protocol for IV ketamine use with a colleague, and am uniquely qualified to administer this particular treatment.

I was a principal investigator in the UCSD Oxytocin Clinical Research Program. I have also authored or co-authored peer-reviewed articles on ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, trauma, and anxiety, and I am actively involved in teaching student doctors and other community professionals on these subjects. With two other colleagues, I designed and serve as a faculty member in a nationally recognized program that teaches physicians in practice about healthy relationships in health care.

Learn More About My Approach


Selected Awards:

  • Voted as one of “San Diego’s Top Doctor’s” by peers in 2009-2013, 2015.
  • Teaching awards from psychiatric residents: 2008, 2010
  • Teaching award from UCSD medical students: 2008

Professional Societies:

  • American Psychiatric Association Fellow
  • American Medical Association Member
  • Diplomate, American Board of Psychiatry/Neurology
  • San Diego Psychiatric Society Member
  • Society for Neuroscience Member
  • Society of Biological Psychiatry Member