About
Dr. Daniel Fisher is a board certified adult psychiatrist with two decades of experience in his field. Specializing in Treatment Resistant Mood Disorders, Dr. Fisher offers comprehensive, expert consultation and second opinions for patients referred by other psychiatrists and primary care doctors. Recommendations are then made involving the use of a variety of treatment modalities; these range from psychopharmacology, behavioral interventions, alternative/complementary approaches, and, when necessary, Electroconvulsive Therapy.
Referral for some newer "neuromodulatory" treatments including Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation or the still experimental, albeit highly promising, Deep Brain Stimulation may also be considered.
The evaluations are exhaustive and thorough, with emphasis on accurate diagnosis, obtaining additional input from family members and referring psychiatrists, in depth review of medical history, and analysis of prior psychiatric treatment efforts. The latter phase of the 2-3 hour consultation involves providing the patient and family feedback and education about diagnosis, prognosis, and the relative risks and benefits of various treatment alternatives.
ECT is a treatment that has been in existence for over seventy years, and it represents a safe, often life-saving, alternative for the patients who suffer from the most severe forms of Depression and Bipolar illness, and for those who have not achieved adequate relief with other treatments. Dr. Fisher has started ECT programs in the Boulder area, and has safely performed over 15,000 treatments.
Dr Fisher considers the practice of ECT a “team approach:” The patient and family members have frequent contact with our nursing staff and our ECT physicians above and beyond the treatments themselves, wherein on going support and education are provided. Questions and concerns are readily addressed or answered. Further, the ECT doctors are in frequent contact with the patient’s referring psychiatrist, collaborating about treatment ideas such as medication options. Lastly, we have a licensed therapist with a deep understanding of the many facets of undergoing ECT who can provide counseling and support to family members or the patients themselves.
Dr. Fisher practices in Boulder, Colorado with his partner, Frank Guerra, MD at the Guerra Fisher Institute at Boulder Community Hospital. The Institute welcomed Christopher Reyburn, MD, in 2014 who comes with two decades of his own experience providing excellent psychiatric care.
Dr. Fisher graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University, and with Honors from the University of Michigan Medical School, where he attended on a full, merit-based scholarship. He did his residency training in New York City before continuing his career in Colorado. He is a volunteer Clinical Instructor of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Prior to coming to Boulder Community Hospital, Dr. Fisher was at Centennial Peaks Hospital for fifteen years. He was Chief of Staff and the Medical Director of the Adult Services and Co-Director of ECT at this 72 bed free standing psychiatric hospital, where he helped develop its ECT program. He lives in Boulder with his wife, Michelle, and two young children.
Michelle Fisher is Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner who has recently joined Dr. Fisher in a joint practice using psychopharmacology and psychotherapy. She brings to the practice the added expertise that comes in having been a Family Practice NP prior to specializing in behavioral medicine.