Ann Mendenhall is a board-certified Physician Associate. She holds a master’s degree as a PA from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, CA. Ann just completed a year-long fellowship with the Integrative Psychiatry Institute in Boulder, CO. Additionally, she has a Master of Fine Arts degree and taught college-level fine art and media courses in Seattle and L.A. She also was a principal in a video production company focusing on medical issues, producing videos and documentaries for hospitals in Seattle, and training videos for Paramedics and EMTs. While in Los Angeles, she volunteered in the ER at L.A. County General Hospital. Also, she spent a year volunteering at the Homeless Healthcare Needle Exchange on Skid Row in Los Angeles, assisting the doctors in their tiny medical clinic.
Ann spent several years in Primary Care in rural, medically underserved Grass Valley and Point Reyes clinics. However, she discovered her true passion in addiction medicine in 2018 and has worked for several residential treatment centers and IOPs in northern CA and WA state since.
She is grateful to be part of the amazing team at Pura Vida and feels fortunate to offer compassionate care to those individuals starting on their path to recovery. She strives to form a genuine connection with all the clients she meets to understand their needs and hopes, and to help them on their journey.
Ann is working on her DMSc (Doctorate in Medical Science) in Psychiatry and hopes to complete it in December 2025. She looks forward to bringing our clients a deeper understanding of the intersection of addiction and psychiatry.
On a less-known note from many years ago, she spent 10 years at sea in the Merchant Marine, starting as a sailor on deck, but mainly working as a Radio Electronics Operator, circumnavigating South America 10+ times and shipping to Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, northern Europe, Mexico, Panama and Alaska many times. She was one of the first women to sail as an officer aboard deep-sea U.S. merchant ships.
